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Ecology Unit !
UNIT 1 VOCAB
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ecology | The scientific study of the relationships between organisms and their environment |
| Organisms | All living things. |
| Environment | Physical and chemical conditions as well as biological (living) components |
| Tree of Life | Visual representation of the 3 domains of life: Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryota. Hypothetical relationships as dashed lines. Metazoan species--animals with organs, even humans, in purple box. Based on Molecular ribosomal RNA |
| Ecosystem | the biotic community and its abiotic environment, functions as a system. Biotic & Abiotic |
| Biotic | Living components; plants, animals, fungi, and microbes that inhabit the forest. |
| Abiotic | nonliving (physical & chemical) components. Atmosphere, climate, soil, water. |
| Environmental conditions | Physical and chemical conditions: Temp, Moisture, Concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide, Light intensity, pH, available nutrients |
| Ecological Systems Hierarchy | Individual>Population>Community>Ecosystem>Landscape>Biome>Biosphere |
| The Individual | organism forms the basic unit in ecology; senses and responds to physical environ;drive the properties of populations and communities; through individ that genetic information is passed along. |
| Population | a group of individuals of the same species that occupy a given area |
| Community | includes all populations of different species interacting within an ecosystem. |
| Landscape | the area of land (or water) that is composed of a patchwork of different communities and ecosystems |
| Biomes | geographic regions with similar geological and climatic conditions; tropical rain forest, desert, grassland |
| biosphere | the thin layer surrounding the Earth that supports ALL LIFE |
| Spatial scales | relate to measurements of space (distance,size, area) |
| Temporal Scales | relate to measurements of time (photosynthetic rate, generation time) |
| Scientific Method | Make a prediction based on the hypothesis, Test the hypothesis by gathering data and conducting experiments. |
| Gathering Data | in a field study, examine natural patterns across the landscape. Relationship between two or more variables; results suggest but do not prove. |
| Independent Variable | controlled by ecologist in predetermined way and monitors the response of the dependent variable. |
| Dependent Variable | in an experiment, dependent variable responds to independent. |
| Categorical Data | qualitative, observations fall into separate and distinct categories. |
| Numerical Data | Quantitative, set of numbers |
| Nominal Data | Categorical data in unordered categories(hair color) |
| Ordinal Data | Categorical data where order is important. |
| Discrete Data | Numerical data where only certain values are possible |
| Continuous Data | Numerical Data where any value within an interval is possible. |
| Line graph | Data connected with line |
| Pie Chart | Chart with pie pieces |
| Bar Graph | Graph with bars |
| Scatter plots | scattered dots |
| Climate | Governs the large scale distribution of plants; the structure of terrestrial ecosystems is largely defined by the dominant plants; determines what ecosystems exist where |
| Weather | Combination of temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind, cloudiness, and other atmospheric conditions occurring at a SPECIFIC PLACE AND TIME |
| Climate | Long-term average pattern of weather |
| Solar Radiation | the elctromagnetic energy or stream of photons produced by the sun. Earth intercepts these and effects the weather patterns. |
| Shortwave radiation | emitted by a very hot surface |
| longwave radiation | emitted by a cooler object |
| PAR | Photosynthetically active radiation. |
| Seasonal Variation | The amount of solar radiation intercepted at any point on Earth's surface varies by latitude with a gradient of decreasing tempt from equator to poles. @ higher latitudes, solar radiation hits Earth's surface at steeper angle. |
| Earth's seasons | result of Earth's tilt of 23.5*, Earth's rotation around the sun. The seasonality of solar radiation, temp, and day length increases with latitude |
| Temperature and latitude | The Variation in exposure of different latitudes to solar radiation controls mean annual temp around the globe. |
| Temperature and altitude | Temp decreases with an increase in elevation (mount kilimanjaro in Africa has snow at its peak) |
| Global patterns of precipitation | Precipitation is highest at equatorial regions and declines as you move north and south. |
| local patterns of precipitation | influences by mountainous topogrpahy, rain shadow forms. |
| Rainshadow | forms on leeward side of a mountain due to the loss of moisture in the air as it travels up and over the moutain from the windward side |
| Microclimates | most organisms live in local conditions that do not match the general climate profile of the larger region surrounding them, those climates are called these. Affected by aspect, local vegetation and topography, structures, color of the ground. |
