Unit 1 Biology
Terms
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- density independent
- birth/death rate doesn't change with population density
- deep sea hydrothermal vents
- mid-ocean ridges
- vector
- a type of animal, usually parasites, that can transfer pathogens by taking them from animals and inserting them into humans
- food chain
- the transfer of food energy up the trophic levels (primary producers- primary consumers- secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, consumers- decomposers)
- reproductive table
- fertility schedule
- Ectoparasite
- a parasite that feeds and lives on the exterior of its host
- marine benthic zones
- sea-floor below the surface waters of the costal zone and the offshore, pelagic zone
- non-equilibrium model
- describes most communities as constantly changing after being affected by disturbances
- competitive exclusion
- the local elimination of the inferior competitor
- abyssal
- very deep benthic
- biomanipulation
- applying the top-down model to certain ecosystems in order to improve them (intentionally adding more high level consumers to a community or ecosystem in order to improve it)
- community
- a group of populations that live close enough together to interact with each other
- interspecific interactions
- interactions between 2 or more different types of species (includes competition, predation, herbivory, and symbiosis
- bottom-up model
- V-H, or vegetation and bottom trophic levels have an influence on higher trophic levels (herbivores)
- climate
- long-term weather conditions in an area
- community
- a group of populations of different species in an area
- wetlands
- habitat that has water at least some of the time and supports plants adapted to water-saturated soil
- climographs
- plot of temperature precipitation
- photic zone
- sufficient light for photosynthesis
- law of conservation of matter
- matter can not be created nor destroyed
- Ecology
- study of interactions between organisms and the environment
- top-down model
- H-V, or herbivores and top trophic levels have an influence on lower trophic levels
- aphotic zone
- little light penetrates
- landscape ecology
- factors controlling exchanges of energy, materials and organisms across multiple ecosystems
- canopy
- layers from top to bottom of a terrestrial biome
- demography
- study of statistics of a population
- production efficiency
- percentage of energy stored in assimilated food that is not used for respiration
- logistic population growth
- per capita rate of increase -> 0 as carrying capacity
- biomes
- combination of biotic and abiotic factors
- primary succession
- where the process begins in a virtually lifeless area where soil has not yet emerged
- tertiary consumers
- carnivores that eat other carnivores
- eutrophic lakes
- nutrient rich, oxygen poor
- biomass
- the total mass of all individuals in a population
- trophic structure
- the feeding relationships between organisms
- symbiosis
- a +/- interaction when individuals of 2 or more species live in direct and intimate contact with each other
- limiting nutrient
- element that must be added for production to increase
- dispersal
- movement of individuals away from their area of origin
- secondary production
- amount of chemical energy in consumers' food that is converted to their own new biomass during a given time period
- temperate grasslands
- plains and prairies
- greenhouse effect
- CO2 in the atmosphere makes the world retain heat energy
- green world hypothesis
- terrestrial herbivores are held in check by a variety of factors (eg plant defenses, competition)
- predation
- refers to a +/- interaction where the predator kills and eats the prey
- detritivores or decomposers
- consumers that get their energy from detritus
- trophic efficiency
- percentage of production transferred from one trophic level to the next
- limnetic zone
- further from shore
- turnover time
- standing crop divided by production per day
- disturbance
- an event (storm, fire) that changes a community
- caqparrel
- found in mid-atlantic costal regions
- metapopulation
- linked local populations
- territoriality
- a behavior pattern in animals, defend their territory
- Mullerian mimicry
- when two unpalatable species resemble each other
- mark-recapture method
- used to estimate the size of populations
- dominant species
- the species that is the most abundant or has highest biomass
- ecological succession
- the cycle of different species emerging or replacing the previous set of species in a community after a disturbance has occurred there
- interspecific competition
- a -/- interaction when individuals of different species compete for a resource that limits their growth and survival
- relative abundance
- the proportion each species represents in a community
- global ecology
- how the regional exchange of energy and materials influences the functioning and distribution of organisms across the biosphere
- Commensalism
- a +/0 interspecific interaction where one species gains and neither helps nor harms the other
- detritus
- nonliving organic material
- repeated reproduction (iteroparity)
- reproduce more than once
- eutrophication
- things such as sewage and fertilizer run into lakes, adding large amounts of nutrients to the lakes, bacteria and algae grow rapidly, ultimately reducing oxygen in the water
- survivorship curve
- plot of the number of cohorts still alive at each age
- food web
- food chains linked together (the interactions between the food chains)
- permafrost
- permanently frozen layer of soil that restricts the growth of plant roots
- northern coniferous forest
- largest terrestrial biome, woodland creatures
- density
- the number of individuals per unit area
- neritic
- costal
- character displacement
- the tendency for characteristics to be more unalike between 2 sympatric populations (populations that are geographically close to one another) than between 2 allopatric populations (populations that are geographically farther away from each other)
- gross primary production
- amount of light energy that is converted to chemical energy by photosynthesis per unit time
- biological magnification
- toxins become more harmful because they become more concentrated in successive trophic levels of a food web
