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 that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction.

Question 6

Threatened Species

Answer 6

any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Question 7

Exotic Species

Answer 7

species of plants or animals that are growing in a nonnative environment.

Question 8

Poaching

Answer 8

the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights.

Question 9

Endemic Species

Answer 9

the state of a species being native to a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone

Question 10

Germ Plasm

Answer 10

a biological concept developed in the 19th century by the German biologist August Weismann. It states that heritable information is transmitted only by germ cells in the gonads, not by somatic cells.

Question 11

Endangered Species Act

Answer 11

a key legislation for both domestic and international conservation. The act aims to provide a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.

Question 12

Habitat Conservation Plan

Answer 12

a required part of an application for an Incidental Take Permit, a permit issued under the United States Endangered Species Act to private entities undertaking projects that might result in the destruction of an endangered or threatened

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.