8th Science
Terms
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- process of gradual change from one community of organisms to another
- ecological succession
- ecological succession that begins in a place that does not have soil
- primary succession
- first community of organisms to move into a new environment
- pioneer community
- ecological succession that begins in a place that already has soil and was once the home of living organisms
- secondary succession
- community that has reached the final stage of ecological succession
- climax community
- large geographic areas with similar climates and ecosystems; the six most common are tundra, taiga, temperate forest, tropical rain forest, grassland, and desert
- biomes
- cold, dry, treeless biome located at latitudes surrounding the north pole and that has winters six to nine months long
- tundra
- cold region of cone-bearing evergreen trees that lies just below the tundra and is the world's largest terrestrial biome
- taiga
- 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
- temperate deciduous forest
- hot, wet, equatorial biome that contains the largest number of species
- tropical rain forest
- temperate and tropical regions that receive between 25 cm and 75 cm of precipitation each year and are dominated by climax communities of grasses
- grasslands
- driest biome on Earth; receives less than 25 cm of rain each year and supports little plant life
- desert
- microscopic algae, plants, and other organisms that float in warm, sunlit waters near surface of freshwater lakes and ponds
- plankton
- 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
- estuary
- portion of the shoreline that is covered with water at high tide and exposed to the air at low tide
- intertidal zone