The water then accumulates as runoff and eventually returns to bodies of water or is absorbed into the Earth (infiltration) and becomes part of the water table, an underground resevoir of fresh water.

Below domain, life is classified into six kingdoms: plants, animals, archaebacteria, eubacteria, and fungi. The last kingdom, protists, include all microscopic organisms that are not bacteria, animals, plants or fungi. (Archaebacteria and eubacteria are sometimes combined into a single kingdom, monera.)

Rising into the atmosphere, the water condenses into clouds. When the clouds become too saturated with water, the water is released as snow or ice precipitation which may warm as it falls to reach Earth as rain.

Producers (autotrophs) serve as a food source for other organisms. Typical producers are plants that can make their own food through photosynthesis and certain bacteria that are capable of converting inorganic substances into food through chemosynthesis

A population is a group of organisms of the same species who live in the same area at the same time. A community is a group of populations living and interacting with each other in an area.