Human activity damages the biosphere. Exponential population growth, destruction of habitats for agriculture and mining, pollution from industry and transportation, and many other activities all contribute to the damage of the environment. Some of...

  The biosphere is divided into regions called biomes that exhibit common environmental characteristics. Each biome is occupied by unique communities or ecosystems of plants and animals that share adaptations which promote survival within the biome....

  Biogeochemical cycles describe the flow of essential elements from the environment to living things and back to the environment. The following list outlines the major storage locations (reservoirs) for essential elements, the processes through which...

  A major goal in the study of ecosystems is to examine the production and utilization of energy. To assist in this goal, plants and animals are organized into groups called trophic levels that reflect their main energy source, as...

  Ecological succession is the change in the composition of species over time. The traditional view of succession describes how one community with certain species is gradually and predictably replaced by another community consisting of different...

  In the contest between predator and prey, some prey may have unique heritable characteristics that enable them to more successfully elude predators. Similarly, some predators may have characteristics that enable them to more successfully...