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Ecology Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Species | a class of individuals having common attributes and designated by a common name |
| Speciation | the process of biological species formation |
| Population | the total of individuals occupying an area or making up a whole |
| Community | a unified body of individuals |
| Ecosystem | the complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit |
| Biome | a major ecological community type (such as tropical rainforest, grassland, or desert |
| Habitat | the place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives and grows |
| Niche | the ecological role of an organism in a community especially in regard to food consumption |
| Mutualism | mutually beneficial association between different kinds of organisms |
| Parasitism | an intimate association between organisms of two or more kinds especially : one in which a parasite obtains benefits from a host which it usually injures |
| Symbiosis | the living together in more or less intimate association or close union of two dissimilar organisms (as in parasitism or commensalism) |
| Courtship | the behavior of male birds and other animals aimed at attracting a mate. |
| Competition | the activity or condition of competing. |
| Host | a living organism on or in which a parasite lives |
| Predator | an organism that primarily obtains food by the killing and consuming of other organisms : an organism that lives by predation |
| Prey | an animal taken by a predator as food |
| Pheromones | a chemical substance that is usually produced by an animal and serves especially as a stimulus to other individuals of the same species for one or more behavioral responses |
| Eggs | an animal reproductive body consisting of an ovum together with its nutritive and protective envelopes and having the capacity to develop into a new individual capable of independent existence |
| Seeds | a propagative animal structure |
| Spores | a primitive usually unicellular often environmentally resistant dormant or reproductive body produced by plants, fungi, and some microorganisms and capable of development into a new individual either directly or after fusion with another spore |
| Estivation | the state or condition of torpidity or dormancy induced by the heat and dryness of summer : the state of one that is estivating |
| Pfiesteria | genus of heterotrophic dinoflagellates that has been associated with harmful algal blooms and fish kills |
| Exponential Growth | growth whose rate becomes ever more rapid in proportion to the growing total number or size. |
| Carrying Capacity | maximum number of individuals of a given species that can occupy a particular habitat without permanently impairing the productive capacity of that habitat. |
| Habituation | the process of habituating : the state of being habituated |
| Imprinting | a rapid learning process that takes place early in the life of a social animal (such as a goose) and establishes a behavior pattern (such as recognition of and attraction to its own kind or a substitute) |
| Innate Behavior | behavior that's genetically hardwired in an organism and can be performed in response to a cue without prior experience. |
| Learned Behavior | behavior that an organism develops as a result of experience |
| Classical Conditioning | a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired: a response which is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone. |
| Trial and Error Learning | the process of experimenting with various methods of doing something until one finds the most successful. |
| Abiotic Factor | a non-living part of an ecosystem that shapes its environment |
| Biotic Factor | a living organism that shapes its environment |
| Nitrogen Fixation | the potential biological process that maintains the soil nitrogen status under normal conditions |
| Decomposition | to separate into constituent parts or elements or into simpler compounds |
| Photosynthesis | synthesis of chemical compounds with the aid of radiant energy and especially light |
| Cellular Respiration | the process by which cells derive energy from glucose |
| Food Chain | a hierarchical series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food. |
| Food Web | a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains. |
| Radiant Energy | the physical energy resulting from electromagnetic radiation, usually observed as it radiates from a source into the surrounding environment |
| Producers/Autotrophs | an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide. |
| Decomposer | any of various organisms (such as many bacteria and fungi) that return constituents of organic substances to ecological cycles by feeding on and breaking down dead protoplasm |
| Biomass | the amount of living matter (as in a unit area or volume of habitat) |
| Energy Pyramid | a graphical representation of the energy found within the trophic levels of an ecosystem. |
| Trophic Levels | each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, comprising organisms that share the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy. |
| Biodiversity | biological diversity in an environment as indicated by numbers of different species of plants and animals |
| Ative Immunity | the immunity which results from the production of antibodies by the immune system in response to the presence of an antigen. |
| Passive Immunity | the short-term immunity which results from the introduction of antibodies from another person or animal. |
| Vaccines | a preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body's immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease |
| Acid Rain | rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions |
| Greenhouse Effect | the trapping of the sun's warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere, due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet's surface. |
| Habitat Destruction | the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species |
| Waste Lagoons | a lined earthen basin used to treat raw organic waste, and store treated solids and liquids |
| Climate Change | the significant variation of average weather conditions becoming, for example, warmer, wetter, or drier—over several decades or longe |
| Global Warming | he long-term heating of Earth's surface observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities |
| Deforestation | the action or process of clearing of forests |
| Pesticides | an agent used to destroy pests |
| Bioaccumulation | the accumulation over time of a substance and especially a contaminant (such as a pesticide or heavy metal) in a living organism |
| Fossil Fuels | a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms. |
| Urbanization | the quality or state of being urbanized or the process of becoming urbanized |
| Ozone Layers | a layer in the earth's stratosphere at an altitude of about 6.2 miles (10 km) containing a high concentration of ozone, which absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth from the sun. |
| CFC's | nontoxic, nonflammable chemicals containing atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine. |
Created by:
j.mie,ax
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