Ecology is the study of a organisms relationship with its environment

Organismal ecology includes the fields physiological, evolutionary, and behavioral ecology that is focused on organisms structure, physiology and behavior to respond and survive in its environments.

Population ecology is a group of individuals of the same species living in a area. This branch of ecology analyzes factors that affect population size and how and why it changes over time

Community ecology is the ecology of multiple different species in a area. It studys the relationships among these species such as predation and competition, and how they affect community structure and organization

Ecosystem ecology-a community of organisms along with the physical factors they deal with and interact. This study deals with energy flow and chemical cycling between organisms and environments

Landscape Ecology covers connected ecosystems like bodies of water and land and how they exchange resources organisms, and energy

Global ecology is the study of the biosphere which is the sum of all the planets ecosystem and landscapes and how their exchanges affects environments and organisms

Tropics are areas on the earth that receive the most sunlight due to being at the center of the earth which receive sun rays directly beaming

Climate is the long term prevailing weather conditions in a given area.

Biotic factors are living factors that affect organisms and their environments along with their interaction

Climate change is the directional change to the global climate caused by a particular behavior or phenomena

Earths life and habitats are categorized into biomes

Climograph is a plot of the annual mean temperature and precipitation in a area

ecotone is the area between two biomes that overlap

Vegetation grows vertically being dependent on placement that affects its access to sunlight, water, and nutrients in the soil

The upper part of trees is referred to as a canopy, followed by the low tree layer, shrub understory, ground layer of herbaceous plants, the forest floor, and the root layer.

disturbance is any event or condition that affects the biome

Tropical forest biomes come in two forms, as tropical rain forests and tropical dry forests. known for its humidity and precipitation. Most abundant amount of life is in these biomes.

Deserts are the driest biomes with little rainfall and extreme temps. Life here is adapted to drought and limited access to water

Savanna is a biome with long stretches of flatlands with dry and warm weather and precipitation for half of the year. organisms have adapted to the constant exposure to the sun and abundance of flat lands by becoming drought resistant and in animals a emphasis on stamina to migrate throughout its territory during seasonal changes.

Chaparral occurs along the coasts of countries, the terrain is hilly and tough due to being located along the coast its constant pressure placed on it by the sea. This biomes weather and precipitation pattern is dependent on the season with rainy winters and dry summers. Animals both that reside in terrain and aquatic environments reside here. They have adapted to work through the areas common droughts and fires containing adaptations that aid in water retention and survival during and after fires

Temperate grasslands are biomes like america with long stretches of clear land with patches of vegetation. Its climate usually contains dry winters and wet flooding summers leading to migration to different environments with access to water. Plants and animals alike have adapted to a environment that experiences drought and fires, often being able to grow quickly after a fire, or burrowing in the ground during fires.

Northern Coniferous forest is the largest biome. The climate contributes to a tendency to experience drought in this area. The weather usually has cold winters and hot summers. Plants have adapted to survive droughts fires and to survive extrremely cold temperatures even snow. Animals also have adapted to the long stretches of winter seasons in this biome in order to survive and procreate in its environment.

Temperate Broadleaf forests are usually located north of the hemisphere. Has a high amount of precipitation throughout all seasons, temperature is seasonal with hot humid temps in the summer and snow in the winter. Plants in this biome grow abundantly vertically, and are adapted to surviving frozen ground and retaining water in frozen conditions. Animals usually adapt to the seasonal changes by migrating and hibernating

Tundra cover 20% of the earths surface in the arctic. Conditions include high winds and low temperatures. Its land conditions make for most of the vegetation here being herbs, rooted plants are unable to grow here due to a permanently frozen layer of soil called permafrost. Animals and plants are usually grazing and migratory species that reside in the tundra seasonally.

Aquatic biomes are defined by their chemical and physical content and concentration, along with interaction with neighboring biomes and bodies of water and soil.

photic zone region of aquatic biome that is covered by sun rays

aphotic zone is where little light penetrates the water in a aquatic biome

Both the photic and aphotic zone makeup the pelagic zone.

