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Chapter three
SC225: Environmental Science
14
Environmental Studies
Undergraduate 1
09/12/2009

Additional Environmental Studies Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
What is adaptation at the species level?
Definition

Physical adaptations that allow a species to survive in a given environment. For example, as a sled dog species’ year round thick coat of hair.

 

CHAPTER 3, p. 50

Term
How is natural selection demonstrated?
Definition

When a species successfully produces a new generation.

 

CHAPTER 3, p. 50

Term
What is natural selection at the population level?
Definition

The mechanism for evolutionary change in which environmental pressures (such as seasonal colder temperatures) cause certain genetic combinations in a population to become more abundant. For example, dogs that adapt to cold temperatures in the fall by growing thickened coats.

 

CHAPTER 3, p. 50

Term
What is the zone of physiological stress?
Definition

The range along the environmental gradient for that factor (e.g., temperature), at which a species becomes infrequent as life becomes harder.

 

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CHAPTER 3, p. 51

Term
What are endemic species?
Definition

Habitat specialists that may occupy a very narrow niche.

 

CHAPTER 3, pp. 52&53; glossary, p. 381

Term
What is the competitive exclusion principle?
Definition

No two species can occupy the same niche indefinitely.

 

CHAPTER 3, p. 53; Glossary, p. 380

Term
What is speciation?
Definition

The process by which new species arise or develop.   

 

CHAPTER 3, p. 54; Glossary, p. 387

Term
What is resource partitioning?
Definition

No two species can occupy the same ecological niche for long. The one that is more efficient in using available resources will exclude the other, reducing intraspecific competition.

 

CHAPTER 3, pp. 52, 53, & 57; Glossary, p. 386

Term
What is Batesian mimicry?
Definition

Certain species that are harmless resemble poisonous or distasteful ones, gaining protection against predators who remember a bad experience with the actual toxic organism. For example, the monarch and viceroy butterflies.

 

Glossary, p. 379; CHAPTER 3, pp. 58&59

Term
What is symbiosis?
Definition

The intimate living together of members of two species. For example, in lichens, a fungus and a photosynthetic partner (either an alga or a cyanobacterium) combine tissues to mutual benefit.

 

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CHAPTER 3, p. 59; Glossary, p. 387

Term
What is an invasive species?
Definition

A generalist or pioneering species that is moved into a new ecosystem. For example, the kudzu, water hyacinth, and walking catfish are all invasive species in the U.S.

 

CHAPTER 3, pp. 52&60; CHAPTER 5, p. 115; Glossary, p. 383

Term
What are keystone species?
Definition

A keystone species plays has complex ties to the foundations of the ecosystem that is out of proportion to its abundance. For example, salmon in the Northwest.

 

CHAPTER 3, p. 60; Glossary, p. 383

Term
When does a dieback or population crash occur?
Definition

When a population overshoots or exceeds the carrying capacity of its environment, resources become limited and death rates rise. If deaths exceed births, the growth rate becomes negative and the population may suddenly decrease, a change called a population crash or dieback.

 

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CHAPTER 3, p. 61

Term
What is a J curve?
Definition

The mathematical expression or graph of exponential population growth.

 

[image]

 

CHAPTER 3, pp. 61-62; Glossary, p. 383

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