Key Terms set 1

31221974	Abiotic	Nonliving; referring to physical and chemical properties of an environment
31221975	abyssal zone	The part of the ocean's benthic zone between 2,000 and 6,000 m deep
31221976	Aphotic zone	The part of an ocean or lake beneath the photic zone, where light does not penetrate sufficiently for photosynthesis to occur
31221977	Benthic zone	The bottom surface of an aquatic environment
31221978	Benthos	The communities of organisms living in the benthic zone of an aquatic biome
31221979	Biomes	Any of the world's major ecosystems, often classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment
31221980	Biosphere	The entire portion of Earth's inhabited by life; the sum of all the planet's ecosystems
31221981	Biota	the living plants (flora) and living animals (fauna) of a region
31221982	Biotic	Pertaining to the living organisms in the environment
31221983	Canopy	The uppermost layer of vegetation in a terrestrial biome
31221984	Chaparral	A scrubland biome of dense, spiny, evergreen shrubs found at midlatitudes along coasts where cold ocean currents circulate offshore; characterized by mild, rainy winters and long, hot, dry summers
31221985	Climate	The long-term prevailing weather condition at a locality
31221986	Climograph	A plot of the temperature and precipitation in a particular region
31221987	Community	ALl the organisms that inhabit a particular areal an assemblage of populations of different species living close enough together for potential interaction
31221988	Community ecology	The study of how interactions between species affect community structure and organization
31221989	Coniferous forest	the worlds largest biome; during the summers, the soils remains very wet and is an ideal place for mosses to grow; found north of the deciduous forests
31221990	Coral reef	Typically a warm-water, tropical ecosystem dominated by the hard skeletal structures secreted primarily by the resident cnidarians. Some reefs also exist in cold, deep waters
31221991	Deep-sea hydrothermal vent	A dark, hot, oxygen-deficient environment associated with volcanic activity on or near the seafloor. The producers in a vent community are chemoautotrophic prokaryotes