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ecology 200 > definitions test 2 > Flashcards

definitions test 2 Flashcards

1
Q

an introduced organism that negatively alters its new environment

A

invasive species

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2
Q

the presence of two or more species living in the same area

A

sympatry

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3
Q

a group of species that exploit the same class of environmental resources in a similar way

A

guild

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4
Q

a commonly mutualistic and intimate association between the roots of a plant and a fungus

A

mycorrhiza

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5
Q

scientific name of a phylum of small marine shellfish, sometimes called “lamp shells”

A

brachiopods

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6
Q

the largest ecological niche that an organism or species can occupy in the absence of interspecific competition and predation

A

fundamental niche

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7
Q

the tendency for coexisting species to
differ in their niche requirements

A

niche differentiation

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8
Q

the portion of its potential (fundamental) niche occupied by a species when competitors or predators are present

A

realized niche

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9
Q

occurring in different places; usually refers to geographical separation of species

A

allopatry

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10
Q

another word for plant-eating

A

phytophagous

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11
Q

the measurable physical difference between two species that has arisen by natural selection as a result of the selection pressures on one or both from competition with the other

A

character displacement

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12
Q

birds that feed on insects

A

insectivorous

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13
Q

Russian scientist who described the “competitive exclusion principle”

A

Georgy Gause

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14
Q

the range, for all important environmental features, within which individuals of a species can survive, grow, and reproduce

A

niche

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15
Q

the distribution of organisms in which individuals are closer together than they would be if they were randomly or evenly distributed

A

aggregated distribution

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16
Q

an individual liable to be, or actually, consumed (and hence killed) by a predator

A

prey

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17
Q

a population perceived to exist as a series of subpopulations, linked by migration between them

A

metapopulation

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18
Q

a consumer which attacks large numbers of large prey during its lifetime, but removes only a part of each prey individual, so that the effect, although often harmful, is rarely lethal in the short term, and never predictably lethal

A

grazer

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19
Q

the tendency for the death rate in a population to increase, or the birth or growth rate to decrease, as the population size increases

A

density dependence

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20
Q

an organism which is parasitized by a parasite

A

host

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21
Q

the average number of new infected hosts that would arise from a single infectious host in a population of susceptible hosts

A

basic reproductive number (R0)

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22
Q

an evolutionary theory that predicts the details of feeding behavior based on mathematical models

A

optimal foraging theory

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23
Q

insects in which the adults are free-living but eggs are laid in, on or near an insect host, after which the larva develops in the host (itself usually a pre-adult), initially doing little apparent harm, but eventually consuming and killing the host before or during the pupal stage

A

parasitoids

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24
Q

an organisms that consumes other organisms

A

predator

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25
Q

a microorganism or virus that causes disease

A

pathogen

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26
Q

an organism that obtains its nutrients from one or a very few host individuals, causing harm but not causing death immediately

A

parasite

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27
Q

interference amongst predators leading to a reduction in the consumption rate of individual predators which increases with predator density

A

mutual interference

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28
Q

the population size that needs to be exceeded for a parasite population to be able to sustain itself

A

threshold population size

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29
Q

a classic example of predator-prey oscillations is the relationship between the snowshoe hare and the ____

A

lynx

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30
Q

a consumer that invariably kills their prey, and consumes many prey items over the course of their life time

A

true predator

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31
Q

when selective predation favours the coexistence of prey species that might otherwise exclude one another

A

predator mediated coexistence

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32
Q

defense mechanisms that are always present in plants (eg. cell walls, waxy cuticle, bark, thorns)

A

constitutive defense

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33
Q

the defenses that are produced when a plant is injured or detects foreign pathogen (eg. toxic chemicals, pathogen degrading enzymes, deliberate cell suicide)

A

inducible defenses

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34
Q

a model frequently used to describe the dynamics of ecological systems in which two species interact, one a predator and one its prey

