Chapter 20 Flashcards
The variety of living things. Including their diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity
Biodiversity
A small geographic area that contains a large number of threatened or endangered species and an exceptional concentration of species
Biodiversity hotspots
Any of the various chemical circuits occurring in the ecosystem, involving both biotic and abiotic factors
Biogeochemical cycle
The accumulation of persistent chemicals in the living tissues of consumers in the food chain. Animals higher up in the food chain have a greater concentration of chemicals
Biological magnification
The amount or mass of living organic material in an ecosystem
Biomass
The human desire to affiliate with other life and it’s many forms
Biophilia
The use of living organisms to detoxify and restore polluted ecosystems
Bioremediation
An animal that mainly eats other animals
Carnivore
The use and reuse of chemical elements such as carbon with an ecosystem
Chemical cycling
All the organisms inhabiting and potentially interacting in a particular area
Community
The concept of populations of two species cannot coexist in a community if their niches are nearly identical
Competitive exclusion principle
A goal oriented science that seeks to understand encounter the loss of biodiversity
Conservation biology
An organism that obtains its food by eating plants or animals
Consumer
Adaptive coloration that makes an organism difficult to spot against its background
Cryptic coloration
An organism that converts organic molecules to an inorganic form by breaking them down
Decomposer
An organism that consumes dead organic matter
Detritivore
Dead organic matter
Detritus
A force that damages a biological community by destroying organisms and altering the availability of resources
Disturbance
The sum total of the species use of the biotic and abiotic resources of its habitat
Ecological niche
The process of biological community change resulting from a disturbance
Ecological succession
All of the organisms in a given area along with the abiotic factors in with which they interact
Ecosystem
Functions performed by an ecosystem that directly or indirectly benefit people
Ecosystem services
A species whose distribution is limited to a specific geographic area
Endemic species
The passage of energy through the components of an ecosystem
Energy flow
The sequence of food transfers between the trophic levels of the community
Food chain
A network of interconnected food chains
Food web
An organism that is exploited by a parasite or pathigen
Host
Competition between populations of two or more species that require similar limited resources
Interspecific competition
Any interaction between members of different species
Interspecific interactions
A species his impact on the community is much larger than it’s biomass
Keystone species
A regional assemblage of interacting ecosystems
Landscape
The scientific study of the biodiversity of interacting ecosystems
Landscape ecology
A series of small clumps or narrow strip of quality habitat that connects otherwise isolated patches of habitat
Movement corridor
And interspecific interaction in which both partners benefit
Mutualism
The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to nitrogen compounds of plants can use
Nitrogen fixation
An organism that lives in or on a host from which it obtains nourishment. The host organism is harmed
Parasite
And interaction between species in which one species kills and eats the other
Predation
An organism that only eats autotrophs; an herbivore
Primary consumer
The amount of solar energy converted to chemical energy by autotroph’s in an ecosystem during a given time.
Primary production
A type of ecological succession in which a biological community begins in the area without soil
Primary succession
An organism that makes organic food molecules from carbon dioxide, water, and are in organic raw materials
Producer
A diagram depicting the cumulative loss of energy with each transfer in a food chain
Pyramid of production
The proportional representation of the species in the biological community
Relative abundance
A field of ecology that develops methods of returning degraded ecosystems to their natural state
Restoration ecology
A type of ecological succession that occurs when a disturbance has destroyed an existing biological community but left the soil intact
Secondary succession
The variety of species that make up a biological community
Species diversity
The long-term prosperity of human societies and the ecosystems that support them
Sustainable development
The bright color pattern, often yellow, red, or orange in combination with black, of animals that have affected chemical defenses
Warning coloration
The part of an ecosystem where a chemical, such as carbon or nitrogen, accumulates or is stockpiled outside of living organisms
Abiotic reservoir
