Bio 2.6 Ecological Patterns Vocab Flashcards
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What is Ecology?
The study of how different species interact with the environment.
What is an Ecosystem?
A community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as a system.
What are Abiotic factors?
A non-living characteristic of the environment.
What are Biotic factors?
The living organisms/relationships that impact on an organism.
What is a Community?
All the different populations that live together in an area.
What is a Population?
All the members of one species in a particular area.
What is Tolerance?
An organism’s capacity to survive variation in environmental conditions.
What is a Habitat?
The physical area where an organism lives.
What are Interspecific interactions?
Interactions between members of different species.
What are Intraspecific interactions?
Interactions between members of the same species.
What is Mutualism?
A relationship in which both species benefit.
What is Commensalism?
One species benefits while the other is unaffected.
What is Exploitation?
Where one member in the relationship benefits while the other is harmed, generally relating to food supply.
What is Parasitism?
A relationship in which one organism lives on or inside another organism and harms it.
What is a Predator?
The organism that kills another for food.
What is Prey?
Organisms that predators kill for food.
What is Predation?
Where one animal (predator) hunts and kills the other (prey).
What is Herbivory?
Where one animal (herbivore) eats the plant (producer).
What is Competition?
When two or more species compete for the same resources; food, space. Both organisms are harmed.
What is a Scavenger?
An organism that mostly consumes decaying biomass.
What is Structural adaptation?
A part of the organism that helps it obtain resources or survive more efficiently than if they didn’t have it.
What is Behavioural adaptation?
An action that helps the organism survive or reproduce more efficiently.
What is Physiological adaptation?
A process that occurs within the body that enables the organism to tolerate environmental conditions better.
What is a Niche?
The role of an organism in its habitat (abiotic, biotic, resources, adaptations).
What is Gause’s Principal?
Interspecific competition which occurs when two different species attempt to utilize the same resource and there is not enough of the resource for both species.
What is a Fundamental niche?
The set of resources a population is theoretically capable of using under ideal conditions.
What is a Realised niche?
The resources a population actually uses.
What is Zonation?
The distribution of plants or animals into specific zones according to such abiotic factors as altitude or depth, each has its dominant species.
What is the Splash zone?
Zone that is only covered during storms and extremely high tides and that is moistened by the spray of the breaking waves.
What is the Intertidal zone?
The area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide.
What is the High tide zone?
Most of the time exposed to air.
What is the Mid tide zone?
Submerged and flooded for approximately equal periods of time per tide cycle.
What is the Low tide zone?
Most of the time submerged.
What is the Subtidal zone?
Always submerged.
What is Biodiversity?
Diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems.
What are Rock pools?
Offer better survival chances for animals and plants that need to be submerged all the time.
What is Salinity?
Amount of salt dissolved in a body of water.
What is a Kite diagram?
Graph that shows the density or distribution of species that have been found along an environmental gradient.
