Ecology Vocab Flashcards
(189 cards)
1
Q
ecology
A
the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and the environment
2
Q
biota
A
all the organisms that are part of an ecosystem.
3
Q
organismal ecology
A
The branch of ecology concerned with the morphological, physiological, and behavioral ways in which individual organisms meet the challenges posed by their biotic and abiotic environments.
4
Q
population
A
A localized group of individuals that belong to the same biological species (that are capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring)
5
Q
population ecology
A
The study of populations in relation to the environment, including environmental influences on population density and distribution, age structure, and variations in population size.
6
Q
community
A
All the organisms that inhabit a particular area; an assemblage of populations of different species living close enough together for potential interaction.
7
Q
community ecology
A
The study of how interactions between species affect community structure and organization.
8
Q
ecosystem
A
All the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact; a community and its physical environment.
9
Q
ecosystem ecology
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The study of energy flow and the cycling of chemicals among the various biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem.
10
Q
landscape ecology
A
The study of past, present, and future patterns of landscape use, as well as ecosystem management and the biodiversity of interacting ecosystems.
11
Q
patchiness
A
Localized variation in environmental conditions within an ecosystem, arranged spatially into a complex of discrete areas that may be characterized by distinctive groups of species or ecosystem processes.
12
Q
biosphere
A
The entire portion of Earth inhabited by life; the sum of all the planet’s ecosystems.
13
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precautionary principle
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A guiding principle in making decisions about the environment, cautioning to consider carefully the potential consequences of actions.
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dispersal
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The distribution of individuals within geographic population boundaries.
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climate
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The prevailing weather conditions at a locality.
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macroclimate
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Large-scale variations in climate; the climate of an entire region.
17
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microclimate
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Very fine scale variations of climate, such as the specific climatic conditions underneath a log.
18
Q
turnover
A
The mixing of waters as a result of changing water-temperature profiles in a lake.
19
Q
biome
A
Any of the world’s major ecosystems, classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment.
20
Q
photic zone
A
The narrow top slice of the ocean, where light permeates sufficiently for photosynthesis to occur.
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aphotic zone
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The part of the ocean beneath the photic zone, where light does not penetrate sufficiently for photosynthesis to occur.
22
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benthic zone
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The bottom surface of an aquatic environment.
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benthos
A
The communities of organisms living in the benthic zone of an aquatic biome.
24
Q
detritus
A
Dead organic matter.
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thermocline
A narrow stratum of rapid temperature change in the ocean and in many temperate-zone lakes.
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climograph
A plot of the temperature and precipitation in a particular region.
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canopy
The uppermost layer of vegetation in a terrestrial biome.
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ecotone
The transition from one type of habitat or ecosystem to another, such as the transition from a forest to a grassland.
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behavioral ecology
The scientific study of animal behavior, including how it is controlled and how it develops, evolves, and contributes to survival and reproductive success.
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behavior
Everything an animal does and how it does it, including muscular activities such as chasing prey, certain nonmuscular processes such as secreting a hormone that attracts a mate, and learning.
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proximate question
In animal behavior, an inquiry that focuses on the environmental stimuli, if any, that trigger a particular behavioral act, as well as the genetic, physiological, and anatomical mechanisms underlying it.
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ultimate question
In animal behavior, an inquiry that focuses on the evolutionary significance of a behavioral act.
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ethology
The study of animal behavior in natural conditions.
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fixed action pattern (FAP)
A sequence of behavioral acts that is essentially unchangeable and usually carried to completion once initiated.
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sign stimulus
An external sensory stimulus that triggers a fixed action pattern.
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imprinting
A type of learned behavior with a significant innate component, acquired during a limited critical period.
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sensitive period
A limited phase in an individual animal′s development when learning of particular behaviors can take place.
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innate behavior
Behavior that is developmentally fixed and under strong genetic control. Innate behavior is exhibited in virtually the same form by all individuals in a population despite internal and external environmental differences during development and throughout their lifetimes.
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kinesis
A change in activity or turning rate in response to a stimulus.
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taxis
Movement toward or away from a stimulus.
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signal
A behavior that causes a change in behavior in another animal.
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communication
Animal behavior involving transmission of, reception of, and response to signals.
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pheromone
In animals and fungi, a small, volatile chemical that functions in communication and that in animals acts much like a hormone in influencing physiology and behavior.
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learning
A behavioral change resulting from experience.
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habituation
A very simple type of learning that involves a loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information.
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spatial learning
Modification of behavior based on experience of the spatial structure of the environment.
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landmark
A point of reference for orientation during navigation.
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cognitive map
A representation within the nervous system of spatial relations between objects in an animal′s environment.
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associative learning
The acquired ability to associate one stimulus with another; also called classical conditioning.
