First Semester
Terms
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- Emergent Property
- importance of structural arrangement and applies to inanimate material as well as to life
- Population
- a group of individuals of one species that live in a particular geographic area
- Community
- all the organisms that inhabit a particular area; an assemblage of populations of different species living close enough together for potential interaction
- Ecosystem
- a level of ecological study that includes all the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact; a community and its physical environment
- Biome
- one of the world's major ecosystems, classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment
- Taxonomy
- the branch of biology concerned with naming and classifying the diverse forms of life
- Evolution
- all the changes that have transformed life on earth from its earliest beginnings to the diversity that characterizes it today
- Natural Selection
- differential success in the reproduction of different phenotypes resulting from the interaction of organisms with their environment
- Abiotic Components
- nonliving chemical and physical factors in the environment
- Abyssal Zone
- the very deep benthic communities near the bottom of the ocean. This region is characterized by continuous cold, extremely high water pressure, low nutrients, and near or total absence of light
- Aphotic Zone
- the part of the ocean beneath the photic zone, where light does not penetrate sufficiently for photosynthesis to occur
- Benthic Zone
- the bottom surfaces of aquatic environments
- Benthos
- the communites of organisms living in the benthic zone of an aquatic biome
- Biosphere
- the entire portion of Earth inhabited by life; the sum of all the planet's ecosystems
- Biotic Components
- all the organisms that are part of the environment
- Canopy
- the uppermost layer of vegetation in a terrestrial biome
- Climate
- the prevailing weather conditions at a locality
- Coral Reefs
- warm water, tropical, ecosystems dominated by the hard skeletal structures secreted primarily by the resident cnidarians
- Detritus
- dead organic matter
- Estuary
- the area where a freshwater stream or river merges with the ocean
- Photic Zone
- the narrow top slice of the ocean, where light permeates sufficiently for photosynthesis to occur
- Thermocline
- a narrow stratum of rapid temperature change in the ocean and in many temperate-zone lakes
- Littoral Zone
- the shallow, well-lit waters of a lake close to shore
- Limnetic Zone
- the well-lit, open surface waters of a lake farther from shore
- Profundal Zone
- the deep aphotic region of a lake
- Oligotrophic Lake
- a nutrient-poor, clear, deep lake with minimum phytoplankton
- Eutrophic
- pertaining to a highly productive lake, having a high rate of biological productivity supported by a high rate of nutrient cycling
- Mesotrophic
- lakes with moderate amounts of nutrients and phytoplankton productivity intermediate to oligotrophic and eutrophic systems
- Wetland
- an ecosystem intermediate between an aquatic one and a terrestrial one. Wetland soil is saturated with water permanently or periodically
- Intertidal Zone
- the shallow zone of the ocean where land meets water
- Neritic Zone
- the shallow regions of the ocean overlying the continental shelves
- Oceanic Zone
- the region of water lying over deep areas beyond the continental shelf
- Pelagic Zone
- the area of the ocean past the continental shelf, with areas of open water often reaching to very great depths
- Permafrost
- a permanently frozen stratum below the arctic tundra
- Behavior
- what an animal does and how it does it
- Ethology
- the study of animal behavior in natural conditions
- Fixed Action Pattern (FAP)
- a sequence of behavioral acts that is essentially unchangeable and usually carried to completion once initiated
- Sign Stimulus
- an external sensory stimulus that triggers a fixed action pattern
- Foraging
- behavior necessary to recognize, search for, capture, and consume food
- Search Image
- a set of key characteristics that will lead it to the desired object
- Learning
- a behavioral change resulting from experience
- Maturation
- ongoing developmental changes in neuromuscular systems
- Kin Selection
- a phenomenon of inclusive fitness, used to explain altruistic behavior between related individuals
- Imprinting
- a type of learned behavior with a significant innate component, acquired during a limited critical period
- Critical Peroid
- a limited phase in an individual animal's development when learning of particular behaviors can take place
- Associative Learning
- the acquired ability to associate one stimulus with another; also called classical conditioning
- Classical Conditioning
- a type of associative learning; the association of a normally irrelevant stimulus with a fixed behavioral response
- Operant Conditioning
- a type of associative learning in which an animal learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or punishment and then tends to repeat or avoid that behavior. Also called trial-and-error learning
- Play
- behavior with no apparent external goal but involves movements closely associated with goal-directed behaviors
- Cognition
- the ability of an animal's nervous system to perceive, store, process, and use information obtained by its sensory receptors
- Cognitive Ethology
- the scientific study of cognition; the study of the connection between data processing by nervous systems and animal behavior
- Cognitive Map
- a representation within the nervous system of spatial relations among objects in an animal's environment
- Habituation
- a very simple type of learning that involves a loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information
- Reciprocal Altruism
- altruistic behavior between unrelated individuals; whereby the current altruistic individual benefits in the future when the current beneficiary reciprocates
- Migration
