Atmosphere: The mixture of gases which make up the air surrounding the earth.
Biome: One of the large ecosystems into which the earth's land surface can be divided. Each is the climax community of a region with a particular climate.
Biosphere: The global ecosystem, composed of the earth's surface, its waters, atmosphere and all the living things it supports.
Carnivore: An animal (or sometimes plant) that feeds on animals.
Climate: Large-scale weather conditions (e.g. temperature, wind and humidity) that are characteristic of a certain region.
Climax Community: A community that remains virtually unchanged, as long as there are no climatic or environmental changes.
Community: The plants and animals within a certain habitat.
Coniferous forest: Cold all year, dominated by forests of conifers (e.g. spruce and pine), deer and wolves.
Consumer: An organism that feeds on other organisms.
Deciduous forest: Warm summers, cold winters, mainly deciduous woodland (e.g. oak or beech), variety of animals.
Desert: Extremes of temperature, little rain, scarcity of life.
Ecology: The study of the relationship between organisms
and their environment.
Ecosystem: A community of organisms and their environment functioning as an ecological unit.
Food chain: A series of organisms linked together in the order that they feed on each other.
Food web: All of the interlinked food chains in a community or an ecosystem.
Herbivore: Animals that only eat plants.
Maquis: Warm, wet winters, hot, dry summers, scrubland.
Photosynthesis: The process by which plants use light energy trapped by chlorophyll to convert water and carbon dioxide into stored energy or food.
Predator: An animal that hunts and kills another animal for food.
Prey: An animal that is hunted by another animal, a predator.
Primary consumers: Animals that are the first ring of a food chain; Hebivores.
Savannah: (tropical grassland) - hot
with wet winters, open plains with trees, antelopes.
Secondary consumers: Animals in the second level of the food chain which eat herbivores; Carnivore.
Temperate grassland: Hot summers, cold winters, open grassy plains, buffalo.
Territory: An area occupied by one or more organisms and defended against other organisms (especially of the same species).
Tertiary consumers: The third level of the food chain consist of animals who eat herbivores and carnivores; Carnivores or Omnivores.
Tropical forest: Hot and wet, with a great diversity of life, (e.g. monkeys and exotic birds).
Tundra: Very cold, windy and treeless, little animal life.