Science Ecology- Chapter 6
Terms
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- Parasitism
- a relationship in which an organism feeds on the body fluids or tissues of another.
- Host
- The organism on which a parasite feeds on
- Symbiosis
- Any relationship in which two species live closely together.
- Commensalism
- A symbiotic relationship that benefits one species but neither benefits nor harms the other.
- Mutualism
- A symbiotic relationship when both species benefit.
- Primary Succesion
- The sequence of communities forming in an originally lifeless habitat.
- Lichen
- A fungus and an alga living in a mutualistic relationship.
- Pioneer Community
- The lichen community which is first to colonize a new area.
- Climax community
- A community that does not undergo further succession.
- Secondary succession
- Succession that occurs where a disturbance eliminates most organisms but does not destroy the soil.
- Aquatic and Island succession
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Aquatic - as time passes, the water becomes a fertile meadow and may turn to a forest.
Island - The first organisms choose their niche, then through generations, the offspring evolve to fill the other niches. - Stability
- A measure of how easily an ecosystem is affected by a disturbance and how quickly it returns to its original condition after a disturbance.
- Equilibrium
- When a disrupted ecosystem returns to a state of balance.
- Chaos Theory
- A theory that ecosystems may be sensitive to very small changes, and that the initial state of an ecosystem is crucial to its later development.
- Impacts of Human Population:*
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-Introduction of foreign species to new ecosystems
-The pollution of fresh water
-Habit destruction - Biome
- A major type of ecosystem with distinctive temperature, rainfall, and organisms.
- Biomass
- The total mass of organic material in an ecosystem.
- The eight major biomes:*
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-Desert
-Tundra
-Coniferous Forest
-Deciduous Forest
-Rain Forest
-Steppe
-Prairie
-Savanna