Ecosystems And Biomes

Front 1

abiotic factor

Back 1

a nonliving part of a system

Front 2

acid rain

Back 2

rain that contains unhealthy amounts of acid

Front 3

adaptation

Back 3

a structure or behavior that helps and organism survive in its habitat

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adult

Back 4

a full grown animal or plant

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amphibian

Back 5

an animal that has a backbone and lives in water when it is young and on land when it becomes an adult
example: frog

Front 6

angiosperm

Back 6

a seed plant that produces flowers

Front 7

arthropod

Back 7

an animal that has a hard outer skeleton with legs and joints.

Front 8

biome

Back 8

a very large area of land with a certain kind of climate and certain kinds or organisms living it it

Front 9

biotic factor

Back 9

a living part of an ecosystem

Front 10

camouflage

Back 10

the shape, color, or pattern of an animal that helps it blend in with its surroundings

Front 11

canopy

Back 11

the trees that are suspended above the forest floor

Front 12

carbon dioxide and oxygen cycle

Back 12

the movement of carbon dioxide and oxygen between organisms and the air

Front 13

carnivore

Back 13

an animal that eats other animals

Front 14

chloryphyll

Back 14

a green substance in plant leaves that captures the energy in sunlight

Front 15

classification

Back 15

the groupings of organisms based on their similarities and differences

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community

Back 16

populations of different kinds of organisms that live in the same place at the same time

Front 17

competition

Back 17

the struggle of organisms against each other to get the same resource

Front 18

compost

Back 18

a mixture of soil and decayed material that provides nutrients for plants

Front 19

coniferous forest

Back 19

a forest biome with trees that keep their needlelike leaves for at least a few years

Front 20

conservation

Back 20

the wise use and protection of natural resources

Front 21

consumer

Back 21

an organism that gets energy by eating other organisms

Front 22

deciduous forest

Back 22

a forest biome with many kinds of trees that lose their leaves each autumn

Front 23

decomposer

Back 23

an organism that gets energy by feeding on dead materials and wastes

Front 24

desert

Back 24

a biome that has very little rain and few plants

Front 25

ecosystem

Back 25

all the living and nonliving things that interact with each other in an environment

Front 26

embryo

Back 26

a plant or animal in the earliest stage of development

Front 27

environment

Back 27

the surroundings that an organism lives in

Front 28

endangered species

Back 28

a species that could become extinct very soon if it is not helped by people

Front 29

energy pyramid

Back 29

a diagram or chart that shows the amount of energy passed on at each level of the food chain

Front 30

extinction

Back 30

the dying out of a species

Front 31

fertile

Back 31

describes soil that can support plant life

Front 32

food chain

Back 32

the path of food energy from one organism to another in an ecosystem

Front 33

food web

Back 33

the overlapping of food chains with different pathways for the flow of food energy in an ecosystem

Front 34

forest floor

Back 34

land that is covered with underbrush; located under the treetops in a forest

Front 35

fungus

Back 35

an organism that feeds on dead organisms or their wastes, cannot move on its own, and reproduces with spores

Front 36

geotropism

Back 36

the downward growth of a plant's roots and the upward growth of its stem; caused by gravity

Front 37

germination

Back 37

the sprouting of a plant from a seed

Front 38

global warming

Back 38

a rise in the earth's average worldwide temperature

Front 39

grasslands

Back 39

a biome where grasses, not trees, are the main plant life.

Front 40

habitat

Back 40

the environment where an organism lives

Front 41

herbivore

Back 41

an animal that eats only plant products

Front 42

heredity

Back 42

the passing of traits from the parents to its offspring

Front 43

heterotrophy

Back 43

an organism that cannot make its own food

Front 44

hibernation

Back 44

a deep sleeplike state where the animal's body processes slow down

Front 45

humus

Back 45

decaying plant and animal materials in the soil

Front 46

inherited trait

Back 46

a characteristic that is passed from parents to their offspring

Front 47

instinctive behavior

Back 47

a behavior that an animal inherits from its parents

Front 48

invertebrate

Back 48

an animal that does not have a backbone

Front 49

kingdom

Back 49

the largest grouping of organisms in scientific classification

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learned behavior

Back 50

a behavior that an animal develops by observing other animals or by being taught

Front 51

life cycle

Back 51

the stages of growth and development that an organism goes through in its lifetime

Front 52

life science

Back 52

the study of plants, animals, and all other living things. can also be called biology

Front 53

mammal

Back 53

an animal that has a backbone, hair or fur, beathes with lungs, gives birth to live babies, and feeds milk to its babies

Front 54

march

Back 54

a shallow body of still or slow-moving water that has plants growing in it.

Front 55

microorganism

Back 55

a living thing so small that it can only be seen by a microscope

Front 56

moss

Back 56

a kind of plant that does not have true roots, stems, or leaves; reproduces with spores

Front 57

niche

Back 57

the role that an organism plays in its habitat

Front 58

nitrogen cycle

Back 58

the movement of nitrogen between organisms and their surroundings

Front 59

offspring

Back 59

new organsims that come from parent organisms; babies

Front 60

omnivore

Back 60

an animal that eats both plants and animals

Front 61

parasitism

Back 61

a relationship between two different kinds of organisms in which one organism is helped and the other organism is hurt

Front 62

photosynthesis

Back 62

the process of using the energy from the sun to make food

Front 63

phototropism

Back 63

the turning of a plant's leaves toward sunlight

Front 64

pollination

Back 64

the transfer of pollen from the stamen to the pistil of a flower

Front 65

population

Back 65

all the organisms of the same species that live in the same place at the same time

Front 66

predator

Back 66

an animal that hunts, catches, and eats other animals

Front 67

prey

Back 67

an animal that is hunted caught, and eaten by another animal

Front 68

producer

Back 68

an organism that makes its own food

Front 69

reptile

Back 69

an animal that has a backbone, dry leathery skin or scales, has lungs to breathe air, and lays eggs with leathery shells; can also give birth to live babies

Front 70

roots

Back 70

plant structures that hold a plant in place and take in water and nutrients from the soil

Front 71

savanna

Back 71

a kind of grassland

Front 72

scavenger

Back 72

a meat-eating animal that eats dead animals

Front 73

species

Back 73

a group of organisms of the same kind that can mate and produce offspring like themselves

Front 74

swamp

Back 74

a shallow body of still or slow-moving water that has plants growing in it

Front 75

taiga

Back 75

a biome with cool temperatures and many conifers (pine trees)

Front 76

threatened species

Back 76

a species that could become endangered if its numbers contine to decline

Front 77

trait

Back 77

a characteristic of an organism

Front 78

tundra

Back 78

a biome with cold temperatures and not much rain

Front 79

vertebrate

Back 79

an animal that has a backbone

Front 80

water cycle

Back 80

the change of water from one state to another as it moves between the earth's surface and its atmosphere

Front 81

wetland

Back 81

a biome where water and land meet, such as a marsh, swamp, or seasonal pond