Biosphere
All of the parts of earth in which life exists
What is Biosphere?
Layer of permanently frozen subsoil and the Biome that it is located in.
What is permafrost and Tundra?
Any nutrient that limits productivty
What is a limiting nutrient?
Place that an organism lives
What is a habitat?
Characteristics of Estuaries and Coastal Waters
What is the Chesapeake bay is the largest, diverse community, vital nurseries for animals as well as disrupted by human activities and hurricanes?
Scientific study of interactions among organisms, populations, communities and their interactions with the environment
Characteristics of tropical rain forests
What is at least 2 meters of rain, soil not rich in nutrients and subject to erosion, and warm and wet year round?
Process by which chemical elements and compounds are recycled and move through earth's systems and how they are broken down
What is biogeochemical cycles and they are broken down into biological, geological, physical and chemical and human activities?
Plays a vital role in maintaining structure, stability and diversity in an ecosystem
What is a keystone species?
Characteristics of Rivers and Streams
What is their riverbanks are home to animals and plants that rely on them for nutrients, main ones are the James, York and Rappahannock, and they are inhabited by minnows,trout and insects?
Natural process that warms the earth's surface by trapping heat from the sun in the atmosphere
Characteristics of a Desert
What is Low precipitation, Variable temperatures, Soils rich in minerals but poor in organic material?
Differences between producers and consumers
What is producers make their own food and consumers get their energy from other organisms?
Ecological relationship between organisms of different species and the 3 types
What is symbiosis? What are Mutualism, Commensalism and Parasitism?
Characteristics of Northern Conifer-Hardwood Forests
What is they are found in the Appalachian range bordering streams, contains conifers to hardwoods and greater diversity of birds than other forests?
Difference between climate and weather
What is climate is patterns and averages of of temperature, precipitation clouds and wind over years; and Weather is short term changes in temp, precipitation, clouds and wind from day to day or hour to hour?
6 main biomes
What is Tropical, Tundra, Dessert, Temperate, Aquatic, and Rain Forest?
Difference between food chains and food webs
What is food chains are linear and simple while food webs are complex and made of multiple food chains?
Series of somewhat predictable events that occur in a community over time. List the 2 types and how they are different.
What is ecological succession? What is primary Succession- it occurs on newly formed rock or other areas that have no remnants of an older community? What is secondary succession that occurs when a community is disturbed but not completely destroyed?
Characteristics of Loblolly Pine-Oak forests
What is they occur in a wide range of conditions, trees in dry areas may never reach their full height, in wetter area they provide shade so American holly can grow and many animals live together?
Levels of organization from smallest to largest
What is Species, Population, Community, Ecosystem, Biome, Earth(Biosphere)?
Types of Aquatic Biomes and their differences.
What are Marine, Freshwater and Estuaries?
Marine are oceans with 3 zones (Intertidal, Coastal and Open Ocean)
Freshwater includes rivers and streams, lakes and ponds and freshwater wetlands. They are non salt water aquatic ecosystems
Estuaries are where salt and freshwater meet
Types on consumers (There are 6 of them)
What are Carnivores, Herbivores, Scavengers, Omnivores, Decomposers and Detritivores?
Types of biodiversity and their differences
What is Ecosystem, Species and Genetic?
Ecosystem- variety of habitats, community and ecological processes in the biosphere
Species- number of different species in the biosphere
Genetic- Variety of genes within a species
Characteristics of Mesic Deciduous Forests
What is it includes oak-hickory which is the climax community of most of Virginia, it has a large variety of animals because of the amount of cover provided and its an area affected by logging and development?