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Chp. 20, Section 2
Vocab for 20.2 Biology
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Climax community | A community that, after a process of ecological succession, has reached a generally stable state |
Disturbance | In ecology, an event that changes a community by removing or destroying organisms or altering resource availability |
Ecological succession | A gradual process of change and replacement in a community |
Pioneer species | A species that colonizes an uninhabited area and that starts an ecological cycles in which many other species become established |
Primary succession | A succession that begins in an area that previously did not support life |
Secondary succesion | The process by which one community replaces another community that has been partially or totally destroyed |
Species-area effect | A pattern in which the number of species in an area increases as the area increases |
Species evenness | A measure of the relative abundance of different species of a community |
Species richness | The number of different species in an area or community |
Stability | The tendency of a community to maintain a relatively constant structure |