Term
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Definition
| process of gradual change from one community of organisms to another |
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Term
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Definition
| ecological succession that begins in a place that does not have soil |
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Definition
| first community of organisms to move into a new environment |
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Definition
| ecological succession that begins in a place that already has soil and was once the home of living organisms |
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Term
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Definition
| community that has reached the final stage of ecological succession |
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Term
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Definition
| large geographic areas with similar climates and ecosystems |
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Definition
| cold, dry, treeless biome located at latitude surrounding the north pole and that has winters six to nine months long |
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Definition
| cold region of cone-bearing evergreen trees that lies just below the tundra and is the world's largest terrestrial biome |
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Term
| temperate deciduous forest |
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Definition
| biome that lies at latitudes below about 50 degrees in both the northern and southern hemispheres, usually has four distinct seasons, and supports a wide variety of plants and animals |
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Term
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Definition
| hot, wet, equatorial biome that contains the largest number of species |
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| temperate and tropical regions that receive between 25 cm and 75 cm of precipitation each year and are dominated by climax communities of grasses |
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Definition
| driest biome on Earth, they receive less than 25 cm of rain each year and support little plant life |
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Definition
| microscopic algae, plants, and other organisms that float in warm, sunlit waters near the surface of freshwater lakes and ponds |
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Definition
| area where a river meets the ocean that contains a mixture of freshwater and salt water and serves as nursery for many species of ocean fish |
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Term
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Definition
| portion of the shoreline that is covered with water at high tide and exposed to the air at low tide |
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Term
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Definition
| tundra, taiga, temperate forest, tropical rain forest, grassland, and desert |
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