Cycles of matter
A cycle including processes such as evaporation, condensation, and precipitation
The Water Cycle
The movement of organisms from one place to another
Dispersal
Organisms that use the sun's energy to turn water and carbon dioxide into food molecules
Producers
a group of ecosystems with similar climates and organisms
Biome
The two major types of aquatic ecosystems
marine and freshwater
A process which converts "free" nitrogen gas into a usable form of nitrogen for plants
Nitrogen fixation
The study of where organisms live
Biogeography
A carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms
Scavenger
A biome which averages 234 cm of rain each year with annual temperatures ranging from 22 C to 26 C throughout the year
Tropical Rain Forest
the annual climate pattern in a tropical rain forest
consistently warm temperatures with massive amounts of annual precipitation
bacteria
The very slow movement of huge blocks of Earth's crust
Continental drift
Organisms which break down wastes and dead organisms to return raw materials to the environment
Decomposers
the key information needed to identify a biome correctly
Climate (precipitation, and temperature)
When a species moves into a new area it must find a unique niche to survive making this a limiting factor to dispersal
competition
This cannot be recycled in ecosystems and must be continually added to ecosystems (most often in the form of sunlight)
Energy
Wind, water, and living things are all three means of this process
people who study the way energy flows in an ecosystem
Ecologists
the two reasons why the grassland biome has few trees
not enough rain, large herbivores keep tree sprouts down in number by eating so many young trees
a biome with extremely cold and dry climate patterns
Tundra
The process employed by plants, algae, and some microorganisms to make food molecules
Photosynthesis
Species that have been carried into a new location by people
exotic species (invasive species)
A series of predictable changes that occur over time in a community
Succession
a biome containing wolves, foxes, and caribou
Tundra
the three limits to dispersal
physical barriers, competition, and climate