Biome Vocabulary

3. a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment
4. a hierarchical series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food
5. a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains
7. a measure of the degree to which the water loses its transparency due to the presence of suspended particulates
9. the series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, chiefly involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels
12. a graphical model of energy flow in a community
14. a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment
17. an animal or person that eats food of both plant and animal origin
18. the regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the earth
19. the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism

1. an animal that feeds on flesh, a meat eater
2. refers to microscopic bubbles of gaseous oxygen that are mixed in water and available to aquatic organisms for respiration—a critical process for almost all organisms
6. the cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land
8. a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat
9. a graphical representation of basic climatic parameters, that is monthly average temperature and precipitation, at a certain location
10. weather conditions over time
11. the tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream
13. an organism, especially a soil bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate, that decomposes organic material
15. a thick subsurface layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year
16. interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both