Biomes Vocabulary

One of the world's major communities, classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment.

• An animal
• A Biome
• A Rainforest
• A Desert

The most complex of all communities, located near the equator where rainfall is abundant; harbors more species of plants and animals than all other terrestrial biomes combined.

• Producer
• Desert
• Consumer
• Tropical Rainforest

A biome located throughout midlatitude regions where there is sufficient moisture to support the growth of large, broad-leaf deciduous trees.

• Temperate Deciduous Forest
• A biome
• Tropical Forest
• An ocean

A region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all:

•  Ocean
• Grasslands 
• Desert
• Prairie

An area, as a prairie, in which the natural vegetation consists largely of perennial grasses, characteristic of subhumid and semiarid climates.

• Grasslands
• Rivers
• Lake

The pathway along which food is transferred from trophic level to trophic level, beginning with producers.

• Food Chain
• Prey 
• Consumer
• Producer

An autotrophic organism, usually a photosynthesizer, that contributes to the net primary productivity of a community.

• Consumer
• Producer
• Prey
• Predator

A heterotroph that derives its energy from living or freshly killed organisms or parts thereof. Primary consumers are herbivores; higher-level consumers are carnivores.

• Consumer
• Producer
• Food Chain
• Prey

An animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.

• Second level consumer
• First level consumer
• Carnivore
• Plant

A carnivore that feeds only upon herbivores.

• First level consumer
• Second level consumer
• Producer
• Giver