Nonliving aspect of the environment.
abiotic factor
Biome that is based in the water, such as ponds, lakes, streams, or oceans.
aquatic biome
Area with similar climate that includes similar communities of plants and animals.
biome
Living aspects of the environment.
biotic factor
Typical weather in an area over a long period of time.
climate
Ecological or environmental area in which a particular species live.
habitat
Movement of individual organisms into, or out of, a population.
migration
Biome that is based on land, such as a desert or rainforest.
terrestrial biome
Number of different species or organisms in an ecological unit (i.e. biome or ecosystem).
biodiversity
Biome with less than 50 cm of rainfall each year.
desert
Measure of how high land is above sea level.
elevation
Biological communities that are dominated by trees and other woody vegetation.
forest
Biome characterized as lands dominated by grasses rather than large shrubs or trees.
grassland
Amount of water in the air.
humidity
Distance of a place north or south of Earth's equator.
latitude
Biome noted for its frost-molded landscapes, extremely low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons; the coldest of all the biomes.
tundra
Area in aquatic biomes deeper than 200 meters so little light penetrates the water.
aphotic zone
Process of using the energy in chemical compounds to make food; characteristic of producers in ecosystems without sunlight.
chemosynthesis
Marine animals typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual polyps; includes the reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.
coral
Underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals; colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients.
coral reef
Partially enclosed body of water where fresh water from rivers and streams meets and mixes with salt water from an ocean.
estuary
Aquatic biome with a salt content of less than 1%; ponds and lakes, streams and rivers, and wetlands.
freshwater biome
Source of a river or stream; the place where a river begins its journey.
headwaters
Aquatic biome in the salt water of the ocean; also includes coral reefs and estuaries
marine biome
Part of the river where it empties into another body of water, such as another river, lake, bay, or ocean.
mouth