Ecology
Terms
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- parasite
- an organism that obtains its nutrition at the expense of another
- regulators
- an organism that uses engergy to control its internal environment
- plankton
- the abundant small plant and animal organisms that drift or swim weakly near the surface of a body of water
- logistic growth
- a model of population growth in which birth and death rates vary with population size and are equal at the carryng capacity
- conformers
- an organism that does not regulate its internal environment
- fundamental niche
- the full range of conditions that a species can tolerate and resources it can use
- logistic model
- population growth building on the exponential model but accounts for the influence of limiting factors
- survivorship curve
- the graph of a species' mortality-rate data
- age structure
- the distribution of individuals among different ages in a population
- dispersion
- the spactial distribution of individuals in a population
- herbivore
- a consumer that eats primary producers
- abiotic factors
- any nonliving component of an ecosystem
- carrying capacity
- the number of individuals of a species that an ecosystem is capable of supporting
- limiting factor
- biotic or abiotic factor that restrains the growth of a population
- ecosystem
- all the biotic and abiotic components of an environment
- emigration
- the movement of individuals out of a population
- agricultural revolution
- dramatic change in lifestyle
- aphotic zone
- the ocean layer that receives no light
- ectoparasite
- a parasite that lives on a host but does not enter the host's body
- biosphere
- the area on and around Earth where life exists
- exponential model
- describes a population that increases rapidly after only a few generations
- developing countries
- includes most countries in Asia and all of the countries in Central America, South America, and Africa
- growth rate
- the amount by which a population's size changes in a given time
- photic zone
- the layer of the ocean that receives light
- intertidal zone
- an area along ocean shorelines that is repeatedly covered and uncovered by ocean tides
- parasitism
- a species interaction that resembles predation in that one individual is harmed while the other individual benefits
- oceanic zone
- one of two subareas of the pelagic zone
- endoparasite
- a parasite that lives inside the host's body
- immigration
- the movement of individuals into a population
- prey
- an individual that is captured, killed, and consumed by another individual
- secondary succession
- the sequential replacement of populations in a disrupted habitat
- stability
- indicates resistance to change
- mutualism
- a form of symbiosis in which both organsims benefit from living together
- mimicry
- a defense in which one organism resembles another that is dangerous or poisonous
- death/mortality rate
- the number of deaths occuring in a period of time
- competitive exclusion
- the local extinction of a species due to competition
- inbreeding
- mating with relatives
- pollinator
- an animal that carries pollen, such as insects, birds, or bats
- resource partitioning
- among similar species, a pattern of resource use in which species reduce their use of shared resources
- acclimation
- the process of an organism's adjustment to an abiotic factor
- pioneer species
- the first species to colonize a new habitat
- biotic factors
- a living component of an ecosystem
- secondary compound
- a poisonous, irritating, or bad-tasting substance synthesized by plants as a defense mechanism
- population
- all the members of a species that live in the same area and make up a breeding group
- species diversity
- an index combining the number and relative abundance of different species in a community
- commensalism
- an ecological relationship in which one organism benefits and the other neither benefits nor is harmed
- resources
- the energy and materials the species needs
- population density
- the number of individuals in a population in a given area at a specific time
- ecology
- the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment
- character displacement
- evolution of anatomical differences that reduce competition between similar species
- greenhouse effect
- warming of the Earth due to the insulating effect of gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor
- developed countries
- includes all the world's modern, industrailized countries, such as the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Russia
- species richness
- the number of different species in a community
- neritic zone
- the ocean subarea over teh continential shelf
- life expectancy
- how long, on average, an individual is expected to live
- density-dependent factor
- a variable related to the density of a population that affects population size
- realized niche
- the range of resources and conditions a species actually uses or can tolerate at optimal efficiency; smaller than fundamental niche
- specialists
- a species with a narrow niche that can tolerate a narrow range of conditions and can use only a few specific resources
- symbiosis
- the relationship between different species living in close assoiation with one another
- tolerance curve
- a graph of an organsim's tolerance to a range of an environmental variable
- generalists
- a species with a broad niche that can tolerate a wide range of conditions and can use a variety of resources
- estuary
- an aquatic biome found where freshwater streams and rivers flow into the sea; where the tides meet a river current
- primary succession
- the process of sequential replacement of populations in an area that has not previously supported life
- migration
- a strategy of moving to another, more favorable habitat
- density-independent factor
- a variable that affects populations size regardless of population density
- dormancy
- a state of decreased metabolism
- climax community
- a stable end point after a predictable series of stages
- exponential growth
- a model of population growth in which the birth and death rates are constant
- hunter-gatherer lifestyle
- a nomadic way of life in which food is found by hunting animals and gathering uncultivated plants, fruits, and shellfish
- succession
- the predictable, sequential replacement of populations in an ecosystem
- competition
- results from a fundamental niche overlap - the use of the same limited resource by two or more species
- birth rate
- the number of births occurring in a period of time
- predator
- an individual that captures, kills, and consumes another individual
- species-area-effect
- a pattern of species distribution in which larger areas contain more species than smaller areas do
- host
- an organism that supports a parasite
- habitat
- the physical area in which an organism lives
- community
- all the populations in one area
- benthic zone
- the ocean bottom
- niche
- the way of life of a species