Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Ecological Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Population Shifts | A change in the numbers of the different groups of individuals making up a population. |
| Trends | Often defined as long-term change in the average (mean). |
| Speciation | How a new kind of plant or animal species is created. Speciation occurs when a group within a species separates from other members of its species and develops its own unique characteristics. |
| Scales | A measure of area or time examined in an ecological study. |
| Individuals | A single organism, of a specific species. |
| Species | A group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. |
| Communities | A group of species that are commonly found together. |
| Selection pressure | External agents which affect an organism's ability to survive in a given environment. Selection pressures can be negative (decreases the occurrence of a trait) or positive (increases the proportion of a trait). |
| Ecological niches | The match of a species to a specific environmental condition. It is a resource or condition allowing the species to maintain a viable population. |
| Demes | A locally occurring subset of a larger population. Typically, members of 'this' breed with each other more often than with members of other 'this'. |
| Drought | An episodic deficit in water availability that drives ecosystems beyond thresholds of vulnerability which can lead to disease or mortality. |
| Famine | Regional failure of food production or distribution systems, leading to sharply increased mortality due to starvation and associated disease. |
| Metapopulation | A regional group of connected populations of a species. |
| Seasonality | Regular and periodic changes of a variable over an annual time scale E.g. Temperature fluctuations across the year (seasons) or photoperiod (Hours of daylight). |
| Growth | When a population increases also referred to as an expansive population where it is comprised of a lot of young individuals and the population is growing. |
| Dissolution | The decay of a population by individuals separating from the population. |
| Dispersal | An ecological process that involves the movement of an individual or multiple individuals away from the population in which they were born to another location, or population, where they will settle and reproduce. |
| Genetic variability | Naturally occurring genetic differences among individuals of the same species. This variation permits flexibility and survival of a population in the face of changing environmental circumstance. |
| Continuity in time | The continuance of themes over time, or similarities over time. |
| Fecundity | Fertility, the ability to produce an abundance of offspring. |
| Natality | The birth rate (ratio of births to size of population). |
| Mortality | A measure of the number of deaths in a population. |
| Stochastic | Random events that can affect population and community dynamics e.g. a tsunami. |
| Migration | A seasonal movement from one region to another. Usually to a warmer climate over the winter period. |
| Immigration | Coming into a new area/population/community to live permanently. |
| Emigration | To leave the native area to live in another. |
| Emerging diseases | Infectious diseases that have newly appeared in a population or have existed but are rapidly increasing in incidence or geographic range. |
| Biodiversity action plan | Gives an overview of species and habitat in a particular area, identifies threats and sets out steps to be taken to protect and improve the area to preserve and enhance its biodiversity for the future. |
| IUCN red list | The world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant species. It is a critical indicator of the health of the world's biodiversity. |
| R Breeding strategies | A species puts only a small investment of resources into each offspring, but produces lots of young. |
| K Breeding strategies | Where a heavy investment in each offspring. |
| Primary Consumer | Makes up the second trophic level. They are also called herbivores. They eat primary producers—plants or algae—and nothing else. |
| Secondary consumer | Organisms that eat primary consumers for energy. |
| Producer | Photosynthesizing organisms which start a food chain (plant). |
| Autotroph | An organism that can produce its own food using light, water, carbon dioxide, or other chemicals. |
| Heterotroph | An organism that eats other plants or animals for energy and nutrients. |
| Parasite | An organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food at the expense of its host. |
| Host | An animal or plant on or in which a parasite or commensal organism lives. |
| Symbiosis | Species inhabit the same space and use the same resources. There are 4 types; mutualism, commensalism, parasitism, and competition. |
| Mutualism | In this type of relationship, both species benefit. |
| Commensalism | When one species lives with, on, or in another species, known as the host. The host species neither benefits nor is harmed from the relationship. |
| Parasitism | One species lives with, on, or in a host species, at the expense of the host species. The host is not immediately killed, though it may sicken and die over time. |
| Competition | The struggle among organisms for the same limited resources in an ecosystem. |
| Divergent Evolution | Two or more distinct species share a common ancestor from which they diverged. E.g. dog and wolf. |
| Convergent Evolution | When species occupy similar ecological niches and adapt in similar ways in response to similar selective pressures but are not related. E.g. birds and insects having wings – same function different anatomy. |
| Quadrat | A frame, traditionally square, used in ecology, geography and biology to isolate a standard unit of area for study of the distribution of an item over a large area. |
| Line/ Belt Transect | A path along which one counts and records occurrences of the objects of study (e.g. plants). |
| Kick Sampling | The most common method used to sample flowing water, such as streams and rivers. A net is held against the riverbed with the water flowing into it. Upstream of the net, the surveyor kicks the riverbed to disturb and dislodge any invertebrates. |
| CITES | An international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species. |
Created by:
Cprosser
Popular Agriculture sets