| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Tolerance Limits | minimum and maximum limits of an environmental fact, above or below which an organism can't survive |
| Critical Factors | affects the distribution and abundance of a species more than any other factors |
| Lichens and White Pine | indicators of air pollution because they are sensitive to sulfur dioxide and acid rain |
| Lamarck | inheritance of acquired characteristics, can pass on physical or behavioral changes gained during their lifetime through exercise or experience |
| Mutations | changes in genetic material |
| Directional Selection | changes towards a new optimum, may create a new species |
| Stablizing Selection | eliminates extremes such that members become more alike |
| Disruptive Selection | separates the population into two groups' if these two groups become two new species it is called radiative evolution; ex. Darwin's finches |
| Reproductive Isolation | anything the prevents gene flow between members of a species |
| Geographic Isolation | mountain ranges, splitting of continents, changing climate, rising sea levels, drying of lakes |
| Mechanical | structural difference prevent and maintain |
| Temporal | different timing for feeding and/or breeding |
| Behavorial | species with elaborate courtship behavior |
| Ecological Barriers | when two members have different niches |
| Habitat | the place or set of environmental conditions in which an organisms lives |
| Niche | the role an organism plays in their ecosystem |
| Generalists | can eat lots of different food and live in broad range of habitats |
| Specialists | rarer, less resilient to change and have a narrow niche |
| Law of Competitive Exclusion | no two species may occupy the exact same niche |
| Resource Partitioning | allows several of the same species to use the same resources but at different times, locations and in different ways |
| Predator | feed directly upon another living organism |
| Co-Evolution | process through which species exert selective pressure on each other |
| Parasites | organisms that feed on a host without killing the host |
| Keystone Species | a species whose presence or absence from a community greatly impacts the other species |
| Intraspecific | competition between members of the same species |
| Interspecific | competition between members of different species |
| Territoriality | intense competition in which organisms define an area as theirs and defend it against others |
| Symbiosis | intimate living together of members of two or more species in a similar habitat |
| Commensalism | one benefits, the other doesn't care |
| Mutualism | both benefit |
| Batesian Mimicry | harmless species evolve characteristics to mimic those that are harmful |
| Mullerian mimicry | two unpalatable species evolve to look alike |
| Primary Productivity | rate of biomass production (indicates the rate of solar energy conversion to chemical energy) |
| Net Primary Productivity | the energy left after respiration |
| Abundance | total number of organisms in a community |
| Diversity | measure of the number of different species, niches, or genetic variation present |
| Ecological structure | patterns of spatial distribution of individuals and populations within a community |
| Random | based on resource availability |
| Uniform | competition |
| Clustered/Clumped | protection, mutual assistance, reproduction, access to resources |
| Complexity | number of species at each trophic level and the number of trophic levels in a community |
| Edge Effects | boundary between one habitat and its neighbors |
| Ecotones | boundaries between adjacent communities |
| Closed Communities | community sharply divided from neighbors |
| Open Communities | gradual or indistinct boundaries |
| Ecological Development | process of environmental modification by organisms |
| Fire Climax Communities | shaped and maintained by periodic fires |
| Genetic Diversity | measures variety of difference of same genes |
| Species Diversity | measures number of different kinds of organisms with a community |
| Species Richness | total number of species in a community |
| Species Eveness | relative abundance of individuals within each species |
| Ecological Diversity | measures richness and complexity of a community |
| Extinction | elimination of a species |
| Cretaceous | 50% of dinosaurs of existing genera disappeared |
| Permian Period | 95% of marine species and nearly half of all plant and animal families died out |
| Endangered | considered in imminent danger of extinction |
| Threatened | those likely to become endangered, at least locally, in the near future |
| Vulnerable | those that are naturally rare or have been locally depleted to a level that puts them at risk |
| Endangered Species Act | regulates a wide range of activities involving endangered species, taking, selling, importing or exporting, possessing, transporting and shipping |
| Gap Analysis | conservationists and wildlife managers look for unprotected landscapes that are rich in species |
| Resiliency | ability of a community or ecosystem to recover from disturbances |
| Stability | a dynamic equilibrium among the physical and biological factors in an ecosystem or a community |
| Constancy | The condition or quality of being constant; changelessness |
| Convergent Evolution | species exert selective pressure on each other |
| Microevolution | is defined as the change of allele frequencies (that is, genetic variation due to processes such as selection, mutation, genetic drift, or even migration) within a population |
| Macroevolution | evolutionary change at the species level or higher, that is, the formation of new species, new genera, and so forth |
| Gene Pool | The collective genetic information contained within a population of sexually reproducing organisms |
| Specialists | only thrive in a narrow range of environmental conditions and/or have a limited diet |
| Generalists | able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and can make use of a variety of different resources |
| Divergent Evolution | is the accumulation of differences between groups which can lead to the formation of new species, usually a result of different groups of the same species adapting to different environments, leading to mutations |
| Theory of Island Biogeography | the study of rates of colonization and extinction of species on islands or other isolated areas based on size, shape, and distance from other in-habitated regions |
| Shannon Weiner Index | one of several diversity indices used to measure diversity in categorical data. It is simply the Information entropy of the distribution, treating species as symbols and their relative population sizes as the probability. |
| CITES | Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of 1975 it is a step toward worldwide protection of endangered flora and fauna. |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace