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Biogeography Ch. 4
Vocabulary words from chapter four of "Biogeography" by Lomolino et al. (5th Ed)
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| geographic range | the area over which the populations of a species are distributed. |
| scale-dependent | Abstraction that occurs to a species range in which it appears gappy or clumpy depending on the distance depicted. |
| range maps | maps depicting the geographic distribution of particular species (includes dot, contour and outline maps). |
| outline maps | a map depicting the geographic limits (range boundary) of a particular population or species. |
| dot map | maps depicting the geographic range of a species by place dots at points of documented occurrence of its individuals and populations. |
| contour map | maps that use isoclines ("contours" of similar levels of a variable) to illustrate changes in characteristics (e.g., population densities of a species or diversity of ecological communities) across a geographic area. |
| isocline | contours or lines on a map that indicate sites of similar levels of a particular variable. |
| exponential growth | in ecology, a population that increases in proportion to its population size and, therefore, at a continually accelerating rate. |
| ecological niche | the total requirements of a population or species for resources and physical conditions. |
| realized niche | the actual environmental conditions in which a species survives and reproduces in nature; a subset of the fundamental niche. |
| fundamental niche | the total range of environmental conditions in which a species can (theoretically) survive and reproduce. |
| fundamental/potential geographic range | the theoretical distribution that populations of a particular species may achieve based solely on their physiological and abiotic tolerances, assuming that species interactions are unimportant and opportunities of dispersal are unlimited. |
| realized geographic range | the actual distribution of populations of a species, which is restricted to only a subset of the (theoretical) fundamental geographic range as a result of interactions with other species and limited opportunities for dispersal. |
| source habitats | environments in which the birth rate of a particular species exceeds its death rate, resulting in a surplus of individuals which contributes to dispersal to other ("sink") habitats. |
| sink habitats | environments where the birth rate of a particular species is exceeded by its death rate and, therefore, the presence of this species indicates that most individuals are derived from dispersal from other ("source") habitats. |
| metapopulation | a set or constellation of local populations of a particular species that are linked by dispersal among those populations. |
| subpopulation | geographically separated demographic units that are connected with others by dispersal, together comprising a metapopulation. |
| law of the minimum | the idea that biological processes can be considered to be limited by a single factor--in its original invocation, the single plant nutrient in shortest supply relative to demand. |
| treeline | the upper elevational limits of patches of trees. |
| timberline | the upper elevational limit of trees on mountains. |
| xerophytes | land plants that grow in relatively dry (xeric) environments. |
| mesophytes | Land plants that grow in environments with an average ("mesic") supply of water. |
| desertification | The degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas into desert. |
| competition | any interaction that is mutually detrimental to both participants. Interspeific competition occurs among species that share requirements for limited resources. |
| exploitative competition | a negative interaction between species or conspecifics in which individuals use up resources and make them unavailable to others. |
| interference competition | a negative interaction between species in which aggressive dominance or active inhibition is used to deny other individuals access to resources. |
| allelopathy | a type of interspecific interaction in which one species inhibits the growth of another by releasing chemicals in the soil. |
| amensalism | a pairwise, interspecific interaction in which one species is adversely affected while the other is not directly affected (allelopathy is one example). |
| predation | the act of feeding on other organisms; an interspecific interaction that has negative effects on the species that is consumed or used. |
| mutualism | an interspecific relationship in which both species receive positive benefits from their interaction. |
| commensalism | an interspecific relationship in which one species draws benefits from the association and the other is unaffected. |
| diffuse competition | a type of competition in which one species is negatively affected by numerous other species that collectively cause a significant depletion of shared resources. |
| keystone species | a species whose activities have a disproportionate effect on the structure and function of ecological communities. |
| predator-mediated coexistence | coexistence of two intense competitors which results from the actions of a predator that preys most heavily on the more abundant or otherwise dominant competitor, therefore preventing either competitor from increasing to where it can exclude the other. |
| harsh/benign range limits hypothesis | the proposition that harsh range boundaries are typically set by abiotic factors, whereas environmentally benign range boundaries reflect biotic controls. |
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emcoogan
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