Biome - Humans, Examples, Body, Water, Process, Earth, Life, Plants

Words to Know

Anthropogenic: Resulting from the influence of human action on nature.

Aquatic: Related to water.

Benthic: Referring to the deepest parts of the oceans.

Boreal: Located in a northern region.

Conifer: Plants whose seeds are stored in cones and that retain their leaves all year around.

Deciduous: Plants that lose their leaves at some season of the year, and then grow them back at another season.

Ecosystem: An ecological community, including plants, animals, and microorganisms, considered together with their environment.

Eutrophic: A productive aquatic region with a large nutrient supply.

Herbaceous: A type of plant that has little or no woody tissue and usually lives for only one growing season.

Lentic ecosystem: An ecosystem that contains standing water.

Lotic ecosystem: An ecosystem that consists of running water.

Monoculture: An ecosystem dominated by a single species.

Oligotrophic: An unproductive aquatic region with a relatively modest nutrient supply.

Pelagic: Referring to the open oceans.

Polyculture: An ecosystem that consists of a wide variety of species.

Temperate: Mild or moderate.

Tropical: Characteristic of a region or climate that is frost free with temperatures high enough to support—with adequate precipitation—plant growth year round.

Upwelling: The process by which lower, nutrient-rich waters rise upward to the ocean's surface.

Wetlands: Areas that are wet or covered with water for at least part of the year.