a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, e.g. forest or tundra.
What is a biome?
active at night
What is nocturnal?
inactive during the winter
What is hibernate?
not actively growing
What is dormant?
move from one habitat to another during seasonal changes
What is migrate?
the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period.
What is climate?
a wetland typically dominated by grasses and non woody plants
What are marshes?
forests of dense evergreen trees
What is taiga?
areas of land that are covered by freshwater for part of the year
What are wetlands?
the uppermost trees or branches of trees in a forest
What is the canopy?
the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem
What is biodiversity?
lakes and ponds – freshwater systems characterized by still water
What are lentic systems?
when large algae blooms deplete the oxygen in a water system, causing fish to die
What is eutrophication?
defense mechanism to blend in with their surroundings, usually to avoid predators
What is camouflage?
open grasslands characterized by very few trees with little rain, the climate is mostly dry
What is savanna?
are bottom-dwelling organisms of the sea or ocean and are often attached to hard surfaces.
What are bethos?
all organisms that swim actively in open water, independent of currents
What are nekton?
layer of soil that remains frozen all year
What is permafrost?
the angular distance of a place north or south of the earth's equator
What is latitude?
A measure of how much salt is in water
What is salinity?
biomes are characterized by extremely cold temperatures and treeless, frozen landscapes
What is tundra?
a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment.
What is an adaptation?
the height of an object or point in relation to sea level or ground level.
What is altitude?
are the mass of mostly microscopic organisms that float or drift freely in the water, and can be microscopic animals called zooplankton or microscopic plants called phytoplankton
What are plankton?
rivers and streams – freshwater systems characterized by moving water
What are lotic systems?