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Chapter 18,19, 20
Chapters 18, 19, and 20
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| ecology | the study of the interactions of living organisms with one another and with their environment |
| interdependence | the dependence of every organism on its connections with other living and nonliving parts of its environment |
| ecological model | a model that represents or describes the relationships between the componnets of an ecological system |
| biosphere | the part of Earth where life exists; includes all of the living organisms on Earth |
| ecosystem | a community of organisms and their abiotic environment |
| community | a group of various species that live in the same habitat and interact with each other |
| population | a group of organisms of the same species that live in a specific geographical area |
| habitat | the place where an organism usually lives |
| biotic factor | an environmental factor that is associated with or results from the activities of living organisms |
| abiotic factor | an environmental factor that is not associated with the activities of living organisms |
| tolerance curve | a graph of the perfomance of an organism versus the value of an environmental vairable |
| acclimation | an organism's change in response to a change in the organism's environment |
| dormancy | a state in which seeds, spores, bulbs, and other reproductive organs stop growth and development and reduce their metabolism, especially respiration |
| migration | in general, any movement of individuals or populations from one location to another; specifically, a periodic group movement that is characteristic of a given population or species |
| niche | the unique position occupied by a species, both in terms of its physical use of its habitat and its function within an ecological community |
| producer | an organism that can make organic molecules from inorganic molecules; a photosynthetic or chemosynthetic autotroph that serves as the basic food source in an ecosystem |
| chemosynthesis | the production of carbohydrates through the use of energy from inorganic molecules instead of light |
| gross primary productivity | the rate at which organic matter is assimilated by plants and other producers during a period of time over a certain area |
| biomass | plant material, manure, or any other organic matter that is used as an energy source |
| net primary productivity | the rate at which biomass accumulates in an ecosystem |
| consumer | an organism that eats other organisms or organic matter instead of producing its own nutrients or obtaining nutrients from inorganic sources |
| herbivore | an organism that eats only plants |
| carnivore | an organism that eats animals |
| omnivore | an organism that eats both plants and animals |
| detritivore | a consumer that feeds on dead plants and animals |
| decomposer | an organism that feeds by breaking down organic matter from dead organisms; examples include bacteria and fungi |
| tropic level | one of the steps in a food chain or food pyramid; examples include producers and primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers |
| food chain | the pathway of energy transfer through various stages as a result of the feeding patterns of a series of organisms |
| food web | a diagram that shows the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem |
| biogeochemical cycle | the circulation of substances through living organisms from or to the environment |
| groundwater | the water that is beneath Earth's surface |
| water cycle | the continuous movement of water between the atmosphere, the land, and the oceans |
| transpiration | the process by which plants release water vapor into the air through stomata; also the release of water vapor into the air by other organisms |
| carbon cycle | the movement of carbon from the nonliving environment into living things and back |
| nitrogen cycle | the cycling of nitrogen between organisms, soil, water, and the atmosphere |
| nitrogen fixation | the process by which gaseous nitrogen is converted into ammonia, a compound that organisms can use to make amino acids and other nitrogen-containing organic molecules |
| nitrogen-fixing bacteria | bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia |
| ammonification | the formation of ammonia compounds in the soil by the action of bacteria on decaying matter |
| nitrification | the process by which nitrites and nitrates are produced by bacteria in the soil |
| denitrification | the liberation of nitrogen from nitrogen-containing compounds by bacteria in the soil |
| phosphorus cycles | the cyclic movement of phosphorus in different chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment |
| population | a group of organisms of the same species that live in a specific geographical area |
| population density | the number of individuals of the same species that live in a given unit of area |
| dispersion | in ecology, the pattern of distribution of organisms in a population |
| birth rate | the number of births that occur in a period of time in a given area |
| death rate | the number of deaths occurring in a period of time |
| life expectancy | the average length of time that an individual is expected to live |
| age structure | the classification of members of a population into groups according to age or the distribution of members of a population in terms of age groups |
| survivorship curve | the percentage of newborn individuals in a population that can be expected to survive to a given age |
| growth rate | an expression of the increase in the size of an organism or population over a given period of time |
| immigration | the movement of an individual or a group to a new community or region |
| emidration | the movement of an individual or group out of its native area |
| exponential model | a model of population growth in which a constant and unlimited growth rate results in geometric increases in population size |
| limiting factor | an environmental factor that prevents an organism or population from reaching its full potential of distribution or activity |
| logistic model | a model of population growth that assumes that finite resource levels limit population growth |
| carrying capacity | the largest population that an environment can support at any given time |
| density-independent factor | a variable that affects a population regardless of the population density, such as climate |
| density-dependent factor | a variable affected by the number of organisms present in a given area |
| inbreeding | the crossing or mating of plants or animals with close relatives |
| hunter-gatherer lifestyle | a way of life in which people obtain their food by hunting and gathering wild animals and plants |
| agricultural revolution | the change from a hunting and gathering society to an agricultural society that began about 10,000 years ago |
| developed country | a modern, industrialized country in which people are generally better educated and healthier and live longer than people in developing countries do |
| developing country | a country in which the society is less modern and less industrialized and in which inhabitants are generally poorer than they are in developed countries |
| demographic transition | the general pattern of demographic change from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates, as observed in the history of more-developed countries |
| predation | an interaction between two organisms in which one organism, the predator, kills and feeds on the other organism, the prey |
| inter-specific competition | a relationship between two species in which both species compete for limited resources such that both species are negatively affected by the relationship |
| symbiosis | a relationship in which two different organisms live in close association with each other |
| parasitism | a relationship between two species in which one species, the parasite, benefits from the other species, the host, which is harmed |
| mutualism | a relationship between two species in which both species benefit |
| commensalism | a relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected |
| species richness | the number of different species in an area or community |
| species evenness | a measure of the relative adundance of each species in an ecological community |
| species-area effect | a pattern in which the number of species in an area increases as the area increases |
| disturbance | in ecology, an event that changes a community by removing or destroying organisms or altering resource availability |
| stability | the tendency of a community to maintain a relatively constant structure |
| ecological succession | a gradual process of change and replacement in a community |
| primary succession | succession that begins in an area that previously did not support life |
| secondary succession | the process by which one community replaces another community that has been partially or totally destroyed |
| pioneer species | a species that colonizes an uninhabited area and that starts an ecological cycle in which many other species become established |
| climax community | a final, stable community in equilibrium with the environment |
Created by:
WillReese2
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