Chapter 4- Ecology Flashcards
Any factor in the environment that does not depend on the number of members in a population per unit area.
Density-Independent Factor
The pattern of spacing of a population within an area.
Dispersion
Any factor in the environment that depends on the number of members in a population per unit area.
Density-Dependent Factor
How fast a given population grows.
Population Growth Rate
The term ecologists use to describe the number of individuals moving away from a population.
Emigration
The term ecologists use to describe the number of individuals moving into a population.
Immigration
The maximum number of individuals in a species that an environment can support for the long term.
Carrying Capacity
The study of human population size, density, distribution, movement, and birth and death rates.
Demography
Change in population from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates.
Demographic Transition
Occurs when births plus immigration equals deaths plus emigration.
Zero Population Growth
Is the number of males and females in each of three age groups: pre-reproduction stage, reproductive stage, and post reproductive stage.
Age Structures
Entire species permanently disappear from the biosphere when the last member of the species dies.
Extinction
Is the variety of life in an area that is determined by the number of different species in that area.
Biodiversity
The variety of genes or inheritable characteristics that are present in a population compromises.
Genetic Diversity
The number of different species and the relative abundance of each species in a biological community.
Species Diversity
The variety of ecosystems that are present in the biosphere.
Ecosystem Diversity
Is the number of organisms per unit area.
Population Density
The gradual process of species becoming extinct.
Background Extinction
Is an event in which a large percentage of all living species become extinct in a relatively short period of time.
Mass Extinction
All materials and organisms found in the biosphere, including minerals, fossil fuels, nuclear fuels, plants, animals, soil, clean water, clean air, and solar energy.
Natural Resources
Excessive use, of species that have economic value.
Overexploitation
The separation of an ecosystem into small pieces of land.
Habitat Fragmentation
Different environmental conditions that occur along the boundaries of an ecosystem.
Edge Effects
The increasing concentration of toxic substances in organisms a trophic levels increase in a food chain or food web.
Biological Magnification
Occurs when fertilizers, animal waste, sewage, or other substances rich in nitrogen and phosphorus flow into waterways, causing extensive algae growth.
Eutrophication
Nonnative species that are either intentionally or unintentionally transported to a new habitat.
Introduced Species
Resources that are replaced by natural processes faster than they are consumed.
Renewable Resources
Resources that are found on Earth in limited amounts or those that are replaced by natural processes over extremely long periods of time.
Nonrenewable Resources
Species that are only found in that specific geographic area and critical levels of habitat loss.
Endemic
The use of living organisms, such as prokaryotes, fungi, or plants, to detoxify a polluted area.
Bioremediation
Adding natural predators to a degraded ecosystem.
Biological Augmentation
