Examples of natural disturbances include fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, and floods. canopy dense covering formed by the leafy tops of tall rain forest trees disturbance A discrete event that disrupts an ecosystem or community. climograph a plot of the temperature and precipitation in a particular region ecotone The transition from one type of habitat or ecosystem to another, such as the transition from a forest to a grassland. (370) macroclimate climate patterns on the global, regional, and local level microclimate climate within a small area that differs significantly from the climate of the surrounding area abiotic nonliving, physical features of the environment, including air, water, sunlight, soil, temperature, and climate biotic the living organisms in an ecosystem biomes a broad, regional type of ecosystem characterized by distinctive climate and soil conditions and a distinctive kind of biological community adapted to those conditions. It is characterized by generally warm or hot temperatures year-round, though much variation exists due to altitude and other factors. organismal ecology the branch of ecology concerned with the morphological, physiological, and behavioral ways in which individual organisms meet the challenges posed by their biotic and abiotic environments tropics Equatorial region between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

Population a group of organisms of the same species populating a given area population ecology The study of populations in relation to the environment, including environmental influences on population density and distribution, age structure, and variations in population size.

Coursenotes ap bio ninth edition