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Biology > Chapter 42-46 > Flashcards

Chapter 42-46 Flashcards

0
Q

Biome

A

A major division of the ecological communities of Earth, characterized primarily by distinctive vegetation

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1
Q

Abiotic

A

Nonliving

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2
Q

Ecosystem

A

The organisms of a particular habitat, such as a pond or forest, together with the physical environment in which they live.

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3
Q

Intertidal zone

A

A nearshore region of oceans that is periodically exposed to the air as the tides rise and fall.

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4
Q

Photic zone

A

The region of lakes and oceans that is penetrated by light and therefore supports photosynthetic organisms.

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5
Q

Abyssal zone

A

The deepest parts of the ocean

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6
Q

Ecological system

A

One or more organisms plus the external environment with which they interact.

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7
Q

Biographic region

A

One of several defined, continental-scale regions of Earth, each of which has a biota distinct from that of the others.

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8
Q

Biotic

A

Living

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9
Q

Natural history

A

The characteristics of a group of organisms, such as how the organisms get their food, reproduce, behave, regulate their internal environments (their cells, tissues, and organs), and interact with other organisms.

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10
Q

Physical geography

A

The study of the distributions of Earth’s climates and surface features.

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11
Q

Weather

A

The state of atmospheric conditions in a particular place at a particular time.

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12
Q

Hadley cells

A

Patterns of vertical atmospheric circulation that influence surface winds and precipitation patterns according to latitude.

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13
Q

Benthic zone

A

The bottom of the ocean.

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14
Q

Biotic interchanges

A

The dispersal of species from two different biotas into the region they had not previously inhabited, as when two formerly separated land masses fuse.

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15
Q

Community

A

Any ecologically integrated group of species of microorganisms, plants, and animals inhabiting a given area.

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16
Q

Ecological system

A

One or more organisms plus the external environment with which they interact.

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17
Q

Pelagic zone

A

The open ocean.

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18
Q

Biogeographic region

A

One of several defined, continental-scale regions of Earth, each of which has a biota distinct from that of the others.

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19
Q

Climate

A

The long-term average atmospheric conditions (temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind direction and velocity) found in a region.

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20
Q

Biosphere

A

All regions of Earth (terrestrial and aquatic) and Earth’s atmosphere in which organisms can live.

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21
Q

Biogeography

A

The scientific study of the patterns of distribution of populations, species, and ecological communities across Earth.

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22
Q

Ecosystem

A

The organisms of a particular habitat, such as a pond or forest, together with the physical environment in which they live.

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23
Q

Seasonality

A

A aspect of climate characterized by fluctuations in temperature over the course of a year

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24
Q

Climate diagram

A

A way of graphically summarizing the climate in a given location by superimposing graphs of average monthly temperature and average precipitation through a year.

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25
Q

Limnetic zone

A

The open-water region of a lake.

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26
Q

Littoral zone

A

The nearshore region of a lake that is shallow and is affected by wave action and fluctuations in water level.

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27
Q

Topography

A

The variations in the elevation of Earth’s surface that form, for example, mountains and valleys.

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28
Q

Ecology

A

The scientific study of the interaction of organisms with their living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) environments.

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29
Q

Abyssal zone

A

The deepest parts of the ocean.

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30
Q

Currents

A

Circulation patterns in the surface waters of oceans driven by the prevailing winds.

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34
Q

Habitat patches

A

Areas of suitable habitat for a species that are separated by areas of unsuitable habitat.

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35
Q

Resource

A

Something in the environment required by an organism for its maintenance and growth that is consumed in the process of being used.

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36
Q

Equilibrium

A

Any state of balanced opposing forces and no net change.

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37
Q

Habitat

A

The particular environment in which an organism lives.

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38
Q

Survivorship

A

In life tables, the proportion of individuals in a cohort that are alive at age x. A graph of this data is a survivorship curve.

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39
Q

Metapopulation

A

A population divided into subpopulations, among which there are occasional exchanges of individuals.

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40
Q

Density-dependent

A

Pertaining to a factor with an effect on population size that increases in proportion to population density.

41
Q

Geographic range

A

The region within which a species occurs.

42
Q

Population size

A

The total number of individuals in a population.

43
Q

BIDE model

A

A model of population growth that takes into account immigration and emigration, in addition to births and deaths.

44
Q

Corridor

A

A connection between habitat patches through which organisms can disperse; plays a critical role in maintaining subpopulations.

45
Q

Life history

A

The time course of growth and development, reproduction, and death during an average individual organism’s life

46
Q

Per capita growth rate

A

In population models, the average individual’s contribution to total population growth rate.

47
Q

Principle of allocation

A

The idea that a unit of some resource acquired by an organism can be used for only one function at a time, meaning that resources must be divided among competing functions.

48
Q

Life table

A

A summary of information about the progression of individuals in a population through the various stages of their life cycles.

49
Q

Fecundity

A

The average number of offspring produced by each female.

50
Q

Multiplicative growth

A

Population growth in which a constant multiple of the population size is added to the population during successive time intervals. Also known as exponential growth.

