| Term | Definition |
| climate | climate helps determine the kinds of plants and animals that live in an area. each biome has a different cliamte |
| biome | a large region on earth that has specific plant and animal communities. |
| habitat destruction | when a human interacts or natural disasters interfere with an organism's habitat. |
| limiting factors | any biotic or abiotic factor that prevents a population from growing |
| ecological succession | a gradual change in an ecosystem over time |
| primary succession | occurs in an area where no previous ecosystem existed |
| secondary succession | can also occur following a change or disturbance |
| littoral | the area where the pond meets land |
| limnetic | dominated my floating plants |
| profundal | present in deeper ponds |
| benthic | darkest zone and it rarely has any plantlife |
| permafrost | a permanent layer of frozen soil |
| conifers | coniferous trees |
| intertidal zone | where the ocean meets the shore |
| pelagic zone | the open ocean |
| benthic zone | receives minimal sunlight |
| abysal zone | deepest, darkest zone in the ocean |
| phytoplankton | micro-organisms that eat zoplankton |
| zooplankton | the oceans producers |
| deciduous trees | trees that loose their leaves because of the loss of chlorophyll |
| dessert biome | hottest, driest biome |
| tropical rain forest | biome with most rainfall and most organisms |
| grassland | biome that is hot in the summer and cold n the winter |
| algae | most common producer of freshwater |
| esunary | has freshwater and saltwater |
| paracitism | a symbiotic relationship where one organism is benefited and one organism is harmed |
| commenislism | a symbiotic relationship where one organism benefited and the other is not helped or harmed in any way |
| mutualism | a symbiotic relationship where both organisms are benefited by the relationship |
| climax community | the final stage to take place during succession |
| pioneer species | grasses and weeds that grow during succession |
| opportunists species | use their energy for producing seeds form offspring |
| colonizers | the first organisms to grow during succession |
