Term
| structure (spatial distribution) |
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Definition
| one property of a community or ecosystem |
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| relative sizes, stratification, in distribution of its population and species |
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| species diversity (richness) |
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Definition
| the number of different species |
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Definition
| the number of individuals of each species |
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| the number of ecological niches, how they resemble or differ from each other, and how they interact |
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| differences in physical structure and physical properties such as sunlight, temperature, wind and humidity at boundaries and in ecotones |
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| latitudinal species diversity gradient |
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Definition
| leads to the highest species diversity in tropical areas such as tropical rain forest in the lowest and polar areas such as arctic tundras |
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Term
| depth-species diversity gradient |
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Definition
| in marine communities species diversity increases from the sruface to a depth of 2,000 m and then begins to decline with depth until deep sea bottom |
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Definition
| affects species diversity |
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Term
| species equilibrium model/theory of island biogeography |
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Definition
| the number of species found on an island is determined by a balance between 2 factors: 1 rate at which new species integrate to island and 2)rate at which species become extinct on the island. model predicts at some point the rates of immigration and extinction will reach an equilbrium point |
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Definition
| national parks surrounded by a sea of developed and fragmented land |
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Definition
| species that normally live and thrive in particular ecosystem |
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| nonnative/exotic/alien species |
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Definition
| others that migrate into an ecosystem or are deliberatily or acidentally introduced into an ecosystem by humans |
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Definition
| species that serve as early warnings that a community or an ecosystem is being damaged |
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Definition
| species in an ecosystem that are much more important than their abundance or biomass suggests |
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Term
| intraspecific competition |
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Definition
| competition between members of the same species for the same resource |
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Term
| interspecific competition |
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Definition
| competition between memebers of two or more species for food, space, or any other limited resource |
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Definition
| another way members of the same species compete, it is when organisms patrol or mark an area around their home, nesting or major feeding site and defend it against members of their own species |
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Definition
| one species may limit another's access to some resource regardless of its abundance using the same type of methods found in intraspecific competition |
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Definition
| competing species have roughly equal access to a specific resource but differ in how fast or efficient they exploit it |
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Term
| competitive exclusion principle |
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Definition
| the niches of 2 species cannot overlap completely or significantly for very long |
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Definition
| the dividing up of scarce resources so that species with similar needs use them at different times in different ways, or in different places |
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Definition
| members of one species(the predators) feed directly on all or part of a living organism of another species (the prey) |
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Term
| predator-prey relationship |
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Definition
| predator benefits and the prey is clearly harmed but the prey may or may not die from the interaction, the predator doesn't live on or in the prey |
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Definition
| having certain shape/color or the ability to chance colors |
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Definition
| another common strategy some prey species discourage predators with chemicals that are poisionous, irritating, foulsmelling, or badtasting |
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| brightly colored advertising that enables experienced predators to recognize and avoid them |
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| looking/acting like another species to be beneficial |
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Definition
| occurs when one species (the parasite) feeds on part of another organism (the host) by living on or in the host |
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Definition
| usually smaller than its host, remains closely associated with/draws nourishment from, may gradually weaken its host over time and rarely kills its host |
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Definition
| two species involved in a symbiotic relationship, interact in ways that benefit both |
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Definition
| relationship between flowering plants and animals is one of most common forms of mutualism |
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Definition
| examples include lichens, rhizobium, protozoans, bacteria in digestive systems |
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Definition
| hardly species that grow on trees or barren rocks, consist of colorful photosynthetic algae and chlorofill-lacking fungi living together |
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Definition
| bacteria that converts atmospheric nitrogen into a form usable by the plants and the plants provide the bacteria with some simple sugars. takes place in root nodules |
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| symbiotic interaction that benefits one species but neither harms nor helps the other species |
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| plants that attach themselves to trunks or branches of large trees in tropical and subtropical forests |
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Definition
| gradual change in species composition of a given area |
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Definition
| involves the gradual establishment of biotic communities near the lifeless ground |
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Definition
| the more common type of succession, involves the reestablishment of biotic communities in an area where a biotic community is already present |
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Definition
| attach themselves to inhospitable patches of bare rocks and begins soil formation |
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Term
| early successional plant species |
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Definition
| grow close to the ground, can establish large populations quickly under harsh conditions and have short lives |
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Term
| midsuccessional plant species |
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Definition
| herbs, grasses, and low shrubs |
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Term
| late succesional plant species |
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Definition
| mostly trees, can tolerate shade |