| Urban Microclimate | hotter than surrounding country; referred to urban heat islands. Warmer b/c less vegetation, more buildings and streets that absrb solar radtn, rainfall lost as run off, construction materials conduct heat well. |
| The Aquatic Environment | Water is essentially life. 75-95% of weight of all living cells is water. Water covers 75% of the planet's surface and is the dominant environment on Earth. |
| Physical Factors Important in Aquatic Environments | Light, Temp, Oxygen concentration, CO2 concentration, pH, Salinity |
| Light | Varies with depth in water. red light is absorbed first (longer wavelengths), blue is the only wavelength that reaches depth. |
| Thermocline | the region of the vertical depth profile where water temp declines most rapidly. Located between the epilimnion and the hypolimnion. |
| Epilimnion | warm, lighter water above. |
| Hypolimnion | cold, denser water below. |
| Oxygen | diffuses form the atmosphere to the surface waters. Oxygen gas diffuses from the atmosphere into the surface waters of aquatic environments. |
| pH | measurement related to the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. Acidic is pH less than 7. Basic/Alkaline is pH greater than 7. pH of 7 is neutral. |
| extremophiles | able to live in very acidic or basic environments. |
| Salinity | measurement of dissolved salt in water or soil. measured in ppt. water is 35ppt. |
| marine | saltwater |
| brackish | fresh and salt water mix. |
| Hydrologic Cycle | Water cycle;process by which water travels in a sequence from the air to Earth and returns to the atmosphere. |
| Solar Radiation | the driving force behind the water cycle because it provides energy for the evaporation of water. |
| Precipitation | water vapor in atmosphere falls in some form (rain, snow, etc) |
| Interception | occurs when precipitation falls onto vegetation, dead organic matter, and urban structures or streets. This evaporates directly back to the atmosphere. |
| infiltration | precipitation that reaches the soil movies into the ground by THIS. |
| Surface runoff | this occurs when the soil is saturated |
| Ground water | the water that seeps down to an impervious layer of rock collects as THIS |
| Evapotranspiration | total amount of evaporating water; superficial water in terrestrial and aquatic environments returns to the atmosphere by evaporation. |
| Transpiration | the evaporation of water from the internal surfaces of plants. |
| The terrestrial Environment | physical and chemical features of land environments affect what life can exist where on Earth |
| Water balance | organisms must maintain this and minimize water loss. Like the Waxy cuticle of plants in the desert. Any water lost must be replaced to maintain waterbalance. |
| Dessication | the loss of water; the greatest constraint imposed by terrestrial environments. |
| Variability | Terrestrial environments experience a high degree of this. Such as with Temperature. Nutrient availability in soil is highly variable. |
| Temperature Variation | These are much greater on land than in aquatic habitats. |
| Deciduous plants | SHED their leaves during the winter months. |
| Drought deciduous | plants may be this in regions with distinct wet and dry seasons. |
| Evergreen plants | do not shed leaves seasonally. |
| Macronutrients | nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, silicon |
| three secondary macronutrients | calcium, sulphur, magnesium |
| micronutrients/trace minerals | boron, chlorine, manganese, iron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, nickle, selenium, and sodium |
| weathering | the destruction of rock materials into smaller particles |
| mechanical weathering | results from the action of water, wind, temperature, and organisms. |
| chemical weathering | occurs when particles are chemically altered and further broken down. |
| soil texture | is the proportion of different sized particles in soil; affects pore space and the movement of air and water into and through the soil. |
| soil profile | the sequence of horizontal layering |
| soil horizons | are horizontal layers of soil material where each horizon has distinct texture, mineral makeup, and water/nutrient content; can only form after thousands of years. FOUR HORIZONS |
| O horizon | dominated by organic material (dead leaves, twigs, dead animals, waste) |
| A horizon | topsoil. composted of mineral soil and organic material leached from above. (leaching is movement of solutes through soil.) |
| B horizon | subsoil; accumulates mineral particles and contains less organic matter than layers above |
| C horizon | the unconsolidated material that lies under subsoil. |
| bedrock | lies below the C horizon. |
| Field capacity | when water fills all of the pore spaces and is held by capillary forces |
| wilting point | is reached when plants can no longer extract water from the soil. |
| Soil Fertility | ion exchange capacity is key; chemicals within the soil dissolve into the soil water to form a solution. |
| ion | a charged particles; cations (positively charged ion) and anions (negatively charged ions.) |
| Ion exchange capacity | the ability of ions to bind to soil particles depends on the total number of positively or negatively charged sites. |
Created by:
mermaiden20
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