Biospheres

Ecosystem

is a limited area in which living and nonliving things interact.

Ecology

The study of the interactions between living and nonliving things.

Biotic Factors

All the living things on our planet.

Abiotic Factors

All the nonliving things on our planet.

Altitude

How high an ecosystem is on our planet.

Climate

The long term weather patterns on our planet.

Biosphere

All of the habitable portions of the earth.

Biomes

Similar parts of the earth's biosphere.

Coniferous Forest

Forests found in the far northern North America, Europe, and Asia, known for long, snowy winters and short, warm summers.

Deciduous Forest

Forests with trees that lose their leaves at the end of each growing season, found in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Tundra

A frozen desert found up North where the soil is frozen, preventing large trees and plants from surviving.

Grasslands

Regions often found in the interiors of continents, characterized by warm summers and cold, windy winters.

Desert

Biomes that receive very little rainfall throughout the year.

Tropical Rainforest

Rainforests that combine year-round warmth and large amounts of rainfall, receiving 170 cm or 5 feet of rain a year.

Chaparral

Coastal areas with mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers, commonly featuring shrubs.

Savanna

Regions that are not quite either forests or grasslands, made up of widely spaced trees and grasses.

Permafrost

The frozen ground found in tundra regions.

Emergent layer

The tallest trees in the rainforest.

Canopy layer

The crowns of the shorter trees in the rainforest.

Forest floor

The ground layer of the rainforest.

Prairies

Another name for grasslands.

Taiga

Another name for coniferous forests.

Savanna

They are sometimes called tropical grasslands.

Freshwater Biomes

Freshwater Biomes are diverse that means that there are many types of them. They only make up less than 2% of our planet.

Freshwater Biomes Types

2 groups: Lakes, ponds, swamps, and bogs; Streams and rivers.

Plant and Animal Dependence

The types of plants and animals living in each of these bodies of water depends on their depth and how fast the water is moving.

Deep Lakes

Deep lakes will have fewer plants living in them because sunlight doesn't get to the bottom.

Marine Biome

About 70% of the earth is covered by salt water. A marine biome is considered the ocean.

Ocean Zones

Oceans are layered into zones based on the amount of sunlight reaches each level.

Plankton

Plankton are small animals that live in the top layer of the ocean. Plankton feed the organisms in the ocean.

Habitat

A habitat is the space that an organism lives in. It's the portion of area that the animal lives in.

Niche

Niche is the animals role within an ecosystem. Are the the top predator such as an eagle or the mouse that the eagle eats.

Habitats and Niches

Habitats and Niches are what helps an animal survive the ecosystem in which it lives in.

Environmental Cycles of Matter

There are natural rhythms that organisms on our planet go through to survive.

Water Cycle

The water cycle is the continuous movement of water from the earth to the atmosphere and back to the earth.

Evaporation

Evaporation is the process in which water moves from the surface of the earth to the atmosphere.

Condensation

Condensation is when the evaporated water condenses to form rain droplets.

Precipitation

Precipitation is when water droplets fall from the atmosphere-rain, sleet, snow.

Energy in the Environment

Energy moves through the environment through a food chain.

Producers

Producers such as plants make energy from the sunlight.

Consumers

Consumers get their energy from producers or other consumers.

Food Pyramids

Food pyramids are broken down into trophic levels.

Food Webs

These are diagrams that put all of the food chains in an ecosystem together.

Relationships in an Environment

Animals interact with each other to increase their chances of survival.

Types of Symbiosis

Types of Symbiosis: Mutualism, Parasitism, Commensalism.

Ecological Succession

Ecological Succession is how a ecosystem changes over time.

Primary Succession

This is before there is any soil in the ecosystem. Rocks are broken down into soil.

Secondary Succession

This is how the environment heals after a natural disaster or from soil.