Chapter 6 Key Terms Flashcards
Biome
A large region characterized by a specific type of climate and certain types of living communities.
Climate
Weather conditions such as; temperature, precipitation, humidity, and wind.
Latitude
How far you are away from the equator.
Altitude
Height of an object above sea level.
Tropical Rain Forest
Always humid and warm, rains about 200-450cm a year. Very wide variety of plants and animals.
Emergent Layer
The top layer of the rain forest, mostly the tops of the tallest trees.
Canopy
Considered the primary layer of the rainforest, can be split into upper and lower canopies.
Epiphyte
Plants that use the entire surface of the tree to survive, some growing into the high canopy.
Understory
Very little sunlight gets through to here, plants and animals have adapted to shade grow.
Temperate Rain Forest
Large amounts of precipitation and humidity, only one in America is in the Pacific Northwest.
Temperate Deciduous Forest
Trees drop their leaves in the winter months, growing season is only 4-6 months a year.
Taiga
Northern coniferous forest that stretches all the way across the northern hemisphere, plants almost exclusively grow in the summer due to such cold winter temperatures.
Savanna
A tropical biome dominated by grassland, shrubs, bushes, and small trees.
Temperate Grassland
Large areas of interior countries/states that are mostly grassland and cannot establish trees/shrubs because too little rain and too many fires.
Chparral
A temperate shrubland biome, found all over the world and almost no rain in the summer.
