ch. 10 key terms

Question 1

biodiversity

Answer 1

the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

Question 2

gene

Answer 2

a unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring.

Question 3

keystone species

Answer 3

a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.

Question 4

ecotourism

Answer 4

tourism directed toward exotic, often threatened, natural environments, intended to support conservation efforts and observe wildlife.

Question 5

endangered species

Answer 5

a species of animal or plant that is seriously at risk of extinction.

Question 6

threatened species

Answer 6

a plant or animal species generally perceived as likely, in the near future, to become endangered within all or much of its range

Question 7

exotic species

Answer 7

organisms that have been introduced into an area outside their normal distribution

Question 8

poaching

Answer 8

encroach upon especially for the purpose of taking something

Question 9

endemic species

Answer 9

a thing that’s only found in a defined physical-geographical place and not anywhere else in the world

Question 10

germ plasm

Answer 10

germ cells collectively

Question 11

endangered species act

Answer 11

provide a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats

Question 12

habitat conservation plan

Answer 12

guides protection and enhancement of habitats for ‘threatened’ and ‘endangered’ wildlife species, while ongoing natural resource management continues.

Question 13

biodiversity treaty

Answer 13

“the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.”