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AP Environmental Science > Chapter 3-Basic Needs of Living Things > Flashcards

Chapter 3-Basic Needs of Living Things Flashcards

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Biology 101 flashcards
0
Q

A group of individuals that share certain characteristics distinct from other such groups (robins versus redwing blackbirds, for example). Classified into closely related groups called genera, and they in turn are grouped into families

A

Species

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1
Q

The study of all processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions between living things and their environment

A

Ecology

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2
Q

A certain number of individuals living that make up the interbreeding, reproducing group

A

Population

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3
Q

The grouping of populations we observe when studying a forest, grassland, or pond

A

Biota or Biotic Community

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4
Q

The particular kind of biotic community found in a given area (non living, chemical, and physical factors)

A

Abiotic

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5
Q

An interactive complex of communities and the abiotic environment affecting them within a particular area

A

Ecosystem

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6
Q

Transitional regions between ecosystems

A

Ecotones

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7
Q

Clusters of interacting ecosystems like forests, open meadows, and rivers together constitute

A

Landscapes

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8
Q

A digital technology enabling the location and imaging of landscapes by use of satellite signals. It employs hardware, software, and data to display many forms of geographic information

A

Geographic Information Systems

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9
Q

A system of imaging the Earth from satellites, or of accessing data from devices that are distant from the scientist

A

Remote sensing

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10
Q

Large area of Earth’s surface that shares climate and has similar vegetation

A

Biome

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11
Q

The overall ecosystem of Earth. The sum total of all the biomes and smaller ecosystems, which ultimately are all interconnected and interdependent through global processes such as the water cycle and the atmospheric cycle

A

Biosphere

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12
Q

Any factors that vary in space and time, but that are not used up or made unavailable to other species

A

Conditions

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13
Q

Biotic and abiotic factors that are consumed by organisms

A

Resources

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14
Q

The condition or amount of any factor or combination of factors that will produce the best result. For example, the amount of heat, light, moisture, nutrients, and so on that will produce the best plant growth

A

Optimum

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15
Q

The entire span that allows any growth at all

A

Range of tolerance

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16
Q

The points at the high and low ends of the range of tolerance

A

Limits of tolerance

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17
Q

Between the optimal range and the high or low limit of tolerance

A

Zones of stress

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18
Q

A factor that limits growth

A

Limiting factor

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19
Q

The law stating that a system may be limited by the absence or minimum amount (in terms of that needed) of any required factor. Also known as Liebig’s law of minimums

A

Law of Limiting factors

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20
Q

Two or more factors interacting in a way that causes an effect much greater than one would anticipate from each of the two acting separately

A

Synergistic effects or synergisms

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21
Q

The kind of place—defined by the plant community and the physical environment—where a species is biologically adapted to live

A

Habitat

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22
Q

The sum of all of the conditions and resources under which a species can live: what and where it lives, what it feeds on, where it finds shelter and nests, and and how it responds to abiotic factors

A

Niche

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23
Q

Anything that occupies space and has mass

A

Matter

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24
Q

Very small pieces–that are combined to form molecules, which in turn can be combined into more complex structures. The basic building blocks of all matter

A

Atoms

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25
Q

A substance that is made up of one and only one distinct kind of atom

A

Element

26
Q

The law stating that, in chemical reactions, atoms are neither created nor changed nor destroyed; they are only rearranged

A

Law of Conservation of Matter

27
Q

Two or more atoms (either the same kind or different kinds) bonded in a specific way

A

Molecule

28
Q

Any substance (gas, liquid, or solid) that is made up of two or more different kinds of atoms bonded together

A

Compound

29
Q

The thin layer of gases (including water vapor) separating Earth from outer space

A

Atmosphere

30
Q

Water in all of its liquid and solid compartments: oceans, rivers, ice, and groundwater

A

Hydrosphere

31
Q

Earth’s crust, made up of rocks and minerals

A

Lithosphere

32
Q

A solid form of matter made up of regularly repeating units of atoms, ionic compounds, or molecules

