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Ecology & Biome Vocabulary

Word Definition Examples

Organism Any living thing

Abiotic Not living rocks,

water, sun

Create a table in your lab notebook with these headings. You

will use the front and back of a page. There are vocabulary

words underlined, the definition column should be the largest.

You may choose to draw a picture or list examples.

Biosphere

Ecosystem

Community

Population

Organism

Levels of Ecological Organization

- way of grouping like things ecologically

Biosphere

Parts of the Earth needed to support life,

top portion of Earth’s crust, all waters on

Earth and the surrounding atmosphere

BiomeLarge area of land that has similar weather and

organisms: examples include desert, tropical

rainforest, freshwater, saltwater and grassland

Ecosystem

Consists of all the living and nonliving factors of the environment.

Abiotic

nonliving things in an environment (Never living); soil, water, temperature, wind.

Air

Biotic

living or once living (dead) things in an environment; plants and animals.

CommunityAll the populations in an ecosystem

(includes different species).

Ex. All the seals, sharks, whales, and seaweed by a corral reef

PopulationAll organisms in an ecosystem that

belong to the same species.

(all the same kind of organism in an area)

Ex. School of fish or a flock of birds

OrganismAny living thing. Ex. Plant, animal,

fungi, bacteria etc.

Producer

Organisms (plants) that use the sun to make food (photosynthesis)

ConsumerOrganism that cannot make their own food, eat other organisms.

Decomposer: organism that breaks down wastes and dead plants and animals

Plants use decomposer waste as fertilizer

Fungi (mushrooms), bacteria, worms

HabitatWhere an organism lives

Forest – habitat of a wolf

Microhabitat – small habitat within a larger one

Decaying tree – habitat for insects

NicheHow an organisms survives.

• Obtains food & shelter

• Finds mate & cares for young

Adaptation

A change developed over many generations that help an

organism to survive. Animals depend on these features to

help them obtain food, keep safe, build homes, withstand

weather, and attract mates. Examples include: gills in fish,

hollow bones in birds, xylem in plants, the shape of a bird's

beak, color of the fur, the thickness of the fur, the shape of

the nose or ears

Biological Diversity, AKA

Biodiversity

Variety of organisms in an area

• More Biodiversity = healthy or stable

ecosystem, like Tropical Rainforest

• Less Biodiversity = unstable or fragile

ecosystem, like Tundra

Biomes• 6 Major Terrestrial Biomes (land)

– Tundra

– Taiga

– Deciduous Forest

– Tropical Rain Forest

– Desert

– Grasslands

• 2 Major Aquatic or Marine Biomes (water)

– Salt Water (Ocean, Reef, Shoreline)

– Fresh Water (Rivers, Lakes, Ponds, swamps)

Biome Location Climate:

Temperature,

Rainfall, soil

Plants Animals

Make the headers below to fill in as each

biome is discussed. Climate, plants, and

animals should be the biggest columns.

Tundra

Located near North Pole (Alaska)

Extremely cold

Little precipitation, but limited drainage

Soil is frozen, called “Permafrost”

Low biotic diversity

Simple vegetation (plants)

Short season of growth and reproduction

Treeless

Plants: lichen, moss, grass, small shrubs

Animals: insects and migratory birds in summer,

hawks, snow owls, mice, arctic hares, reindeer

Tundra

Largest Biome

South of the Tundra

Long cold, snowy winters and Short warm, rainy,

humid summers

Plants: Coniferous forest (cone bearing)

Animals: Moose, lynx, shrews, bears, foxes

Taiga (TI guh)

Deciduous Forest

•Eastern U.S., Russia, Japan, New Zealand,

Southeastern Australia

•4 distinct seasons

•Deciduous trees (have leaves that change

color that they lose in the Fall)

•Lots of decomposition on forest floor: insect

diversity

•Plants: Oak, maple, and hickory trees

•Animals: Bald eagles, coyote, platypus,

squirrel, deer

Tropical Rain Forest

Near the equator

Warm temperatures and lots of precipitation

Temperature doesn’t vary much night and day

Little nutrients in soil because of competition

of abundance of plant life

Very diverse plants and animals (Coconut

trees)

DesertDriest Biome

Rain quickly evaporates or drains

away

Animals: Few large animals,

kangaroo rat, scorpions (Most

nocturnal and burrowing because

extreme temperatures

Few plants: cacti, joshua tree

Sandy soil with little organic matter

Grasslands

Located in mid and western U.S.

Thin soil and a season with little rain

Plants: grasses, small shrubs, few trees

Animals: kangaroo, zebra, wildebeest, lion

Freshwater

Rivers, streams, creeks, lakes and ponds

algae, moss, plankton, alligators, turtles

Salt Water

Ocean (Light & Dark zones), coral reef, seashoreStarfish, crab, sharks, whales, fish, seaweed, kelp

Intertidal zone

Biome Collage• Choose a biome to draw and color. Include an example of each

vocabulary word in your biome and label each word.

– Biosphere

– Ecosystem

– Abiotic

– Biotic

– Community

– Population

– Organism

– Producer

– Consumer

– Decomposer

– Niche

– Microhabitat

– Adaptation

Fresh Water

Biome

Abiotic

Population

Bio

sphere