Across
- 3. an organism that can produce its own food using light, water, carbon dioxide, or other chemicals
- 9. biome (major life zone) of vegetation composed primarily of cone-bearing needle-leaved or scale-leaved evergreen trees, found in northern circumpolar forested regions characterized by long winters and moderate to high annual precipitation.
- 10. the long-term, predictable atmospheric conditions of a specific area
- 11. made of the layers of gases surrounding a planet or other celestial body
- 13. organism on the food chain that depends on autotrophs (producers) or other consumers for food, nutrition, and energy
- 14. lands where saturation with water is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and on its surface.
- 15. the increases in cell size and number that take place during the life history of an organism
- 17. the above-ground portion of vegetation in forests consisting of the tops of trees forming a kind of ceiling
- 18. the study of the characteristics of populations
- 21. the part of the earth's atmosphere which extends from the top of the troposphere to about 30 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface and in which temperature increases gradually to about 32°F (0°C) and clouds rarely form.
- 24. the ability to endure unusually large doses of a drug or toxin
- 25. the largest unit used by scientists to describe geographic regions around the world that share similar characteristics
- 26. the act of leaving one's own country to settle permanently in another; moving abroad.
- 27. made up of the trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants that exist below the canopy
- 29. an area with a particular combination of physical and biological environmental factors that affect which organisms can live within it
Down
- 1. the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country.
- 2. an organism that consumes other organisms in a food chain
- 4. the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar
- 5. the taking in and use of food and other nourishing material by the body.
- 6. the role an organism plays in a community.
- 7. microscopic organisms that live in watery environments, both salty and fresh
- 8. the amount of living material provided by a given area or volume of the earth's surface, whether terrestrial or aquatic.
- 12. a permanently frozen layer on or under Earth's surface
- 14. the short term state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, including the temperature, humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, wind, etc.
- 16. dark, organic material that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decays
- 19. the terrestrial biosphere in its contemporary, human-altered form using global ecosystem units defined by patterns of sustained direct human interaction.
- 20. the microbial process of reducing nitrate and nitrite to gaseous forms of nitrogen, principally nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitrogen (N2)
- 22. matter composed of leaves and other plant parts, animal remains, waste products, and other organic debris that falls onto the soil or into bodies of water from surrounding terrestrial communities.
- 23. the synthesis of organic compounds by bacteria or other living organisms using energy derived from reactions involving inorganic chemicals, typically in the absence of sunlight.
- 28. a partially enclosed, coastal water body where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with salt water from the ocean