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33 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Aphotic Zone. |
dark layer of the oceans below the photic zone where sunlight does not penetrate. |
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Benthos. |
organisms that live attached to or near the bottom of lakes, streams, or oceans. |
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Canopy. |
dense covering formed by the leafy tops of tall rain forest trees. |
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Climate. |
average year to year conditions of temperature and precipitation in an area over a long period of time. |
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Commensalism. |
symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed. |
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Competitive Exclusion Principle. |
principle that states that no two species can occupy the same niche in the same habitat at the same time. |
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Coniferous. |
term used to refer to trees that produce seed bearing cones and have thin leaves shaped like needles. |
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Deciduous. |
term used to refer to a type of tree that sheds its leaves during a particular season each year. |
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Ecological Succession. |
series of gradual changes that occur in a community following a disturbance. |
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Estuary. |
kind of wetland formed where a river meets a ocean. |
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Greenhouse Effect. |
process in which certain gases trap sunlight energy in Earth's atmosphere as heat. |
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Habitat. |
area where an organism lives, including the biotic an abiotic factors that affect it. |
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Herbivory. |
interaction in which one animal feeds on producers. |
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Humus. |
material formed from decaying leaves and other organic matter. |
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Keystone Species. |
single species that is not usually abundant in a community yet exerts strong control on the structure of a community. |
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Microclimate. |
environmental conditions within a small area that differs significantly from the climate of the surrounding area. |
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Mutualism. |
symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship. |
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Niche. |
full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions. |
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Parasitism. |
symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives on or inside another organism and harms it. |
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Permafrost. |
layer of permanently frozen subsoil found in the tundra. |
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Photic Zone. |
sunlight region near the surface of water. |
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Pioneer Species. |
first species to populate an area during succession. |
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Plankton. |
microscopic organisms that live in aquatic environments, includes both phytoplankton and zooplankton. |
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Predation. |
interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism. |
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Primary Succession. |
succession that occurs in an area in which no trace of a previous community is present. |
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Resource. |
any necessity of life, such as water, nutrients, light, food, or space. |
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Secondary Succession. |
type of succession that occurs in an area that was only partially destroyed by disturbances. |
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Symbiosis. |
relationship in which two species live close together. |
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Taiga. |
biome with long cold winters and a few months of warm weather; dominated by coniferous evergreens; also called boreal forest. |
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Tolerance. |
ability of an organism to survive and reproduce under circumstances that differ from their optimal conditions. |
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Understory. |
layer in a rain forest found underneath the canopy formed by shorter trees and vines. |
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Weather. |
day to day conditions of the atmosphere, including temperature, precipitation, and other factors. |
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Wetland. |
ecosystem in which water either covers the soil or is present at or near the surface for at least part of the year. |