FINAL VOCABULARY

Question 1

The interconnected feeding relationships in an ecosystem.

Answer 1

Food web

Question 2

A central cavity with a single opening in the body that functions in both the digestion and distribution of nutrients.

Answer 2

Gastrovascular cavity

Question 3

A group of cells living together where cells specialize to carry out particular life functions. The coordinated behavior/function of all cells is needed to make up a complete living organism.

Answer 3

Multicellular

Question 4

All of the organisms that inhabit a particular area; an assemblage of populations of different species living close enough together for potential interaction.

Answer 4

Community

Question 5

The amount of light energy converted to chemical energy by the autotrophs in an ecosystem during a given time period.

Answer 5

Primary production

Question 6

A group of animal phyla identified as a clade by molecular evidence. Includes animals that have lophophores or trochophore larvae.

Answer 6

Lophotrochozoan

Question 7

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.

Answer 7

Keystone species

Question 8

The most diverse animal phylum, containing ecdysozoan animals with a segmented body and an exoskeleton.

Answer 8

Arthropoda

Question 9

The evolution of similar features in independent evolutionary lineages.

Answer 9

Convergent evolution

Question 10

An organism that is capable of both photosynthesis and heterotrophy.

Answer 10

Mixotroph

Question 11

The outermost of the three primary germ layers in animal embryos; gives rise to the outer covering and in some phyla, the nervous system, inner ear, and lens of the eye.

Answer 11

Ectoderm

Question 12

Animals that at some point during their development have a notochord; a dorsal hollow nerve cord; pharyngeal slits or clefts; and a muscular, post-anal tail.

Answer 12

Chordates

Question 13

A process in which a unicellular organism engulfs another cell, which lives within the host cell and ultimately becomes an organelle in the host cell.

Answer 13

Endosymbiosis

Question 14

An evolutionary novelty that is unique to a particular clade.

Answer 14

Shared derived character

Question 15

An animal phylum composed of sessile, suspension feeders, that lack true tissues. They are informal referred to as sponges.

Answer 15

Porifera

Question 16

A species, often introduced by humans, that takes hold outside its native range.

Answer 16

Invasive species

Question 17

The percentage of production transferred from one trophic level to the next higher trophic level.

Answer 17

10 Percent

Question 18

A group of cells living together, where all cells can carry out all necessary functions of life.

Answer 18

Colonial

Question 19

Group of animal phyla identified as a clade by molecular evidence. Many animals in this group are molting animals.

Answer 19

Ecdysozoan

Question 20

A symbiotic relationship in which both participants benefit.

Answer 20

Mutualism

Question 21

A reproductive barrier that impedes mating between species or hinders fertilization if interspecific mating is attempted.

Answer 21

Prezygotic barriers

Question 22

A vertebrate clade whose members have limbs with digits. Include mammals, amphibians, and birds and other reptiles.

Answer 22

Tetrapoda

Question 23

Member of the terapod class. Includes salamanders, frogs, and caecilians.

Answer 23

Amphibian

Question 24

The fusion of the cytoplasm of cells from two individual fungi.

Answer 24

Plasmogamy

Question 25

Natural selection in which individuals on both extremes of a phenotypic range survive or reproduce more successfully than do individuals with intermediate phenotypes.

Answer 25

Disruptive selection

Question 26

In a specified group of organisms, a taxon whose evolutionary lineage diverged early in the history of the group.

Answer 26

Basal taxon

Question 27

The concept that moderate levels of disturbance can foster greater species diversity than low or high levels of disturbance.

Answer 27

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

Question 28

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.

Answer 28

Resource partitioning

Question 29

In organisms that have alternation of generations, the multicellular diploid form that results from the union of gametes.

Answer 29

Sporophyte

Question 30

A developmental mode distinguished by spiral, determinate cleavage and the development of the mouth from the blastopore.

Answer 30

Protostome

Question 31

A terrestrial biome that exists at midlatitude regions and is dominated by grasses and forbs.

