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37 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
physical geography |
the spatial distributions of Earth's climates and surface features |
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biogeography |
spatial distributions of species |
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abiotic |
nonliving |
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ecological system |
one or more organisms and the environment in which they exchange energy and materials |
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ecology |
the entire science of the relations of the organism to its external environment |
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population |
a group of individuals of the same species that live, interact, and reproduce in a particular geographic area |
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community |
an assemblage of interacting populations of different species within a particular geographic area |
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landscapes |
multiple communities |
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biosphere |
all the organisms of Earth and the environments they occupy |
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ecosystem |
the abiotic components of an environment |
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weather |
atmospheric conditions at a particular place and time |
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climate |
average state of atmospheric conditions and their pattern of variation through time |
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seasonality |
a consequence of the 23.5 degree axial tilt of Earth's axis of rotation |
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tropics |
latitudes between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn |
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adiabatic |
relating to or denoting a process or condition in which heat does not enter or leave the system concerned |
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Hadley Cells |
two cycles of vertical atmospheric circulation to the north and south of the equator |
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Coriolis effect |
causes prevailing surface winds to blow from east to west in the tropics, from west to east in middle latitudes, and from east to west again at the poles |
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gyre |
a clockwise circuit of currents |
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topography |
variation in the elevation of Earth's surface |
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rain shadow |
when a mountain acts as a barrier to precipitation, with a lush windward side and arid leeward side |
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climate diagram |
a way of summarizing the climate of a given location by superimposing graphs of average monthly temperature and precipitation through a year in a way that indicates periods that are favorable or unfavorable for plant growth |
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biome |
a distinct physical environment that is inhabited by ecologically similar organisms with similar adaptations |
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littoral zone |
nearshore regions of lakes and oceans |
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intertidal zone |
nearshore regions of oceans |
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photic zone |
surface waters with abundance of light and oxygen |
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limnetic zone |
open-water areas in lakes |
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pelagic zone |
open-water areas in oceans |
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phytoplankton |
free-floating photosynthetic organisms |
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aphotic zone |
areas of bodies of water below the reach of light |
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benthic zone |
a lake bottom or ocean floor |
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abyssal zone |
deepest zones of the oceans, with high pressure, low oxygen, and cold temperature |
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biogeographic regions |
encompasses multiple biomes and contains a distinct assemblage of species, many of which are phylogenetically related |
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biotic interchange |
mixing of species that had been previously isolated |
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Wallace's Line |
separates the Oriental and Australasian biogeographic regions |
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conservation ecology |
the study of the process of extinction, and ways to prevent extinction of vulnerable species |
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restoration ecology |
the study of restoring the health of damaged ecosystems |
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natural history |
the observation of nature out side of a formal, hypothesis-testing investigation |