51
Q

Commensalism

A

A type of interaction between species in which one participant benefits while the other is unaffected.

52
Q

Resource partioning

A

A situation in which selection pressures resulting from interspecific competition cause changes in the ways in which the competing species use the limiting resource, thereby allowing them to coexist.

53
Q

Consumer-resource interactions

A

Interactions in which organisms gain their nutrition by eating other living organisms or are eaten themselves.

54
Q

Amensalism

A

Interaction in which one animal is harmed and the other is unaffected.

55
Q

Mutualism

A

A type of interaction between species that benefits both species.

56
Q

Interspecific competition

A

Competition between members of two or more species.

57
Q

Interspecific interactions

A

Interactions between members of different species.

58
Q

Prey

A

An organism consumed by a predator as an energy source.

59
Q

Intraspecific competition

A

Competition among members of the same species.

60
Q

Predator

A

An organism that kills and eats other organisms.

61
Q

Island biogeography

A

A theory proposing that the number of species on an island (or in another geographically defined and isolated area) represents a balance, or equilibrium, between the rate at which species immigrate to the island and the rate at which resident species go extinct.

62
Q

Succession

A

The gradual, sequential series of changes in the species composition of a community following a disturbance.

63
Q

Species richness

A

The total number of species living in a region

64
Q

Niche

A

The set of physical and biological conditions a species requires to survive, grow, and reproduce

65
Q

Primary consumer

A

An organism (herbivore) that eats plant tissues.

66
Q

Species composition

A

The particular mix of species a community contains and the abundances of those species.

67
Q

Community

A

Any ecologically integrated group of species of microorganisms, plants, and animals inhabiting a given area.

68
Q

Tertiary consumers

A

Carnivores that consume primary carnivores.

69
Q

Secondary consumer

A

An organism that eats primary consumers.

70
Q

Net primary productivity (NPP)

A

The rate at which energy captured by photosynthesis is incorporated into the bodies of primary producers through growth and reproduction.

71
Q

Food web

A

The complete set of food links between species in a community; a diagram indicating which ones are the eaters and which are eaten.

72
Q

Heterotroph

A

An organism that requires preformed organic molecules as food.

73
Q

Primary producer

A

A photosynthetic or chemosynthetic organism that synthesizes complex organic molecules from simple inorganic ones.

74
Q

Omnivore

A

An organism that eats both animal and plant material.

75
Q

Detritivore

A

An organism that obtains its energy from the dead bodies or waste products of other organisms.

76
Q

Trophic level

A

A group of organisms united by obtaining their energy from the same part of the food web of a biological community.

77
Q

Trophic cascade

A

The progression over successively lower trophic levels of the indirect effects of a predator

78
Q

Autotroph

A

An organism that is capable of living exclusively on inorganic materials, water, and some energy source such as sunlight or chemically reduced matter.

79
Q

Decomposer

A

An organism that metabolizes organic compounds in debris and dead organisms, releasing inorganic material; found among the bacteria, protists, and fungi.

80
Q

Gross primary productivity (GPP)

A

The rate at which the primary producers in a community turn solar energy into stored chemical energy via photosynthesis.

81
Q

Ecological efficiency

A

The overall transfer of energy from one trophic level to the next, expressed as the ratio of consumer production to producer production.

82
Q

Ecological transition

A

A type of succession in which a community distinctly different from the original community is established after a disturbance.

83
Q

Species evenness

A

A measure of species diversity that reflects the distribution of the species’ abundances in a community.

84
Q

Ecosystem services

A

Processes by which ecosystems maintain resources that benefit human society.

85
Q

Pool

A

The total amount of an element in a given compartment of the biosphere.

86
Q

Eutrophication

A

The addition of nutrient materials to a body of water, resulting in changes in ecological processes and species composition therein.

87
Q

Greenhouse gases

A

Gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and methane, that are transparent to sunlight, but trap heat radiating from Earth’s surface, causing heat to build up at Earth’s surface.

88
Q

Nitrogen fixation

A

Conversion of atmospheric nitrogen gas (N2) into a more reactive and biologically useful form (ammonia), which makes nitrogen available to living things. Carried out by certain bacteria, some of them free-living and others living within plant roots.

89
Q

Dead zones

A

Regions in aquatic ecosystems that are devoid of aquatic life because eutrophication has resulted in severe oxygen depletion.

90
Q

Flux

A

In ecology, the flow of an element into or out of a compartment of the biosphere.

91
Q

Greenhouse effect

A

The warming of Earth that results from retention of heat in its atmosphere; caused by the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

92
Q

Fossil fuels

A

Fuels, including oil, natural gas, coal, and peat, formed over geologic time from organic material buried in anaerobic sediments.

93
Q

Biogeochemical cycle

A

Movement of inorganic elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon through living organisms and the physical environment.

97
Q

BD model

A

The “birth–death model”: Nt+1 = Nt + B – D. The most basic mathematical model of population growth.

98
Q

Population density

A

The number of individuals in a population per unit of area or volume.

103
Q

(43) additive growth

A

Population growth in which a constant number of individuals is added to the population during successive time intervals.

Biology (3 decks)

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