The abyssal zone is below the surface level and resides in the aphotic zone

The benthic zone is the bottom of these aquatic zones and is made up of sand or inorganic sediments. Contains organisms that reside in this zone referred to as benthos

Detritus is a source of food that rains down from the productive surface waters of the photic zone

Thermocline is a layer of water that experiences temperature changes and seperates the water that moves above due to the water heating cycle and the colder deeper water that isn't penetrated by light

Turnover is a semiannual mixing of the seperate water temperature zones where water is circulated between the two zones sending oxygen and nutrients through the two areas.

Lakes are biomes as small as a pond to as big as any body of water up until the great lakes themselves. Light cannot penetrate this whole biome so there is stratification, as well as possibly seasonal thermocline

A lakes chemical environment can determine the category it falls under.

Oligotrophic lakes are nutrient poor and oxygen rich.

eutrophic lakes are nutrient rich and depleted of oxygen in its deepest zones in summer and if covered with ice in winter.

Contains photosynthetic organisms because of high concentratrion of organic products produced by plants and decomposing done by microbes and organisms.

Near the surface in the littic zone are floating aquatic plants

Limnetic zone contains bacteria like cyanobacteria and phytoplankton

Heterotrophs such as zooplankton graze on phytoplankton. Organisms such as fish live in the various zones based on the amount of oxygen available to them.

Wetlands are responsible for a laerge part of the earths nutrient recycling and water purification

Abundant types of species have wetlands for a habitat in both fresh and marine water

Streams and Rivers are apart of the same biome as streams connecting together make up a river. The water temperature gradient is also various here being cold along streams and warm at the bottom that make up a river,

Streams are usually shallow and less concentrated with sediment but this increases as you go alongside streams up until the river which is where sediment sits.

streams that pass through grasslands and desserts usually contain photosynthetic aquatic plants and phytosynthetic

Contains an abundant amount of aquatic animals that feed on aquatic plants and organic matter from terrestrial vegetation.

Estuaries is a area transitioning between a river to the sea

Salinity and nutrient content varies throughout the estuarie

This direction of water creates along its path land areas such as islands mudflats and leevees

Grasses and algae are the most abundant producers in this area such as phytoplankton

A feeding and mating ground for many species of marine and aquatic life as well as terrestrial. Both freshwater and saltwater

Intertidal zones is submerged and exposed by tides even more so by tides. Salinity and temps vary throughout its area

Oxygen and nutrients are high and renewed by tides

Contains an abundance of algae and aquatic plants near the rocky coasts

Animals such as corals and starfish have adapted to stick to the surface of coasts to endure the tides

Oceanic pelagic zone is a biome in the open blue water. Has a large oxygen count but smaller nutrient count than coasts. Thermally stratified year round. Covers 70% of earths surface

Dominant photosynthetic organism is phytoplankton that follow ocean currents which also transport nutrients that feed them.

Most abundant heterotroph are zooplankton that feed on phytoplankton. Free swimming animals are also abundant here that feed on crustaceans that lurk on phytoplankton.

Coral reefs are formed along coasts by skeletons made up of calcium carbonate skeletons made of corals.

Require high oxygen levels and excluded by high inputs of freshwater and nutrients.

Algae lives alongside the coral and aquatic organisms in this biome in a mutualistic relationship that provides nutrients to parties involved. Contains diverse amounts of plants and animal life rivaling the rainforest

Marine Benthic zone is the seafloor below surface waters of the coast, or the neritic zone. Receives no sunlight and has low temperatures and high water pressure due to being underneath so much water. Has oxygen levels to support life. Photosynthetic organisms also exist in benthic areas due to partial sunlight here

Hydrothermal vents are formed here and lead to the inner earths molten core. unique organisms that can tolerate this extreme environment exist here.

Heterotrophs such as fish and vertebrates survive through organic matter falling from above.

Organisms concentration certain areas is affected by its dispersal and distribution

Dispersal is the movement of individuals or gametes away from their area of origin or place with a high population.

Biotic factos affecting a organisms distribution are predators, access to food and resources, parasites, pathogens and competition.

Abiotic factors are factors that aren't alive that affect an organisms ability to survive and reproduce