AP Environmental: Unit 1-3 Vocab

Question 1

K-selected species

Answer 1

Species that produce a few, often fairly large offspring but invest a great deal of time and energy to ensure that most of those offspring reach reproductive age.

Question 2

r-selected species

Answer 2

Species that reproduce early in their life span and produce large numbers of usually small and short-lived offspring in a short period.

Question 3

density dependent factors

Answer 3

limiting factor that depends on population size

Question 4

density independent factors

Answer 4

limiting factors that are independent of the size of a population and act to regulate its growth

Question 5

biotic potential

Answer 5

The maximum rate at which a population could increase under ideal conditions.

Question 6

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

Answer 6

The average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years.

Question 7

Malthusian Theory

Answer 7

Starvation is the inevitable result of population growth, because the population increases at a geometric rate while food supply can only increase arithmetically.

Question 8

Rule of 70

Answer 8

A method for determining the number of years it will take for some measure to double, given its annual percentage increase.
Example: To determine the number of years it will take for the price level to double, divide 70 by the annual rate of inflation.

Question 9

Demographic Transition Model

Answer 9

A sequence of demographic changes in which a country moves from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates through time.

Question 10

standard of living

Answer 10

the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community

Question 11

island biogeography

Answer 11

The study of rates of colonization and extinction of species on islands or other isolated areas based on size, shape, and distance from other inhabited regions.

Question 12

ecological tolerance

Answer 12

the range of conditions in which a species can survive

Question 13

ecosystem diversity

Answer 13

the variety of ecosystems within a given region

Question 14

species diversity

Answer 14

the number and relative abundance of species in a biological community

Question 15

genetic diversity

Answer 15

the range of genetic material present in a gene pool or population of a species

Question 16

regulating services

Answer 16

the service provided by natural systems that helps regulate environmental conditions

Question 17

supporting services

Answer 17

basic ecosystem processes (nutrient cycles, soil formation, pollination)

Question 18

cultural services

Answer 18

ecosystems provide cultural or aesthetic benefits to many people

Question 19

bottleneck effect

Answer 19

Genetic drift resulting from the reduction of a population, typically by a natural disaster, such that the surviving population is no longer genetically representative of the original population.

Question 20

provisional services

Answer 20

ecosystem functions that directly supply humans with goods
Examples: lumber and fish

Question 21

morpological partitioning

Answer 21

using different resources based on different evolved body features

Question 22

resource partitioning

Answer 22

the differentiation of niches that enable similar species to coexist in a community

Question 23

temporal partitioning

Answer 23

two species reduce competition by utilizing a resource of different times

Question 24

spatial partitioning

Answer 24

occurs when two competing species use the same resource by occupying different areas

Question 25

benthic

Answer 25

bottom of an aquatic ecosystem, consists of sand and sediment and supports its own community of organisms

Question 26

eutrophication

Answer 26

excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to runoff from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen

Question 27

primary productivity

Answer 27

rate at which organic matter is created by producers in an ecosystem

Question 28

trophic cascade

Answer 28

a series of changes in the population sizes of organisms at different trophic levels in a food chain

Question 29

respiration loss

Answer 29

plants use up some of the energy they generate via photosynthesis by doing cell respiration (movement, internal transportation, etc.)

Question 30

ecological efficiency

Answer 30

the proportion of consumed energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another