Biosphere – region of Earth that supports all living things.

Ecology – study of organisms and their interactions with environment.

Abiotic factors – nonlinving parts of environment.

Water,soil,light,living space, and temperature are nonliving things an environment provides to organism.

Niche – role an organism plays in ecosystem.

Climate – typical weather pattern of an area over time.

As altitude increases, temperature tends to decrease.

When temperatures are too low, trees will not grow.

Full development of topsoil takes about 100 years.

Some organisms have adapted to life in ocean where there is no sunlight.

Chemosynthetic bacteria produce energy from inorganic molecules.

When grasses become thick, there is no longer enough light or space to support growth of lichens and they disappear.

Secondary succession – succession that occurs in area where an existing community has been partially destroyed.

Grass is the usually the first plant to form in primary succession.

Climax succession – community that achieves relative stability.

The closer an island is to land, a plant or animal has a greater chance of survival to that island.

Biome – a major type of terrestrial ecosystem.

Each biome has its own temperature range, rainfall amounts and organisms.

Heterotrophs are organisms that can’t make their own food.

Below the photic zone is the aphotic zone.

Benthic zone – environment on the ocean floor.

Although, estuaries make up only 10% of marine biome, they contain almost 90% of marine life.

If too many nutrients are present, algae and plants may grow out of control.

The resulting oxygen-less water becomes uninhabitable for protozoa, fish and other small animals.

Much of the wetlands in U.S. have been lost to housing developments.