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Term
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Definition
| occurs when one set of species makes an area suitable for species with different niche requirements and is especially important in the soilbuilding stages of primary succession |
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Definition
| early species hinder the establishment and growth of other species |
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Definition
| may explain why late successional plants can thrive in mature communities without eliminating some early successional/mid successional plants |
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Definition
| a change in environmental conditions that disrupts an ecosystem or community |
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Term
| intermediate disturbance hypotheses |
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Definition
| communities that experience fairly frequent but moderate disturbances have the greatest species diversity |
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Term
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Definition
| dominated by a few longlived plant species and in balance with its environment |
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Definition
| a large terrestrial community undergoing succession was viewed as eventually being covered with a predictable green cover of climax vegetation |
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Definition
| implies an ordered and predictable sequence of changes |
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| a mosaic of vegetation patches at different stages of succession |
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Definition
| all living systems from single celled organisms to the biosphere contain complex networks of negative and positive feedback loops that interact, provide some degree of stability |
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Definition
| the ability of a living system to resist being disturbed or altered |
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Definition
| the ability of a living system such as a population to keep its numbers within the limits imposed by available resources |
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Definition
| the ability of a living system to bounce back after an external disturbance that is not too drastic |
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Definition
| when there is considerable evidence that an activity raises threats |
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Definition
| spatial pattern such as clumping, uniform dispersion or random dispersion in which the members of a population are found in their habitat depending mostly on resource availability |
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Definition
| changes that occur in response to environmental stress or changes in environmental conditions |
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Definition
| populations vary in their capacity for growth |
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Term
| intrinsic rate of increase (r) |
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Definition
| rate at which a population would grow if it had unlimited resources |
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Definition
| consists of all the factors acting jointly to limit the growth of a population |
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Definition
| the number of individuals of a given species that can be sustained indefinitely in a given space |
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Term
| minimum viable population(MVP) |
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Definition
| certain minimum population size that intrinsic rate depends on |
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Definition
| the period needed for the birth rate to fall and death rate to rise |
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Definition
| population decreases rapidly after carrying capacity is exceeded |
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Term
| density-independent population controls |
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Definition
| affect a population size regardless of density |
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Term
| density-dependent population controls |
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Definition
| affect a population size depending on density |
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Definition
| 4 general types: stable, irruptive, irregular, cyclic |
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Definition
| a species whose population size fluctuates slightly above and below carrying capacity |
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Definition
| fairly stable population that may occasionally explode to a high peak and crash to a more stable lower level |
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Definition
| has chaotic behavior, no recurring pattern |
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Definition
| regular time period fluctuations |
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Definition
| predator and prey under cylic changes in their numbers with sharp increases in their numbers followed by seemingly periodic crashes |
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Definition
| hypothesis that predation is explanation for correlation and timelag between 10year population cycles of snowshoe hare and predator lynx |
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Definition
| change in prey population affects change in predator population |
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Definition
| all offspring are exact genetic copies of a single parent |
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Definition
| organisms produce offspring by combining the gametes |
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Definition
| species with high intrinsic rate of increase, ex. algae bacteria insects |
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Definition
| r-selected species mostly, reproduce and disperse rapidly when conditions are favorable or when a disturbance opens up a new habitat for invasion |
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Definition
| competitors, put fairly little energy into reproduction, tend to reproduce late in life, few offspring with long generation times and put most of energy into nourishing/protecting their young |
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Definition
| a way to represent the age structure of a population, it shows the number of survivors of each age group for a particular species |
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Definition
| these curves are typical for k-selected species that produce few young and care for them until they reach reproductive age |
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Definition
| these curves are typical for r-select species with many offspring high juvenile mortality and high survivorship, once surviving young reaches certain age and size |
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Term
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Definition
| these curves typically ahve intermediate reproductive aptterns with fairly constant rate of mortality in all age classes, thus a steadily declining survivorship curve |
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Definition
| table of numbers of individuals at each age from a survivorship curve |
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Definition
| involves sensible and careful use of natural resources by humans |
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Definition
| multidisciplinary science that uses the best avaiable science to take action to preserve species in ecosystems |
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Definition
| devoted primarily to manipulating the population sizes of various animal species |
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Term
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Definition
| concerns itself with providing tools for storage and access to key biological information and with building the actual databases that contain the needed biological information.h |
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