Question | Answer |
Ecological footprint | measure of human demand on Earth's ecosystems |
Biodiversity | variety of life |
Habitat fragmentation | process in which habitat loss results in smaller more isolated remnants |
Stability | state of being stable |
Ecological Disturbance | a change in the environmental conditions that causes a change in an ecosystem |
Greenhouse gases | gas that contributes to the green house affect |
Acid Rain | type of rain made up of dilute acids, a by product of heavy industry |
Biological magnification | process where certain substances (pesticides or heavy metals) move up the food chain rivers-fish-humans |
Deforestation | permanent destruction of forests to make land available for other uses |
Dessertification | process where fertile land become dessert |
Sustainability | capacity to endure |
Agriculture | growing a dependable amount of food |
Monoculture | farming strategy of planting 1 productive crop year after year |
Renewable resource | resource that can be produced or replaced by healthy ecosystem functions |
Nonrenewable resource | resource that can't be replenished by natural process within a time |
Sustainable resource | using natural resources to meet our needs without causing long-term environmental damage |
Limiting factors | environmental conditions that limit the growth, abundance and distribution of an organism or populations of organisms |
Density dependent limiting factor | factors that affect the population individuals ex disease |
Density independent limiting factor | effects will kill a population regardless on how big or small it is |
Competition | interaction between organisms for resources |
Density(population) | measure of #organisms that make up a population in a defined area |
Distribution | how organisms are spread out |
Age structure | how organisms are spread out according to their age |
Immigration | how many organisms are coming |
Emmigration | how many organisms are going |
Exponential growth | growth rate when resources are unlimited |
Logistic growth | occurs when the growth rate decreases as the population reaches carrying capacity |
Carrying capacity | number of organisms an environment can support |
Ecological succession | observed process of change of an ecological community over time |
Primary succession | one type of biological and ecological succession in plant life in environments that lack soil or vegetation |
Secondary succession | series of changes that take place in previously crowded, disturbed ecosystem |
Pioneer species | hardy species that are first to colonize disturbed ecosystems, starting a chain of ecological succession with biodiversity |
Ecology | study of organism and their environment |
Ecosystem | biological community of interacting organism and their environment |
Biotic | Living factor |
Abiotic | non-living factor |
Resourse | Any necessity of life |
Biosphere | all the ecosystems on the planet |
Biome | multiple communities ex, forest... |
Community | group of different populations that live together in an area |
Population | group of organisms of the same species in the same area |
Autotroph | an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances |
Primary Producer | organisms that produce biomass from autotrophs |
Heterotroph | organism deriving its nutritional requirements from complex organic substances |
Consumer | organisms that eat other things |
Habitat | natural home or environment for organism |
Niche | position or role taken by a kind of organism within its community |
Resource | necessity of life |
Predation | preying of one animal on others |
Herbivory | eating of plants especially ones that are living |
Symbiosis | interaction between 2 different organisms living in a close physical association |
Mutualism | type of symbiosis |
Parasitism | where one benefits and the other is harmed |
Commensalism | class of relationships between 2 organisms where one benefits from the other without affecting it |