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classical conditioning
A type of associative learning; the association of a normally irrelevant stimulus with a fixed behavioral response.
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operant conditioning
A type of associative learning in which an animal learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or punishment and then tends to repeat or avoid that behavior; also called trial-and-error learning.
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cognition
The ability of an animal′s nervous system to perceive, store, process, and use information obtained by its sensory receptors.
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cognitive ethology
The scientific study of cognition; the study of the connection between data processing by nervous systems and animal behavior.
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foraging
Behavior necessary to recognize, search for, capture, and consume food.
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optimal foraging theory
The basis for analyzing behavior as a compromise of feeding costs versus feeding benefits.
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promiscuous
A type of relationship in which mating occurs with no strong pair-bonds or lasting relationships.
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monogamous
A type of relationship in which one male mates with just one female.
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polygamous
A type of relationship in which an individual of one sex mates with several of the other.
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polygyny
A polygamous mating system involving one male and many females.
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polyandry
A polygamous mating system involving one female and many males.
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agnostic behavior
A type of behavior involving a contest of some kind that determines which competitor gains access to some resource, such as food or mates.
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game theory
An approach to evaluating alternative strategies in situations where the outcome depends not only on each individual′s strategy but also on the strategies of other individuals; a way of thinking about behavioral evolution in situations where the fitness of a particular behavioral phenotype is influenced by other behavioral phenotypes in the population.
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altruism
Behavior that reduces an individual′s fitness while increasing the fitness of another individual.
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inclusive fitness
The total effect an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing its own offspring and by providing aid that enables other close relatives to increase the production of their offspring.
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coefficient of relatedness
The probability that a particular gene present in one individual will also be inherited from a common parent or ancestor in a second individual.
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Hamilton’s rule
The principle that for natural selection to favor an altruistic act, the benefit to the recipient, devalued by the coefficient of relatedness, must exceed the cost to the altruist.
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kin selection
A phenomenon of inclusive fitness, used to explain altruistic behavior between related individuals.
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reciprocal altruism
Altruistic behavior between unrelated individuals, whereby the current altruistic individual benefits in the future when the current beneficiary reciprocates.
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social learning
Modification of behavior through the observation of other individuals.
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culture
The ideas, customs, skills, rituals, and similar activities of a people or group that are passed along to succeeding generations.
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mate choice copying
Behavior in which individuals in a population copy the mate choice of others, apparently as a result of social learning.
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sociobiology
The study of social behavior based on evolutionary theory.
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density
The number of individuals per unit area or volume.
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dispersion
The pattern of spacing among individuals within geographic population boundaries.
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mark-recapture method
A sampling technique used to estimate wildlife populations.
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immigration
The influx of new individuals from other areas.
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emigration
The movement of individuals out of a population.
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territoriality
A behavior in which an animal defends a bounded physical space against encroachment by other individuals, usually of its own species. Territory defense may involve direct aggression or indirect mechanisms such as scent marking or singing.
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demography
The study of statistics relating to births and deaths in populations.
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life table
A table of data summarizing mortality in a population.
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cohort
A group of individuals of the same age, from birth until all are dead.
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survivorship curve
A plot of the number of members of a cohort that are still alive at each age; one way to represent age-specific mortality.
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reproductive table
An age-specific summary of the reproductive rates in a population.
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life history
The series of events from birth through reproduction and death.
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big-band reproduction
semelparity; A life history in which adults have but a single reproductive opportunity to produce large numbers of offspring, such as the life history of the Pacific salmon
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repeated reproduction
iteroparity; A life history in which adults produce large numbers of offspring over many years
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zero population growth (ZPG)
A period of stability in population size, when the per capita birth rate and death rate are equal.
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exponential population growth
The geometric increase of a population as it grows in an ideal, unlimited environment.
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carrying capacity
The maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources, symbolized as K.
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logistic population growth
A model describing population growth that levels off as population size approaches carrying capacity.
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K-selection
The concept that in certain (K–selected) populations, life history is centered around producing relatively few offspring that have a good chance of survival.
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r-selection
The concept that in certain (r–selected) populations, a high reproductive rate is the chief determinant of life history.
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density independent
Referring to any characteristic that is not affected by population density.
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density dependent
Referring to any characteristic that varies according to an increase in population density.
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population dynamics
The study of how complex interactions between biotic and abiotic factors influence variations in population size.
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metapopulation
A subdivided population of a single species.
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demographic transition
A shift from zero population growth in which birth rates and death rates are high to zero population growth characterized instead by low birth and death rates.
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age structure
The relative number of individuals of each age in a population.
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life expectancy at birth
The predicted average length of life at birth.
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infant mortality
The number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births.
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ecological footprint
A method of using multiple constraints to estimate the human carrying capacity of Earth by calculating the aggregate land and water area in various ecosystem categories appropriated by a nation to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb all the waste it generates.