- regular movement over relatively long distances
- Social Behavior
- any kind of interaction between two or more animals, usually of the same species
- Sociobiology
- the study of social behavior based on evolutionary theory
- Agonistic Behavior
- a type of behavior involving a contest of some kind that determines which competitor gains access to some resource, such as food or mates
- Ritual
- a type of symbolic activity
- Dominance Hierarchy
- a linear "pecking order" of animals, where position dictates characteristic social behaviors
- Territory
- an area that an individual or individuals defend and from which other members of the same species are usually excluded
- Parental Investment
- the time and resources an individual must spend to produce and nurture offspring
- Kinesis
- a change in activity or turning rate in response to a stimulus
- Taxis
- movement toward or away from a stimulus
- Monogamous
- a type of relationship in which one male mates with just one female
- Polygamous
- a type of relationship in which an individual of one sex mates with several of the other
- Polygyny
- a polygamous mating system involving one male and many females
- Polyandry
- a polygamous mating system involving one female and many males
- Pheromone
- a small, volatile chemical signal that functions in communication between animals and acts much like a hormone in influencing physiology and behavior
- Inclusive Fitness
- the total effect an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing its own offspring and by providing aid that enables other close relatives to increase the production of their offspring
- Coefficient of Relatedness
- the probability that a particular gene present in one individual will also be inherited from a common parent or ancestor in a second individual
- Lek
- a small area in which males display
- Promiscuous
- a type of relationship in which mating occurs with no strong pair-bonds or lasting relationships
- Carrying Capacity
- the maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources, symbolized as K
- Clumped
- describing a dispersion pattern in which individuals are aggregate in patches
- Cohort
- a group of individuals of the same age, from birth until all are dead
- Demography
- the study of statistics relating to births and deaths in populations
- Density Dependent
- any characteristic that varies according to an increase in population density
- Density-Independent Factor
- any factor that affects a population by the same percentage, regardless of density
- Density
- the number of individuals per unit area or volume
- Dispersion
- the pattern of spacing among individuals within geographic population boundaries
- Growth
- a protein that must be present in the intracellular environment (culture medium or animal body) for the growth and normal devleopment of certain types of cells
- Intrinsic Rate of Increase
- The difference between the number of births and the number of deaths, symbolized as rmax; the maximum population growth rate
- K-Selection
- the concept that in certain (K-selected) populations, life history is centered around producing relatively few offspring that have a good chance of survival
- Life History
- the series of events from birth through reproduction and death
- Life Table
- a table of data summarizing mortality in a population
- Logistic Population Growth
- a model describing population growth that levels off as population size approaches carrying capacity
- Negative Feedback
- a primary mechanism of homeostasis, whereby a change in a physiological variable that is being monitored triggers a response that counteracts the initial fluctuation
- R-Selection
- the concept that in certain (r-selected) populations, a high reproductive rate is the chief determinant of life history
- Random
- describing a dispersion pattern in which individuals are spaced in a patternless, unpredictable way
- Survivorship Curve
- a plot of the number of members of a cohort that are still alive at each age; one way to represent age-specific mortality
- Uniform
- describing a dispersion pattern in which individuals are evenly distributed
- Zero Population Growth
- a period of stability in population size when the per capita birth rates and death rates are equal
- Batesian Mimicry
- a type of mimicry in which a harmless species looks like a species that is poisonous or otherwise harmful to predators
- Commensalism
- a symbiotic relationship in which the symbiont benefits but the host is neither helped nor harmed
- Competitive Exclusion Principle
- the concept that when populations of two similar species compete for the same limited resources, one population will use the resources more efficiently and have a reproductive advantage that will eventually lead to the elimination of the other population
- Cryptic Coloration
- camouflage, making potential prey difficult to spot against its background
- Ecological Niche
- the sum total of an organism's utilization of the biotic and abiotic resources of its environment
- Ecological Succession
- transition in the species composition of a biological community, often following ecological disturbance of the community; the establishment of a biological community in an area virtually barren of life
- Ectoparasites
- organisms that live within their host
- Endoparasites
- organisms that live within their host
- Food Chain
- the pathway along which food is transferred from trophic level to trophic level, beginning with producers
- Herbivory
- occurs when animals eat plants
- Interspecific Competition
- populations of two or more species in a community that rely on similar limiting resources
- Keystone
- a preditory species that helps maintain species richness in a community by reducing the density of populations of the best competitors so that populaions of less conpetitive species are maintained
- Mullerian Mimicry
- a mutual mimicry by two unpalatable species
- Mutualism
- a symbiotic relationship in which both the host and the symbiotic benefit
