Ch. 8 Key Terms

Question 1

population

Answer 1

the set of individuals within a species living in the same place at the same time

Question 2

density

Answer 2

the number of individuals per unit area or volume

Question 3

dispersion

Answer 3

the pattern of distribution of organisms in a population

Question 4

growth rate

Answer 4

an expression of the increase in the size of an organism or population over a given period of time

Question 5

reproduction potential

Answer 5

the maximum number of offspring that a given organism can produce

Question 6

exponential growth

Answer 6

growth in which numbers increase by certain factor in each successive time period

Question 7

carrying capacity

Answer 7

the largest population that an environment can support at any given time

Question 8

niche

Answer 8

unique position occupied by a species, both in terms of its physical use of its habitat and it function within an ecological community

Question 9

competition

Answer 9

the relationship between two species in which both species attempt to use the same limited resource such that both are negatively affected. by that relationship

Question 10

predation

Answer 10

an interaction between two organisms in which one organism, the predator, kills and feeds on the other organism, the prey

Question 11

parasitism

Answer 11

a relationship between two species in which one species, the parasite, benefits from the other species, the host, which is harmed

Question 12

mutualism

Answer 12

a relationship between two species in which both species benefit

Question 13

commensalism

Answer 13

relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected

Question 14

symbiosis

Answer 14

relationship in which to different organisms live close association with each other