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ecological capacity
The actual resource base of a country.
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interspecific interaction
Relationships between species of a community.
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interspecific competition
Competition for resources between plants, between animals, or between decomposers when resources are in short supply.
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competitive exclusion
The concept that when populations of two similar species compete for the same limited resources, one population will use the resources more efficiently and have a reproductive advantage that will eventually lead to the elimination of the other population.
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ecological niche
The sum total of a species′ use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.
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resource partitioning
The division of environmental resources by coexisting species such that the niche of each species differs by one or more significant factors from the niches of all coexisting species.
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character displacement
The tendency for characteristics to be more divergent in sympatric populations of two species than in allopatric populations of the same two species.
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predation
An interaction between species in which one species, the predator, eats the other, the prey.
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cryptic coloration
Camouflage, making potential prey difficult to spot against its background.
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aposematic coloration
The bright coloration of animals with effective physical or chemical defenses that acts as a warning to predators.
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Batesian mimicry
A type of mimicry in which a harmless species looks like a species that is poisonous or otherwise harmful to predators.
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Müllerian mimicry
A mutual mimicry by two unpalatable species.
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herbivory
An interaction in which an herbivore eats parts of a plant or alga.
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parasitism
A symbiotic relationship in which the symbiont (parasite) benefits at the expense of the host by living either within the host (as an endoparasite) or outside the host (as an ectoparasite).
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parasite
An organism that benefits by living in or on another organism at the expense of the host.
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host
The larger participant in a symbiotic relationship, serving as home and feeding ground to the symbiont.
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endoparasite
A parasite that lives within a host.
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ectoparasite
A parasite that feeds on the external surface of a host.
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parasitoidism
A type of parasitism in which an insect lays eggs on or in a living host; the larvae then feed on the body of the host, eventually killing it.
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pathogen
A disease-causing agent.
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mutualism
A symbiotic relationship in which both participants benefit.
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commensalism
A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits but the other is neither helped nor harmed.
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coevolution
The mutual evolutionary influence between two different species interacting with each other and reciprocally influencing each other′s adaptations.
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species diversity
The number and relative abundance of species in a biological community.
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species richness
The number of species in a biological community.
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relative abundance
Differences in the abundance of different species within a community.
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trophic structure
The different feeding relationships in an ecosystem, which determine the route of energy flow and the pattern of chemical cycling.
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food chain
The pathway along which food is transferred from trophic level to trophic level, beginning with producers.
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food web
The elaborate, interconnected feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
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energetic hypothesis
The concept that the length of a food chain is limited by the inefficiency of energy transfer along the chain.
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dynamic stability hypothesis
The idea that long food chains are less stable than short chains.
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dominant species
Those species in a community that have the highest abundance or highest biomass. These species exert a powerful control over the occurrence and distribution of other species.
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biomass
The dry weight of organic matter comprising a group of organisms in a particular habitat.
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invasive species
A species that takes hold outside of its native range; usually introduced by humans.
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keystone species
A species that is not necessarily abundant in a community yet exerts strong control on community structure by the nature of its ecological role or niche.
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facilitator
A species that has a positive effect on the survival and reproduction of other species in a community and that contributes to community structure.
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bottom-up model
A model of community organization in which mineral nutrients control community organization because nutrients control plant numbers, which in turn control herbivore numbers, which in turn control predator numbers.
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top-down model
A model of community organization in which predation controls community organization because predators control herbivores, which in turn control plants, which in turn control nutrient levels; also called the trophic cascade model.
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biomanipulation
A technique for restoring eutrophic lakes that reduces populations of algae by manipulating the higher-level consumers in the community rather than by changing nutrient levels or adding chemical treatments.
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nonequilibrium model
The model of communities that emphasizes that they are not stable in time but constantly changing after being buffeted by disturbances.
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disturbance
A force that changes a biological community and usually removes organisms from it. Disturbances, such as fire and storms, play pivotal roles in structuring many biological communities.
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intermediate disturbance hypothesis
The concept that moderate levels of disturbance can foster greater species diversity than low or high levels of disturbance.
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ecological succession
Transition in the species composition of a biological community, often following ecological disturbance of the community; the establishment of a biological community in an area virtually barren of life.
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primary succession
A type of ecological succession that occurs in a virtually lifeless area, where there were originally no organisms and where soil has not yet formed.
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secondary succession
A type of succession that occurs where an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil intact.
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evapotranspiration
The evaporation of water from soil plus the transpiration of water from plants.
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species-area curve
The biodiversity pattern, first noted by Alexander von Humboldt, that illustrates that the larger the geographic area of a community, the greater the number of species.
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integrated hypothesis
The concept, put forth by F. E. Clements, that a community is an assemblage of closely linked species, locked into association by mandatory biotic interactions that cause the community to function as an integrated unit, a sort of superorganism.
