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CH 5 VOCAB
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Evolution | as a general term means "changes over time". |
| Gene | is a sequence of DNA that codes for a particular trait |
| Mutations | are changes in DNA |
| Genetic Drift | biological evolution that occurs by chance |
| Natural selection | is the process by which traits that improve an organisms chances for survival and reproduction are passed on more frequently to future generations than those that do not |
| Fitness | describes how reproductively successful an organism is in its environment |
| Adaptation | a heritable trait that increases an individuals fitness |
| Artificial selection | this process of selection conducted under human direction |
| Speciation | the process by which new species are generated |
| Extinction | the disappearance of a species from Earth |
| Niche | describes its use of resources and its functional role in a community |
| Tolerance | is the ability to survive and reproduce under changing environmental conditions |
| Resource partitioning | the species partition, or divide, the resource they use in common by specializing in different ways. |
| Predation | is the process by which an individual of one species, a predator, hunts, captures, kills, and consumes an individual of another species, the prey. |
| Coevolution | is the process by which two species evolve in response to changes in each other. |
| Parasitism | is a relationship in which one organism, the parasite, depends on another , the host, |
| Symbiosis | a long-lasting and physically close relationship in which at least one organism benefits. |
| Herbivory | The interaction in which an animal feeds on a plant |
| Mutualism | a relationship in which two or more species benefit |
| Commensalism | describes a relationship in which one species benefits and the other is unaffected (+/0) |
| Primary producers | capture energy from the sun or from chemicals and store it in the bonds of sugars, making energy available to the rest of the community |
| Photosynthesis | is the process by which primary producers use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars, releasing oxygen along the way. |
| Chemosynthesis | to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars in a process |
| Consumers | organisms that rely on other organisms for energy and nutrients |
| Cellular respiration | is the process by which organisms use oxygen to release the chemical energy of sugars such as glucose, releasing carbon dioxide as a byproduct |
| Herbivores | most primary consumers, such as deer, and grasshoppers, eat plants |
| Carnivores | Most secondary and teritiary consumers kill and eat other animals |
| Omnivores | animals that eat both plants and animal food |
| Detritivores | such as millipedes and soil insects, consume detritus, nonliving organic matter including leaf litter, waste products, and the dead bodies of other community members |
| Decomposers | such as fungi and bacteria, break down nonliving matter into simpler parts that can then be taken up and reused by primary producers |
| Trophic level | is its rank in a feeding hierarchy. |
| Biomass | is the total amount of living tissue it contains. |
| Food chain | is a linear series of feeding relationships |
| Food web | is a visual map of feeding relationships and energy flow, showing the many paths by which energy and nutrients pass among organisms as they consume one another |
| Keystone species | a species that has strong or wide-reaching impact on a community |
| Succession | a community experiences a somewhat predictable series of changes over time that ecologists |
| Primary succession | when is disturbance is so severe that no vegetable or soil remains |
| Pioneer species | species that colonize the newly exposed land first |
| Secondary succession | unlike primary succession, begins when a disturbance, such as fire, logging, or farming, dramatically alters an existing community but does not destroy all living things or all organic matter in the soil |
| Invasive species | is a nonnative organism that spreads widely in a community. |