AP Bio Unit 10 Ecology
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katiemcd95 on February 14, 2012
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69 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 population | ecological level in which focus is on ONE species and what controls its distribution and abundance |
| community | ecological level in which focus is on all interacting species in an area--i.e. species affect each other's distribution and abundance (fish, their predators, &their food species |
| ecosystem | ecological level which includes the study of the non-living environment on the interactions within an ecological community (i.e. the lake ______ includes how nutrients dissolve in the lake & how light filtering through the water affects the number of species in the lake) |
| biome | ecological level- a group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms (i.e. deciduous forests, deserts, tundras, etc.) |
| biosphere | ecological level that focuses on the whole world (includes study of acid precipitation, global warming, etc.) |
| exponential growth | all species have the potential for this kind of growth, but selective agents often prevent this from happening (any population with a birth rate GREATER than its death rate will increase this way) |
| intrinsic rate of natural increase (biotic potential) | the maximum rate of growth for a population under ideal conditions (r)- no species is at this level b/c of limiting factors but used theoretically to model population growth |
| logistic growth | growth pattern in which a population's growth rate slows or stops following a period of exponential growth (no population can increase exponentially forever) |
| sigmoid curve | S-shape growth curve where populations level off at K="carrying capacity" (occurs when resources are constantly supplied and wastes aren't allowed to accumulate i.e. reindeer on Easter Island that ate all the food and then crashed) |
| carrying capacity | largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support (K) |
| limiting factors | factors that keep populations from growing exponentially (keep numbers around K) |
| density-dependent factors | factors that cause numbers in a population to decline when above K and increase when below K by affecting birth and death rates, immigration, and emigration |
| biotic factors | all the living organisms that inhabit an environment |
| predation | a limiting factor where predators feed on the most abundant prey and switch over when this population starts declining, allowing it to recover "whack a mole" |
| intraspecific competition | competition with members of one's own species for a resource in short supply |
| interspecific competition | competition with members of another species for a resource in short supply |
| density-independent factors | limiting factors that do not depend on abundance of a population ut affect birth, death, emigration, and immigration rates (i.e. weather) |
| abiotic factors | nonliving parts of an ecosystem |
| coevolution | concept that organisms act as selective forces on each other (removing a species from its environment of origin separates it with a species that evolved with it and controlled its number, and thus the species can grow out of control) |
| food chain | consists of different trophic levels to show the path of consumption in an ecosystem producers->primary consumers->secondary consumers etc |
| food web | shows the often complex web of consumption in an ecosystem |
| trophic level | feeding level |
| producer | aka autotroph- makes its own food |
| consumer | aka heterotroph- consumes plants or other animals on lower trophic levels |
| primary consumer | aka herbivore- eats producers |
| secondary consumer | carnivore- eats primary consumer |
| tertiary consumer | second carnivore i.e. the "shark" in shark, big fish, little fish, plant |
| omnivore | organism that eats plants and animals |
| detritivore | feed on d.o.m., "end" of food chain |
| decomposers | organisms that carry out external chemical breakdown (bacteria, fungi, maggots) |
| scavengers | organisms that feed on whole dead bodies (vultures, hyenas) |
| mutualism | both members benefit from the relationship (++) |
| commensalism | one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed in the relationship (+0) |
| parasitism | one member benefits (parasite) while other harmed (host) but not killed (+-) |
| micorrhizae | mutualistic relationship between fungus and plant roots (fungi gets glucose/sugars from dead matter in plants to do cell. resp., trees get nutrients such as phosphates &minerals from fungi) |
| lichen | symbiotic association between a fungus and a photosynthetic organism (i.e. mutualism you see on trees) |
| symbiosis | a close association between two species (there are 3 main types) |
| Gause | developed the competitive exclusion principle, stating two species cannot coexist in a community if they share a niche, that is, if they use the same resources. |
| competitive exclusion principle | ecological rule that states that no two species can occupy the same exact niche in the same habitat at the same time |
| ecological niche | A specific role of a species within an ecosystem, including its use of resources, and relationships with other species. |
| character displacement | evolution of anatomical differences that reduce competition between similar species |
| predator-mediated coexistence | concept of removing a predator which allows prey species to increase so that some are eliminated (competitive exclusion principle). does not happen when predator is present b/c resources are not in short supply |
| keystone species | a species that is critical to the functioning of the ecosystem in which it lives because it affects the survival and abundance of many other species in its community (predators, habitat-builders) |
| pyramid of production/energy | pyramid/chart that shows the energy flow through ecosystems |
| 10% rule | rule stating that roughly 10% of the energy captured in the biomass of one trophic level is passed on and incorporated into the biomass of the next trophic level (remaining 90% used in CR, lost as heat, passed through body as waste, etc) |
| pyramid of biomass | pyramid that shows the total biomass at each successive trophic level (decreases b/c of 10% rule)- also "pyramid of numbers" |
| biological magnification | increasing concentration of a harmful substance in organisms at higher trophic levels in a food chain or food web b/c toxins are stored in fat |
| ecological succession | series of gradual changes that occur in a community following a disturbance; variety of species gradually replaced by SUCCESSION of other species |
| primary succession | when ecological succession begins in a virtually lifeless area w/ no soil (i.e. volcanic islands or rubble); colonization often begins w/ autotrophic bacteria |
| secondary succession | occurs when a disturbance has destroyed an existing community but left the soil intact (fires, floods) |
| taiga | biome in which the winters are cold but summers are mild enough to allow the ground to thaw (coniferous forest biome) |
| permafrost | ground that is permanently frozen |
| carbon cycle | Cyclic movement of carbon in different chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment |
| fossilization | the process of fossilizing a plant or animal that existed in some earlier age |
| phosphorous cycle | the cyclic movement of phosphorus in different chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment (P needed in nucleic acids, phospholipids, etc) |
| plankton bloom | periods of explosive reproduction and growth of a particular plankton species |
| nitrogen cycle | The cycle in which nitrogen gas is changed into forms of nitrogen that plants can use |
| nitrogen fixation | the assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by soil bacteria and its release for plant use on the death of the bacteria |
| legumes | a group of plants part of nitrogen cycle; convert atmospheric nitrogen ino a form that plants can use (beans) |
| chemosynthesis | synthesis of carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water (limited to certain bacteria &fungi) |
| assimilation | process in which plants absorb ammonium and nitrate in the nitrogen cycle,after which they are converted into nitrogen-containing organic molecules, such as amino acids and DNA. |
| ammonification | impregnation with ammonia or a compound of ammonia |
| nitrification | the oxidation of ammonium compounds in dead organic material into nitrates and nitrites by soil bacteria (making nitrogen available to plants) |
| denitrification | conversion of nitrates into nitrogen gas |
| greenhouse effect | natural situation in which heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere by carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other gases |
| acid precipitation | rain containing acids that form in the atmosphere when industrial gas emissions (especially sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) combine with water |
| biodiversity | the diversity of plant and animal life in a particular habitat (or in the world as a whole) think amazon rainforest vs. palm tree farm...which has more ____? |
| age structure diagram | graph of the numbers of males and females within different age groups of a population |
| demographic transition | change in a population from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates |
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