AP Biology Unit 8: Ecology Exam Questions With Verified Answers.

AP Biology Unit 8: Ecology Exam Questions With Verified Answers. Climate - answerThe long-term prevailing weather conditions at a given place. abiotic - answerNonliving; referring to the physical and chemical properties of an environment. biotic - answerPertaining to the living factors—the organisms—in an environment. biomes - answerAny of the world's major ecosystem types, often classified by temperature and precipitation disturbance - answerA natural or human-caused event that changes a biological community and usually removes organisms from it. Disturbances, such as fires and storms, play a pivotal role in structuring many communities. thermocline - answerA narrow stratum of abrupt temperature change in the ocean and in many temperate-zone lakes. dispersal - answerThe movement of individuals or gametes away from their parent location. This movement sometimes expands the geographic range of a population or species. tropical forest - answerA terrestrial biome characterized by relatively high precipitation and temperatures year-round. savanna - answerA tropical grassland biome with scattered individual trees and large herbivores and maintained by occasional fires and drought. desert - answerA terrestrial biome characterized by very low precipitation. chaparral - answerA biome characterized by mild, rainy winters and long, hot, dry summers; dominated by dense, spiny evergreen shrubs temperate grassland - answerA terrestrial biome that exists at midlatitude regions and is dominated by grasses and forbs. temperate broadleaf forest - answerA biome located throughout midlatitude regions where there is sufficient moisture to support the growth of large, broadleaf deciduous trees. northern coniferous forest - answerA terrestrial biome characterized by long, cold winters and dominated by cone-bearing trees.