Vocabulary Chapter 3
Terms
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- biome
- group of ecosystems with the same climax communities; biomes on land are called terrestrial biomes, those in water are called aquatic biomes
- secondary succession
- sequence of community changes that take place after a community is disrupted by natural disasters or human actions
- limiting factors
- any biotic or abiotic factor that restricts the exsitance, numbers, reproduction, or distribution of organisms
- tundra
- biome that surrounds the north and south poles; treeless land with long long summer days and short periods of winter sunlight, beneath the topsoil is a layer of permarfrost
- climax community
- a stable, mature community that undergoes little or no change in species over time
- permafrost
- layer of permanately frozen ground
- photic zones
- portion of the marine biome that is shallow enough for sunlight to penetrate
- grasslands
- biome composed large communities covered with grasses and similar small plants; receives 25-75 cm precipitation annually
- plankton
- algae; small organisms that live in the waters of the photic zone
- desert
- arid region with sparse to almost nonexistant plant life; the driest biome, it gets less than 25 cm of precipitation annually
- estuary
- coastal body of water, partially surrounded by land, in which freshwater and salt water mix
- primary succession
- colonization of new land that is exposed by avalanches, volcanoes, or glaciers by pioneer organisms
- intertidal zone
- portion of shoreline that lies between the high and low tide lines
- taiga
- biome just south of the tundra; characterized by a northern coniferous forest composed of pine, fir, hemlock, and spruce tree and acidic, mineral-poor topsoils
- succession
- orderely, natural changes, and species replacements that take place in ecosystems communities over time
- temperate forests
- biome composed of forests of broad-leaved hardwood trees that lose their foliage annually; receives 70-150 cm of precipitation annually
- tropical rain forests
- biome near the equator with warm temperatures, wet weather, and lush plant growth; receives at least 200 cm of rain annually
- aphotic zones
- portion of the marine biome that is too deep for sunlight to penetrate