Chapter 15 Vocabulary

Question 1

Abiotic Factor**

Answer 1

Aspect of the environment that has never been alive (sunlight, minerals, temperature, moisture, ect.)

Question 2

Biosphere

Answer 2

Highest level of organization in ecology that includes all the parts of Earth where life can be found and consists of all the world’s biomes, both terrestrial and aquatic.

Question 3

Biotic Factor**

Answer 3

Living/once-living aspect of the environment (Ex: living organism or remains of dead organism).

Question 4

Ecology**

Answer 4

Science of how living things interact with each other and their environment.

Question 5

Age-sex Structure

Answer 5

Numbers of individuals of each sex and age/age group in a population.

Question 6

Carrying Capacity**

Answer 6

Largest population size of a species that can be supported in an area without harming the environment.

Question 7

Demographic Transition

Answer 7

Shift that occurred in some human populations (starting in 1700s) that included decrease in death rates, followed by a decrease in birth rates. All resulting in the population growth changin from slow to rapid to slow again.

Question 8

Exponential Growth**

Answer 8

Pattern of population growth where a population starts out growing slowly but grows at an increasing rate as population size increases, so that the larger population becomes, the more quickly it grows.

Question 9

Logistic Growth Population**

Answer 9

Pattern of population growth in which a population starts out growing slowly, increases it rate of growth, grows more rapidly, and then grows more slowly as the population size approaches the carrying capacity.

Question 10

Population Density*

Answer 10

Average number of individuals in a population per unit of area (Ex: average number of individuals per square kilometer).

Question 11

Population DistributionI*

Answer 11

Measure of how individuals in a population are spread out over the are they occupy.

Question 12

Population Growth Rate*

Answer 12

Measure of how quickly a population changes in size over time.

Question 13

Population Pyramid

Answer 13

Special bar graph that represents the numbers of individuals of each sex + age/age group in a population.

Question 14

Commensalism**

Answer 14

Type of symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits while the other species is not affected.

Question 15

Community**

Answer 15

Biotic component of an ecosystem that consists of all the populations of all the species that live in the same area.

Question 16

Competition**

Answer 16

Relationship between organisms that depend on the same resources; may be introspective (between member so fate same species) or interspcecifc (between members of different species).

Question 17

Host**

Answer 17

Species that is harmed by a parasite in a parasitic relationship.

Question 18

Keystone Species*

Answer 18

Predator species that plays a special role in it community because changes in it population affect the populations of many other species in the community.

Question 19

Mutualism**

Answer 19

Type of symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship.

Question 20

Parasite*

Answer 20

Species that benefits and harms a host in a parasitic relationship.

Question 21

Parasitism**

Answer 21

Type of symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other species is harmed.

Question 22

Predation*

Answer 22

Relationship between species in a community in which members of one species consume members of another species.

Question 23

Predator**

Answer 23

Species that consumes the prey species in a predator-prey relationship.

Question 24

Prey**

Answer 24

Species that is consumed by a predator species in a predator-prey relationship.

Question 25

Symbiosis**

Answer 25

Close relationship between two species in a community in which at least one species benefits, while the other species may benefit, be harmed, or be unaffected; types of symbiosis include mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism.

Question 26

Competitive Exclusion Principle

Answer 26

Law that two different species cannot occupy the same niche in the same habitat at the same time.

Question 27

Ecosystem**

Answer 27

Unit of nature that consists of all the biotic and abiotic factors in an area of all the ways in which they interact.

Question 28

Habitat*

Answer 28

Physical environment in which a species lives and to which it has adapted.

Question 29

Niche*

Answer 29

Role that a particular species plays in its ecosystem, including all the ways that the species interacts with the biotic and abiotic factors in the ecosystem.

Question 30

Aphotic Zone

Answer 30

Part of a body of water that is deeper than 200 meters where not enough sunlight penetrates to allow photosynthesis to take place.

Question 31

Aquatic Biome

Answer 31

Water-based biome, or group of similar water-based ecosystem; any freshwater or marine biome.

Question 32

Biome**

Answer 32

Group of similar ecosystems with the same general abiotic factors and primary produce sees, such as littoral zone in water or the tropical rainforest on land.

Question 33

Climate**

Answer 33

Average weather in a place over a long period of time.

Question 34

Freshwater Biome

Answer 34

Group of similar ecosystems that are based in fresh water, such as the littoral zone near the shore of a lake or the profundal zone at the bottom of the water.

Question 35

Marine Biome

Answer 35

Group of similar, salt-water based ecosystems in the ocean, such as the intertidal zone along a coast or th benthic zone a t the bottom of the ocean.

Question 36

Photic Zone

Answer 36

Top 200 meters of a body of water where enough sunlight penetrates to allow photosynthesis to take place.

Question 37

Terrestrial Biome

Answer 37

Group of similar, land-based ecosystems, such as tropical rainforests, temperate grasslands, or tundras.