A measure of the degree to which an ecosystem possesses large numbers of particular species. An abundant ecosystem may or may not have a wide array of different species. Compare with complexity.
A type of plant that produces flowers during sexual reproduction.
The study of the geographic distribution of plants and animals, both today and over the course of extended periods.
The living components of an ecosystem.
A large ecosystem, characterized by its dominant life-forms.
A combination of all living things on Earth—plants, animals, birds, marine life, insects, viruses, single-cell organisms, and so on—as well as all formerly living things that have not yet decomposed.
A combination of all flora and fauna (plant and animal life, respectively) in a region.
Life-related.
The upper portion or layer of the trees in a forest. A forest with a closed canopy is one so dense with vegetation that the sky is not visible from the ground.
The pattern of weather conditions in a particular region over an extended period. Compare with weather.
A theoretical notion intended to describe a biological community that has reached a stable point as a result of ongoing succession. In such a situation, the community is at equilibrium with environmental conditions, and conditions are stable, such that the biota experiences little change thereafter.
Interaction between organisms of the same or different species brought about by their need for a common resource that is available in quantities insufficient to meet the biological demand.
The range of ecological niches within a biological community. The degree of complexity is the number of different species that could exist, in theory, in a given biota, as opposed to its diversity, or the actual range of existing species.
A type of tree that produces cones bearing seeds.
A measure of the number of different species within a biological community.
A community of interdependent organisms along with the inorganic components of their environment.
A term describing the interaction of plants, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, decomposers, and detritivores in an ecosystem. Each of these organisms consumes nutrients and passes it along to other organisms. Earth scientists typically prefer this name to food chain, an everyday term for a similar phenomenon. A food chain is a series of singular organisms in which each plant or animal depends on the organism that precedes it. Food chains rarely exist in nature.
In general terms, a forest is simply any ecosystem dominated by tree-size woody plants. Numerous other characteristics and parameters (for example, weather, altitude, and dominant species) further define types of forests, such as tropical rain forests.
Succession on a very small scale within a larger ecosystem or biological community. Microsuccession can occur at the level of a stand of trees or even a single tree.
The process whereby some organisms thrive and others perish, depending on their degree of adaptation to a particular environment.
A term referring to the role that a particular organism plays within its biological community.
An adjective for a climax community.
The progressive replacement of earlier biological communities with others over time. Succession, which can culminate in a climax community (see climax ), is either primary, which occurs where there is no preexisting biological community (or no such community has survived), or secondary, in which a biological community regenerates in the wake of a disturbance, such as a forest fire.
Various stages within a food web. For instance, plants are on one trophic level, herbivores on another, and so on.
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