A

Crystal

33
Q

A naturally occurring solid, made by geologic processes; it is a hard, crystalline structure of a given chemical composition

A

Mineral

34
Q

A mixture of molecules (or ions) of one material in another

A

Solution

35
Q

The chemical compounds making up the tissues of living organisms

A

Organic

36
Q

Molecules or compounds with neither carbon-carbon or carbon-hydrogen bonds

A

Inorganic

37
Q

The organic compounds that make up living organisms, to be distinguished from synthetic organic compounds, like plastics

A

Natural Organic Compounds

38
Q

Any of a large group of organic compounds that may be synthesized in chemical laboratories and are known by the difficulty with which they degrade in the environment

A

Synthetic Organic Compounds

39
Q

The ability to move matter. The capacity to do work

A

Energy

40
Q

Energy in action or motion (light, heat, physical motion, and electric current)

A

Kinetic Energy

41
Q

Energy in storage

A

Potential Energy

42
Q

Potential energy contained in chemicals and fuels

A

Chemical Energy

43
Q

One of the most common energy units. The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram (1 millimeter) of water one degree Celsius

A

Calorie

44
Q

The empirical observation, confirmed innumerable times, that energy is never created or destroyed but may be converted from one form to another (e.g., electricity to light) [you can’t get something from nothing]

A

Law of Conservation of Energy or First Law of Thermodynamics

45
Q

In an energy conversion, some of the usable energy is always lost [you can’t get something from nothing and you can’t even break even]

A

Second Law of Thermodynamics

46
Q

A measure of the degree of disorder in a system (increasing entropy means increasing disorder)

A

Entropy

47
Q

A loss of electrons, usually accomplished by the addition of oxygen

A

Oxidation

48
Q

(Primarily green plants) Use light energy to construct their organic constituents from inorganic compounds

A

Producers

49
Q

In an ecosystem, those organisms that derive their energy from feeding on other organisms or their products

A

Consumers

50
Q

The chemical process carried on by green plants through which light energy is used to produce glucose from carbon dioxide and water. Oxygen is released as a by-product

A

Photosynthesis

51
Q

A protein that promotes the synthesis or breaking of chemical bonds

A

Enzyme

52
Q

Process in which organic molecules may be broken down. Release the energy required for the work done by that cell. Involves the breakdown of glucose

A

Cell respiration

53
Q

Organisms (fungi, soil insects, bacteria) that feed on dead or decaying organic matter, important in completing the breakdown of organic matter to inorganic constituents

A

Detritivores

54
Q

The repeated pathway of particular nutrients or elements from the environment through one or more organisms and back to the environment. The cycles include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the phosphorus cycle, and so on

A

Biogeochemical cycle

55
Q

The dead organic matter, such as fallen leaves, twigs, and other plant and animal wastes, that exists in any ecosystem

A

Detritus

56
Q

Phosphate bonded to an organic molecule

A

Organic phosphate

57
Q

The main reservoir of nitrogen as nitrogen gas in the atmosphere

A

Nonreactive nitrogen

58
Q

All forms of nitrogen in ecosystems that are usable by organisms, as opposed to the nonreactive nitrogen in the form of nitrogen gas

A

Reactive nitrogen

59
Q

A number of bacteria and cyanobacteria (nitrogen fixers in aquatic ecosystems) that can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a reactive form of nitrogen

A

Nitrogen fixation

60
Q

A microbial process that occurs in soils and sediment depleted of oxygen which converts nitrates to nitrogen gas and released back into the atmosphere

A

Denitrification

61
Q

The detrimental complex of ecological effects brought on by reactive nitrogen (Nr) that has been added to natural systems by the burning of fossil fuels and the fertilization of agricultural crops

A

Nitrogen cascade

62
Q

A situation in a human-impacted ecosystem where a small action or reaction is the catalyst for a major change in the state of the system

A

Tipping point

63
Q

Safe limits on a variety of conditions on Earth that, if crossed, could become tipping points and lead to very undesirable changes that would be difficult to reverse

A

Planetary boundaries

AP Environmental Science (8 decks)

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