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APES Ch. 6 Vocab
Population and Community Ecology - AP Environmental Science, Chapter 6
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Population ecology | The study of factors that cause populations to increase or decrease |
| Population size | The number of individuals within a defined area at a given time |
| Population density | The number of individuals per unit of area (or volume) at a given time (clustered or dispersed) |
| Population distribution | A description of how individuals are distributed with respect to each other (random, uniform, or clumped) |
| Sex ratio | The ratio of males to females |
| Age structure | How many individuals fit into particular age categories |
| Density-dependent factors | Factors that influence an individual's probability of survival/reproduction in a manner that depends on the size of the population |
| Limiting resource | A resource that a population cannot live without that occurs in quantities lower than what is required for the population to increase in size |
| Carrying capacity (K) | The limit of how many individuals in a population the food supply can sustain |
| Density-independent factors | Factors that have the same effect on an individual's probability of survival/reproduction at any population size |
| Growth rate | The number of offspring an individual can produce in a given time period, minus the deaths of the individual or its offspring in the same time period |
| Intrinsic growth rate | The maximum potential for growth in a population under ideal conditions and with unlimited resources |
| Exponential growth model | A growth model that estimates a population's future size after a period of time, based on the intrinsic growth rate and the number of reproducing individuals currently in the population |
| J-shaped curve | The curve of an exponential growth model when graphed |
| Logistic growth model | A growth model that describes a population whose growth is initially exponential, but slows as the population approaches the carrying capacity |
| S-shaped curve | The shape of the logistic growth model when graphed |
| Overshoot | When a population becomes larger than the environment's carrying capacity |
| Die-off | A rapid decline in population due to health |
| K-selected species | Species with low intrinsic growth rates that cause the population to increase slowly until it reaches carrying capacity |
| r-selected species | Species that have high intrinsic growth rates, which often leads to population overshoots and die-offs |
| Survivorship curves | Graphs that represent the patterns of species survival as a function of age |
| Corridors | Strips of natural habitat that connect separated populations |
| Metapopulations | Groups of spacially distinct populations that are connected by occasional movements of individuals between them |
| Community ecology | The study of interactions between species |
| Competition | The struggle of species to obtain a limiting resource |
| Competitive exclusion principle | Two species competing for the same limiting resource cannot coexist |
| Resource partitioning | A situation in which two species divide a resource based on differences in their behavior or morphology |
| Predation | The use if one species as a resource by another species |
| True predators | Predators that kill their prey and consume it |
| Herbivores | Predators that consume plants as prey |
| Parasites | Predators that live on or in the organism they consume |
| Parasitoids | Organisms that lay eggs inside other organisms |
| Pathogens | Illness-causing bacteria, viruses, or parasites |
| Mutualism | An interaction between species that helps both |
| Commensalism | An interaction between species that helps one and doesn't affect the other |
| Symbiotic relationship | A relationship between two species that live in close association with each other |
| Keystone species | Species that are far more important to their communities than their relative abundance may suggest |
| Predator-mediated competition | Competition in which a predator is instrumental in reducing the abundance of a superior competitor, allowing inferior competitors to exist |
| Ecosystem engineers | Keystone species that create of maintain a habitat for other species |
| Ecological succession | The replacement of one group or species by another over time |
| Primary succession | Ecological succession occurring on surfaces that are initially devoid of soil - areas are colonized by organisms such as algae, lichens, and moss, which eventually die and mix with eroded rock to help form soil |
| Secondary succession | The succession of plant life that occurs in areas that have been disturbed but haven't lost their soil |
| Pioneer species | A species that can colonize new areas rapidly |
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emilyjane1221
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