Answer 31

Temperate grassland

Question 32

A solid-bodied animal lacking a cavity between the gut and outer body wall.

Answer 32

Acoelomate

Question 33

Characteristics that is similar because of convergent evolution, not homology.

Answer 33

Analogous

Question 34

A life cycle characteristic of Fungi and some protists. Mitosis occurs during the haploid stage of the life cycle and meiosis occurs immediately following formation of the zygote (zygotic meiosis).

Answer 34

Haplontic

Question 35

An adaptation of some terrestrial plants consisting of an embryo packaged along with a store of food within a protective coat

Answer 35

Seed

Question 36

A group of taxa that consists of a common ancestor and all of its descendants.

Answer 36

Monophyletic

Question 37

A clade of tetrapods whose development takes place in an egg with specialized membranes that protect and keep the developing embryo hydrated.

Answer 37

Amniote

Question 38

A consumer that derives its energy and nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes of living organisms; a decomposer.

Answer 38

Detritivore

Question 39

An informal term applied to any eukaryote that is not a plant, animal, or fungus.

Answer 39

Protist

Question 40

A hard skeleton buried within the soft tissues of an animal.

Answer 40

Endoskeleton

Question 41

A life cycle characteristic of animals and some protists. Mitosis occurs during the diploid stage of the life cycle and meiosis directly produces haploid gametes (gametic meiosis).

Answer 41

Diplontic

Question 42

Selection in which there is direct competition among individuals of one sex for mates of the opposite sex.

Answer 42

Intrasexual selection

Question 43

The contribution an individual makes to the gene pool of the next generation relative to the other individuals in the population.

Answer 43

Relative fitness

Question 44

A branching diagram that represents a hypothesis about the evolutionary history of a group of organisms.

Answer 44

Phylogenetic Tree

Question 45

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.

Answer 45

Competitive exclusion

Question 46

A life cycle characteristic of plants and some protists. Mitosis occurs during both the haploid and diploid stages of the life cycle. Meiosis produces haploid spores (sporic meiosis). Gametes are produced through cellular differentiation following mitosis.

Answer 46

Alternation of generations

Question 47

A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area and interbreed, producing fertile offspring.

Answer 47

Population

Question 48

Having developed from three germ layers.

Answer 48

Triploblastic

Question 49

An animal with a worm shaped body plan characterized by a coelom, segmentation, and lack of a cuticle.

Answer 49

Annelid

Question 50

An organism that obtains organic food molecules without eating other organisms or substances derived from other organisms. Use energy from the sun or from oxidation of inorganic substances to make organic molecules from inorganic ones.

Answer 50

Autotroph

Question 51

Any of the world's major ecosystem types, often classified according to dominant vegetation, the physical environment, and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment.

Answer 51

Biome

Question 52

An element that must be added for production to increase in a particular area.

Answer 52

Limiting nutrient

Question 53

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 or cyanobacteria.

Answer 53

Eutrophication

Question 54

All the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact; one or more communities and the physical environment around them.

Answer 54

Ecosystem

Question 55

Body symmetry in which a central longitudinal plane divides the body into two equal but opposite halves.

Answer 55

Bilateral symmetry

Question 56

Vascular plant tissue consisting of living cells arranged into elongated tubes that transport sugar and other organic nutrients throughout the plant.

Answer 56

Phloem

Question 57

A development mode in animals distinguished by radial, indeterminate cleavage and the development of an anus from the blastopore.

Answer 57

Deuterostome

Question 58

Population growth that levels off as population size approaches carrying capacity.

Answer 58

Logistic population growth

Question 59

A longitudinal, flexible rod made of tightly packed mesodermal cells that runs along the anterior-posterior axis of a chordate in the dorsal part of the body.

Answer 59

Notochord

Question 60

A type of succession that occurs where an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil or substrate intact.

Answer 60

Secondary succession