Chapter 4 Vocab
Terms
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- predator
- an organism that feeds directly upon another living organism, whether or not it kills the prey to do so
- tolerance limits
- each environmental factor has both minimum and maximum levels beyond which a particular species cannot survive or is unable to reproduce
- interspecific competition
- competition between members of different species
- primary succession
- an ecological succession that begins in an area where no biotic community previously existed
- Mullerian mimicry
- evolution of two species, both of which are unpalatable and, have poisonous stingers or some other defense mechanism, to resemble each other
- symbiosis
- the intimate living together of two or more species
- commensalism
- a type of symbiosis in which one member clearly benefits and the other apparently is neither benefited nor harmed
- habitat
- the place or set of environmental conditions in which a particular organism lives
- edge effects
- a change is species composition, physical conditions, or other ecological factors at the boundary between two ecosystems
- keystone species
- a species or group of species whose feeding activity has an inordinate influence on the structure of its community
- fire-climax communities
- an equilibrium community maintained by periodic fires
- resource partitioning
- in a biological community, various populations sharing environmental resources through specialization, thereby reducing direct competition
- pioneer species
- in primary succession on a terrestrial site, the plants, lichens, and microbes that first colonize the site
- ecotones
- the boundaries between adjacent communities
- natural selection
- a process in which those members of a population that are best suited for a particular set of environmental conditions will survive and produce offspring more successfully than their ill-suited competitors
- pathogens
- organisms that produce disease in a host organism, disease being an alteration of one or more metabolic functions in response to the presence of the organism
- ecological niche
- the role played by a species in a biological community or the total set of environmental factors that determine species distribution
- diversity
- a measure of the number of different species, ecological niches, or genetic variation present`
- evolution
- species change gradually through competition or scarce resources
- complexity
- the number of species at each trophic level and the number of trophic levels in a community
- equilibrium communities
- a community subject to periodic disruptions, usually by fire, that prevent it from reaching a climax stage
- plankton
- orimarily microscopic organisms that occupy the upper water layers in both freshwater and marine ecosystems
- ecological development
- a gradual process of environmental modifications by organisms
- secondary succession
- succession on a site where an existing community has been disrupted
- parasites
- organisms that feed on a host, or take resources from it, without killing the host
- Batesian mimicry
- evolution by one species to resemble the coloration, body shape, or behavior of another species that is protected from predators by a venomous stinger, bad taste, or some other defensive adaptation
- territoriality
- an intense form of intraspecific competition in which organisms define an area surrounding their home site or nesting site and defend it
- abundance
- an expression of the total number of organisms in a biological community
- primary productivity
- the rate of biomass production, an indication of the rate of solar energy conversion to chemical energy
- coevolution
- the process in which species exert selective pressure on each other
- climax community
- a relatively stable, long-lasting community reached in a successional series
- environmental indicators
- organisms or physical factors that serve as a gauge for environmental changes
- mutualism
- a type of symbiosis in which both members of the partnership benefit
- intraspecific competition
- competition among members of the same species
- disclimax communities
- a community subject to periodic disruptions, usually by fire, that prevent it from reaching a climax stage