Chapter 52 Vocabulary

Question 0

The long term, prevailing weather conditions in a given area. Includes temperature, precipitation, sunlight, and wind

Answer 0

Climate

Question 1

The scientific study of the interactions between organisms and the environment

Answer 1

Ecology

Question 2

Biosphere

Answer 2

The global ecosystem, the sum of all the planets ecosystems and landscapes

Question 3

Global ecology

Answer 3

Examines how the regional exchange of energy and materials influences the functioning and distribution of organisms across the biosphere

Question 4

Landscape (or Seascape)

Answer 4

A mosaic of connected ecosystems

Question 5

Landscape ecology

Answer 5

Focuses on the factors of controlling exchanges of energy, materials, and organisms across multiple ecosystems

Question 6

Ecosystem

Answer 6

The community of organisms in an area and the physical factors with which those organisms interact

Question 7

Ecosystem ecology

Answer 7

Emphasizes energy flow and chemical cycling between organisms and the environment

Question 8

Community

Answer 8

A group of populations of different species in an area

Question 9

Community ecology

Answer 9

Examines how interactions between species, such as a predation and competition, affect community structure and organization

Question 10

Population

Answer 10

A group of individuals of the same species living in an area

Question 11

Population ecology

Answer 11

Analyzes factors that affect population size and how and why it changes through time

Question 12

Organismal ecology

Answer 12

Include subdisciplines of physiological, evolutionary and behavioral ecology, is concerned with how an organism structure, physiology, and behavior meet the challenges posed by its environment

Question 13

Tropics

Answer 13

Regions of sunlight

Question 14

Macro climate

Answer 14

Global, regional and landscape level

Question 15

Microclimate

Answer 15

Very fine, localized patterns, such as those encountered by the community of organisms that live in the microhabitat beneath a fallen log

Question 16

Abiotic

Answer 16

Nonliving factors

Question 17

Biotic

Answer 17

Living factors

Question 18

Biomes

Answer 18

Major life zones and characterized by vegetation type in terrestrial biomes, or by the physical environment in aquatic biomes

Question 19

Climograph

Answer 19

A plot of the annual mean temperature and precipitation in a particular region

Question 20

Ecotone

Answer 20

The area of integration between biomes

Question 21

Canopy

Answer 21

The top tree layer

Question 22

Disturbance

Answer 22

Any events such as a storm, fire, or human activity that changes a community, removing organisms from it and altering resource availability

Question 23

Tropical rainforests

Answer 23

Rainfall is relatively constant, about 200 to 400 cm annually

Question 24

Tropical dry forests

Answer 24

Precipitation is highly seasonal, about 150 to 200 cm annually, with a 6 to 7 months dry season

Question 25

Deserts

Answer 25

Occur in bands near 30° North and South latitude or at other latitudes in the interior of continents

Question 26

Chaparral

Answer 26

This biome occurs in mid-latitude coastal regions on several continents, and it’s many names reflect its far-flung distribution. Scrub landscape, goats, hills, gets extremely hot during summer.

Question 27

Savanna

Answer 27

Warm year-round, averaging 24 to 29°C, but with somewhat more seasonal variations than in tropical forests

Question 28

Temperate grasslands

Answer 28

Planes and prairies of central North America are examples

Question 29

Northern coniferous forest

Answer 29

Extending in a broad band and across northern North America and Eurasia to the edge of the Arctic tundra, it is the largest terrestrial biome on earth

Question 30

Tundra

Answer 30

Covers expensive areas of the Arctic, amounting to 20% of earths land surface. High winds and low temperatures produce similar plant communities, called alpine tundra, on very high mountain tops at all latitudes, including the tropics

Question 31

Temperate broadleaf forest

Answer 31

A mature temperate broadleaf forest has distinct vertical years, including a closed canopy, one or two strata of understory trees, a shrub later, and an herb layer. There are a few epiphytes. The dominant plants in the northern hemisphere are deciduous trees, which drop their leaves before winter

Question 32

Photic zone

Answer 32

Upper area of water, there is sufficient light for photosynthesis

Question 33

Aphotic zone

Answer 33

Lower area of water, where little light penetrates

Question 34

Pelagic zone

Answer 34

The photic and aphotic zones together make up this zone

Question 35

Abyssal zone

Answer 35

Lies deep in the aphotic zone, part of the ocean 2000 to 6000 m below the surface

Question 36

Benthic zone

Answer 36

At the bottom of all aquatic biomes, deep or shallow. Made up of sand and organic and inorganic sediments

Question 37

Benthos

Answer 37

What occupies the benthic zone. Communities of organisms collectively called benthos

Question 38

Detritus

Answer 38

Dead organic matter, food source for benthic species, “rains” down from productive surface waters of the photic zone

Question 39

Thermocline

Answer 39

A narrow layer of abrupt temperature change. Separates the more uniformly warm upper layer from more uniformly cold deeper waters

Question 40

Turnover

Answer 40

Many temperate lakes undergo a semi annual mixing of their waters as a result of changing temperature profiles. Sends oxidated water from a lake’s surface to the bottom and brings nutrient rich water from the bottom to the surface in both spring and autumn

Question 41

Oligotrophic lakes

Answer 41

Nutrient poor and generally oxygen-rich

Question 42

Eutrophic lakes

Answer 42

Nutrient rich and often depleted of oxygen in the deepest zone in summer and if covered with ice in winter

Question 43

Littoral zone

Answer 43

The shallow, well lit waters close to shore only in lakes

Question 44

Limnetic zones

Answer 44

Farther from shore, where water is too deep to support routed aquatic plants, inhabited by a variety of phytoplankton including cyanobacteria

Question 45

Estuary

Answer 45

A transition area between river and sea

Question 46

Intertidal zone

Answer 46

Periodically submerged and exposed by the tides, twice daily on most marine shores

Question 47

Oceanic pelagic zone

Answer 47

A vast realm of open blue water, constantly mixed by wind driven oceanic currents. Because of high water clarity, the photic zone extends to greater depths than in coastal marine waters

Question 48

Coral reefs

Answer 48

Formed largely from the calcium carbonate skeletons of corals. Shallow reef building corals live in the photic zone of relatively stable tropical marine environments with high water clarity, primarily on islands and along the edge of some continents

Question 49

Marine benthic zone

Answer 49

Consists of the seafloor below the surface waters of the coastal, or neritic, zone and the offshore, pelagic zone

Question 50

Neritic zone

Answer 50

Relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop off of the continental shelf, approximately 200 m in depth

Question 51

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents

Answer 51

Dark, hot environments where food producers are chemoautotrophic prokaryotes that obtain energy by oxidizing dihydrogen sulfide (H2S) formed by a reaction of the hot water with dissolve sulfate

Question 52

Dispersal

Answer 52

The movement of individuals or gametes away from their area of origin or from centers of high population density