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APES Test 2 (2)
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Competition | When multiple organisms seek the same limited resource; subtle, indirect |
| Resource Partitioning | When species divide the resources they use in common by specializing in different ways |
| Predation | The process by which individuals of one species (the predator) hunt, capture, kill, and consume individuals of another species (the prey) |
| Parasitism | A relationship in which one organism (the parasite) depends on another (the host) for nourishment/some other benefit while doing the host harm |
| Pathogens | Diseases that parasites can cause in their hosts |
| Coevolution | The process by which two or more species evolve in response to one another |
| Evolutionary Arms Race | Hosts and parasites that become locked in a duel of escalating adaptations |
| Herbivory | Animals feed on the tissues of plants |
| Mutualism | A relationship in which two or more species benefit from interacting with one another |
| Symbiosis | Physically close association |
| Community | An assemblage of populations of organisms living in the same area at the same time |
| Community Ecology | The scientific study of species interactions and the dynamics of communities |
| Trophic Level | Rank in the feeding hierarchy |
| Food Chain | A linear series of feeding relationships |
| Biomass | A collective mass of living matter |
| Food Web | A visual map that shows the many paths along which energy and matter flow as organisms consume one another |
| Keystone Species | A species that has strong or wide-reaching impact far out of proportion to its abundance |
| Trophic Cascade | Predators at high trophic levels can indirectly promote populations of organisms at low trophic levels by keeping species at intermediate trophic levels in check |
| Disturbance | An event that has drastic impacts on environmental conditions |
| Resistance | A community that resists change and remains stable despite disturbance |
| Resilience | A community that changes in response to disturbance but later returns to its original state |
| Primary Succession | Follows a disturbance so severe that no vegetation/soil life remains from the community that had occupied the site |
| Secondary Succession | When a disturbance dramatically alters an existing community but does not destroy all life and organic matter |
| Pioneer Species | Species that arrive first and colonize the new substrate |
| Regime/Phase Shift | The character of the community fundamentally changes |
| Novel/No-Analog Communities | Composed of novel mixtures of plants/animals and have no analog/precedent |
| Drainage Basin/Watershed | The land area that funnels water to a given body of water |
| System | A network of relationships among parts, elements, or components that interact with and influence one another through the exchange of energy, matter, or information |
| Lithosphere | Rock/sediment beneath our feet; uppermost mantle and crust |
| Atmosphere | Composed of the air surrounding Earth |
| Hydrosphere | Encompasses all water in surface bodies, underground, and in the atmosphere |
| Biosphere | Consists of all the planet's organisms and abiotic portions of the environment with which they interact |
| Feedback Loop | Negative/positive; sometimes a system's output can serve as input to that same system |
| Negative Feedback Loop | Output that results from a system moving in one direction acts as input that moves the system in the other direction |
| Dynamic Equilibrium | When processes move in opposing directions at equivalent rates so that their effects balance out |
| Homeostasis | The tendency of a system to maintain relatively constant/stable internal conditions |
| Positive Feedback Loop | Drive the system further toward an extreme |
| Runoff | The precipitations that flows over land and enters waterways |
| Airshed | The geographic area that produces air pollutants likely to end up in a waterway |
| Eutrophication | The process of nutrient over enrichment, increased production of organic matter, and subsequent ecosystem degradation |
| Ecosystem | Consists of all organisms and nonliving entities that occur and interact in a particular area at the same time |
| Estuary | A water body where rivers flow into the ocean, mixing freshwater with saltwater |
| Gross Primary Production | The total amount of chemical energy produced by autotrophs |
| Net Primary Production | The energy that remains after respiration and that is used to generate biomass (leaves, stems, roots, etc.) |
| Secondary Production | The total biomass that heterotrophs generate by consuming autotrophs |
| Productivity | The rate at which plants convert solar energy to biomass |
| Net Primary Productivity | The rate at which net primary production is produced |
| Net Primary Production | The energy/biomass that remains in an ecosystem after autotrophs have metabolized enough for their own maintenance through cellular respiration |
| Ecotones | Areas where ecosystems meet may consist of transitional zones where elements of each ecosystem mix |
| Landscape Ecology | Scientists study how landscape structure affects the abundance, disturbance, and interaction of organisms |
| Patches | Spatial areas within a landscape |
| Mosaic | A spatial configuration of patches arrayed across a landscape |
| Conservation Biologist | Scientists who study the loss, protection, and restoration of biodiversity |
| Geographic Information Systems | Computer software that takes multiple types of data and layers them together in a common set of geographic coordinates |
| Nutrient/Biogeochemical Cycles | The comprehensive set of cyclical pathways by which a given nutrient moves through the environment |
| Residence Time | The amount of time a nutrient typically remains in a given reservoir before moving to another |
| Flux | The rate at which materials move between reservoirs |
| Source | When a reservoir releases more materials than it accepts |
| Sink | When a reservoir accepts more materials than it releases |
| Respiration | The release of water vapor by plants through their leaves |
| Infiltration | Water soaking down through soil and rock |
| Aquifers | Underground water reservoirs; porous regions of rock and soil that hold groundwater |
| Groundwater | Water found within the soil |
| Water Table | Upper limit of groundwater held in an aquifer |
| Nitrification | Converting ammonium ions first into nitrite ions, which also become available after atmospheric deposition on soils or in water or after application of nitrate-based fertilizer |
| Bottleneck | A step that limited the flux of nitrogen out of the atmosphere and into water-soluble forms |
| Biodiversity | The variety of life across all levels of biological organization |
| Species Diversity | Describes the number of variety of species found in a particular area |
| Species Richness | Number of species inhabiting an area |
| Evenness/relative Abundance | The degree to which species in a given area differ in number of individuals |
| Genetic Diversity | Encompasses the differences in DNA composition among individuals, and these differences provide the raw material for adaptation to local conditions |
| Ecosystem Diversity | Refers to the number of variety of ecosystems, but biologists may also refer to the diversity of communities or habitats |
| Biodiversity Hotspots | A region that supports an especially great number of species that are endemic, found nowhere else in the world |
Created by:
archergirl
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