- tropical dry forests
- precipitation is highly seasonal
- stratification of aquatic biomes
- layering of aquatic environments
- density dependent
- birth/death rate does change with population density
- carrying capacity
- max population size an area can support
- species richness
- the number of different species in a community
- life history
- 3 variables: reproduction begins, how often reproduces, how many offspring
- cryptic coloration
- camouflage, an adaptation of prey to avoid being spotted
- ecotone
- the area of intergradation between terrestrial biomes
- savanna
- warm year round, but more seasonal variation
- primary producers
- the tropic level that ultimately supports all others (aka autotrophs)
- macroclimate
- climate in the global, regional and local scale
- biosphere
- global ecosystem
- turnover
- hot and cold waters mix
- littoral zone
- shallow waters close to shore
- population ecology
- analyzes factors that affect population size and how and why it changes over time
- landscape
- a mosaic connected by ecosystems
- resource partitioning
- the differentiation of niches that enables similar species to coexist in a community
- age structure
- number of individuals of each age in a population
- dispersion
- pattern of spacing among individuals within a population
- coral reefs
- formed by the calcium carbonate skeletons of corals. inhabited by many organisms
- emigration
- movement of individuals out of a populations
- oligotrophic lakes
- nutrient poor, oxygen rich
- ecological footprint
- land/water that is required by each person to produce resources
- tropical rain forests
- rainfall is almost constant
- species diversity
- the variety of different kinds of organisms
- microclimate
- specific climates, like under a log
- population ecology
- study of populations in nature
- deserts
- 30 degrees north and south latitude
- secondary succession
- when an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil intact, allowing new species to inhabit the area
- herbivory
- a +/- interaction in which an organism eats pants or algae, (predators are mostly invertebrates)
- oceanic pelagic zone
- vast realm of blue, open water
- Endoparasite
- a parasite that lives inside the body of its host
- ecological niche
- the sum of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment
- zoonotic pathogens
- pathogens that are transferred from other animals to humans directly or through intermediate species called vectors
- actual evapotranspiration
- annual amount of water transpired by plants and evaporated from a landscape
- zero population growth
- birth rates and death rates are the same
- intermediate disturbance hypothesis
- moderate levels of disturbance can create conditions that foster greater species diversity than low or high levels of disturbance
- apososmatic coloration
- warning coloration, an adaptation of prey to veer away predators
- thermocline
- separates warm and cool layers of water in oceans and lakes
- invasive species
- organisms that take hold outside their native range
- great ocean conveyor belt
- water is warmed at equator, flows to north atlantic where it cools, becomes dense and sinks
- organismal ecology
- how an organism's structure, physiology and behavior meet the challenges posed by its enviornment
- benthic zone
- lowest aquatic zone, occupied by benthos
- secondary consumers
- carnivores that eat herbivores
- primary consumers
- herbivores
- energetic hypothesis
- the hypothesis that the length of a food chain is limited by the inefficiency of energy transfer along the chain
- community ecology
- examines how interactions between species affect community structure and organization
- immigration
- influx of new individuals from other areas
- ecosystem
- a community in an area and the factors they interact with
- disturbance
- an event such as a natural disaster, overgrazing, or human activity that changes a community by removing organisms from it or altering resource availability
- evapotranspiration model
- the model displaying the evaporation of water from soil plus the transpiration of water from plants in a community
- population dynamics
- interactions between biotic an abiotic factors that cause variation in population
- Shanon diversity (H)
- an index to calculate diversity: H= - [ (Pa ln Pa) + (Pb ln Pb) + (Pc ln Pc) + ... ] where a, b, and c are types of species, P is the relative abundance of each species, and ln is the natural logarithm
- ecosystem ecology
- energy and chemical interactions between organisms and the environment
- net primary production
- primary production minus the energy used by the primary producers for respiration
- cohort
- a group of individuals the same age
- estuary
- transition area between a river and sea
- keystone species
- not necessary abundant species but are important because of their niches
- big bang reproduction (semelparity)
- reproduce 1 time
- exponential population growth
- population increase under ideal conditions
- abiotic factors
- chemical and physical factors that influence distribution of organisms
- population
- a group of individuals of the same species living in an area
- biogeochemical cycles
- natural cycle of processing substances that includes both abiotic and biotic processes
- pathogens
- disease-causing microorganisms and viruses
- life tables
- age-specific summaries of survival patterns of a population
- tundra
- in arctic
- abyssal zone
- 2000-6000 feet below surface
- biotic factors
- all organisms that are part of the individual's environment
- temperate broad leaf forest
- found mostly in the northern hemisphere, distinct vertical layers, trees
- Batesian mimicry
- when a harmless species that is prey mimics a harmful species of prey (usually in appearance)
- benthos
- organisms that live in the benthic zone
- parasitism
- a form of symbiosis where one species receives nutrients from another species' body (the host body)
- Mutualism
- a +/+ interspecific interaction where both species have the benefits
- dynamic stability hypothesis
- the hypothesis that long food chains are less stable than short food chains
- parasite
- an organism that seeks nutrients from other bodies, and eventually kills its host