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individualistic hypothesis
The concept, put forth by H. A. Gleason, that a plant community is a chance assemblage of species found in the same area simply because they happen to have similar biotic requirements.
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rivet model
The concept, put forth by Paul and Anne Ehrlich, that many or most of the species in a community are associated tightly with other species in a web of life. According to this model, an increase or decrease in one species in a community affects many other species.
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redundancy model
The concept, put forth by Henry Gleason and Brian Walker, that most of the species in a community are not tightly coupled with one another (that is, the web of life is very loose). According to this model, an increase or decrease in one species in a community has little effect on other species, which operate independently.
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primary producer
An autotroph, usually a photosynthetic organism. Collectively, autotrophs make up the trophic level of an ecosystem that ultimately supports all other levels.
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primary consumer
An herbivore; an organism in the trophic level of an ecosystem that eats plants or algae.
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secondary consumer
A member of the trophic level of an ecosystem consisting of carnivores that eat herbivores.
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tertiary consumer
A member of the trophic level of an ecosystem consisting of carnivores that eat mainly other carnivores.
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detritivore
A consumer that derives its energy from nonliving organic material; a decomposer.
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decomposer
Any of the saprobic fungi and prokaryotes that absorb nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes of living organisms, and convert them into inorganic forms.
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primary production
The amount of light energy converted to chemical energy (organic compounds) by autotrophs in an ecosystem during a given time period.
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gross primary production (GPP)
The total primary production of an ecosystem.
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net primary production (NPP)
The gross primary production of an ecosystem minus the energy used by the producers for respiration.
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limiting nutrient
An element that must be added for production to increase in a particular area.
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eutrophication
A process by which nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, become highly concentrated in a body of water, leading to increased growth of organisms such as algae. Cultural eutrophication refers to situations where the nutrients added to the water body originate mainly from human sources, such as agricultural drainage or sewage.
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actual evapotranspiration
The amount of water annually transpired by plants and evaporated from a landscape, usually measured in millimeters.
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secondary production
The amount of chemical energy in consumers′ food that is converted to their own new biomass during a given time period.
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production efficiency
The fraction of energy stored in food that is not used for respiration.
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turnover time
The time required to replace the standing crop of a population or group of populations (for example, of phytoplankton), calculated as the ratio of standing crop biomass to production.
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green world hypothesis
The conjecture that terrestrial herbivores consume relatively little plant biomass because they are held in check by a variety of factors, including predators, parasites, and disease.
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biogeochemical cycle
Any of the various nutrient circuits, which involve both biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems.
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critical load
The amount of added nutrient, usually nitrogen or phosphorus, that can be absorbed by plants without damaging ecosystem integrity.
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biological magnification
A trophic process in which retained substances become more concentrated with each link in the food chain.
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greenhouse effect
The warming of planet Earth due to the atmospheric accumulation of carbon dioxide, which absorbs reflected infrared radiation and re-reflects some of it back toward Earth.
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conservation biology
The integrated study of ecology, evolutionary biology, physiology, molecular biology, genetics, and behavioral biology in an effort to sustain biological diversity at all levels.
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restoration ecology
A goal-directed science that applies ecological principles in an effort to return degraded ecosystems to conditions as similar as possible to their natural, predegraded state.
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endangered species
A species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.
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threatened species
A species that is considered likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.
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ecosystem services
Functions performed by natural ecosystems that directly or indirectly benefit humans.
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introduced species
A species moved by humans, either intentionally or accidentally, from its native location to a new geographic region; also called an exotic species.
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extinction vortex
A downward population spiral in which positive-feedback loops of inbreeding and genetic drift cause a small population to shrink and, unless reversed, become extinct.
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minimum viable population
The smallest population size at which a species is able to sustain its numbers and survive.
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population viability analysis
A method of predicting whether or not a population will persist.
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effective population size
An estimate of the size of a population based on the numbers of females and males that successfully breed; generally smaller than the total population.
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landscape ecology
The study of past, present, and future patterns of landscape use, as well as ecosystem management and the biodiversity of interacting ecosystems.
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movement corridor
A series of small clumps or a narrow strip of quality habitat (usable by organisms) that connects otherwise isolated patches of quality habitat.
185
biodiversity hot spot
A relatively small area with an exceptional concentration of endemic species and a large number of endangered and threatened species.
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zoned reserve
An extensive region of land that includes one or more areas undisturbed by humans surrounded by lands that have been changed by human activity and are used for economic gain.
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bioremediation
The use of living organisms to detoxify and restore polluted and degraded ecosystems.
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biological augmentation
An approach to restoration ecology that uses organisms to add essential materials to a degraded ecosystem.
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sustainable development
The long-term prosperity of human societies and the ecosystems that support them.