- Parasitism
- a symbiotic relationship in which the symbiotic (parasite) benefits at the expense of the host by living either within the host or outside the host
- Predation
- predator eats prey
- Primary Succession
- a type of ecological succession that occurs in an area where there were originally no organisms
- Resource Partitioning
- the division of environmental resources by coexisting species populations such that the niche of each species differs by one or more significant factors from the niches of all coexisting species populations
- Secondary Succession
- a type of succession that occurs where an existing community has been severely cleared by some disturbance
- Species Richness
- the number of species in a biological community
- Trophic Level
- the division of species in an ecosystem on the basis of their main nutritional source
- Tropical Rainforest
- Warm, moist belt by equator; most diverse ecosystem; large scale human destruction of these forests endangers many species and may alter world climate
- Savanna
- drier tropical areas and some nontropical area; grassland with scattered trees; grazing by large herbivores and fire maintain it
- Deserts
- driest biome; misues of surrounding land is contributing to the growth of some deserts
- Chaparral
- shrubland with cool rainy winters and dry, hot summers, when fires often occur
- Temperate Grassland
- found in the interior of the continents; winters are cold; drought, fire and grazing animals prevent trees from growing; farms have replaced most grassland
- Temperate Deciduous Forest
- dense strands of deciduous trees; animal hibernation and bird migration
- Coniferous Forest (Taiga)
- extensive biome of the far north and high mount sins; short summers and long, snowy winters
- Tundra
- treeless with extreme cold, wind, and permafrost; shrubs, grasses, mosses, lichens; lies between the taiga and permanently frozen polar regions; alpine tundra occurs above the treeline on high mountains
- Matter
- anything that takes up space and has mass
- Element
- any substance that cannot be broken down to any other substance
- Trace Element
- an element indispensable for life but required in extremely minute amounts
- Atom
- the smallest unit of matter that still remains the properties of an element
- Neutron
- an electrically neutral particle (a particle having no electrical charge), found in the nucleus of an atom
- Proton
- a subatomic particle with a single positive electrical charge, found in the nucleus of an atom
- Electron
- a subatomic particle with a single negative charge; one or more electrons move around the nucleus of an atom
- Atomic Number
- the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, unique for each element and designated by a subscript to the left of the elemental symbol
- Mass Number
- the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in an atom's nucleus
- Atomic Weight
- the total atomic mass, which is the mass in grams of one mole of the atom
- Isotope
- one of several atomic forms of an element, each containing a different number of neutrons and thus differing in atomic mass
- Radioactive Isotope
- an isotope (an atomic form of a chemical element) that is unstable; the nucleus decays spontaneously, giving off detectable particles and energy
- Energy
- the capacity to do work (to move matter against an opposing force)
- Potential Energy
- the energy stored by matter as a result of its location or spatial arrangement
- Energy Level
- the different states of potential energy for electrons in an atom
- Electron Shell
- an energy level representing the distance of an electron from the nucleus of an atom
- Orbital
- the three-demensional space where an electron is found ninty percent of the time
- Valence
- the bonding capacity of an atom generally equal to the number of unpaired electrons in the atom's outermost shell
- Valence Electron
- the electrons in the outermost electron shell
- Valence Shell
- the outermost energy shell of an atom, containing the valence electrons involved in the chemical reactions of that atom
- Chemical Bond
- an attraction between two atoms resulting from a sharing of outer-shell electrons or the presence of opposite charges on the atoms; the bonded atoms gain complete outer electron shells
- Covalent Bond
- a type of strong chemical bond in which two atoms share one pair of valence electrons
- Molecule
- two or more atoms held together by covalent bonds
- Structural Formula
- a type of molecular notation in which the constituent atoms are joined by lines representing covalent bonds
- Molecular Formula
- a type of molecular notation indicating only the quantity of the constituent atoms
- Double Covalent Bond
- a type of covalent bond in which two atoms share two pairs of electrons; symbolized by a pair of lines between the bonded atoms
- Electronegativity
- the attraction of an atom for the electrons of a covalent bond
- Nonpolar Covalent Bond
- a type of covalent bond in which electrons are shared equally between two atoms of similar electronegativity
- Polar Covalent Bond
- a type of covalent bond between atoms that differ in electronegativity; the shared electrons are pulled closer to the more electronegative atom, making it slightly negative and the other atom slightly positive
- Ion
- an atom that has gained or lost electrons, thus acquiring a charge
- Cation
- an ion with a positive charge, produced by the loss of one or more electrons
- Anion
- a negatively charged ion
- Ionic Bond
- a chemical bond resulting from the attraction between oppositely charged ions
- Hydrogen Bond
- a type of weak chemical bond formed when the slightly positive hydrogen atom of a polar covalent bond in one molecule is attracted to the slightly negative atom of a polar covalent bond in another molecule
- Reactants
- starting materials
- Products
- ending materials
- Chemical Equilibrium
- the point at which the reactions offset one another exactly