A

Lotka-Volterra Model

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35
Q

small sap-sucking insects that are “farmed” by ants

A

aphids

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36
Q

a close association between the individuals of pairs of species

A

symbiosis

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37
Q

any agent (living or otherwise) that acts as a carrier for a pathogenic organism and transmits it to a susceptible host

A

vector

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38
Q

a virus that attacks bacteria

A

phage

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39
Q

an interaction between the individuals of two (or more) species in which the growth, growth rate, and/or population size of both are increased in a reciprocal association

A

mutualism

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40
Q

random changes in gene frequency within a population resulting from sampling effects rather than natural selection, and hence of greatest importance in small populations

A

genetic drift

41
Q

a group of bacteria that fix nitrogen in the root nodules of most leguminous plants

A

rhizobia

42
Q

the small circular chromosome found inside mitochondria

A

mitochondrial DNA

43
Q

a grouping that includes a common ancestor and all the descendants (living and extinct) of that ancestor

A

clade

44
Q

plant-defensive substances that can kill in small doses and tend to be induced by herbivore attacks

A

qualitative chemicals

45
Q

mycorrhiza that penetrate within the roots of the host

A

arbuscular mycorrhiza

46
Q

the process in which atmospheric nitrogen is converted into ammonia

A

nitrogen fixation

47
Q

the existence within a species or population of different forms of individuals or “morphs”

A

polymorphism

48
Q

the tendency of animals to return very close to their place of birth to breed

A

natal philopatry

49
Q

plant-defensive substances that are digestion-reducing, rely on an accumulation of ill effects, and tend to be produced all the time

A

quantitative chemicals

50
Q

The process by which members of two (or more) species contribute reciprocally to the forces of natural selection that they exert on each other

A

coevolution

51
Q

differences in DNA that are favored in different individuals / the genetic diversity within a species that enables it to adapt to changing environmental conditions

A

adaptive variation

52
Q

differences in DNA that do not affect fitness of the individuals

A

neutral variation

53
Q

a technique to make many copies of a specific DNA region in vitro

A

polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

54
Q

regions of DNA where the same small number of bases is repeated many times

A

microsatellites

55
Q

determining the order of the four chemical building blocks - called “bases” - that make up the DNA molecule

A

sequencing

56
Q

a genomic variant at a single base position in the DNA

A

single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs)

57
Q

the process in which the animal ingests part of its feces in order to increase nutrient uptake

A

refection (/pseudorumination/cecotrophy)

58
Q

number of species present in a community

A

species richness

59
Q

a flightless parrot form New Zealand

A

kakapo

60
Q

a community where some species are competitively superior to others so that an initial colonizer of an opening left by a disturbance cannot necessarily maintain its presence there

A

dominance-controlled community

61
Q

communities where a large number of species are approximately equivalent in their ability to colonize an opening left by a disturbance, are equally well fitted to the abiotic environment, and can hold the location until they die

A

founder-controlled community

62
Q

photosynthesizing microscopic biotic organisms that inhabit the upper sunlit layer of almost all oceans and bodies of fresh water on Earth

A

phytoplankton

63
Q

important pests of potatoes

A

colorado potato beetles

64
Q

representation of feeding relationships in a community that includes all the links revealed by dietary analysis

A

food web

65
Q

organisms that are typical of unstable or periodically extreme environments, e.g. deserts or ephemeral ponds, and characterized by a strong dispersal ability (typically smaller than equilibrium species and have shorter life cycles)

A

fugitive/pioneer/opportunist species

66
Q

occurs when the severity of disturbance is insufficient to remove all the existing vegetation and soil from a site

A

secondary succession

67
Q

collection of species that occur together in space and time

A

community

68
Q

a community that returns rapidly to something like its former structure after a disturbance

A

resilient community

69
Q

a community that undergoes relatively little change in its structure in the face of a disturbance

A

resistant community

70
Q

the presumed endpoint of a successional sequence; a community that has reached a steady state

A

climax

71
Q

a species whose removal would produce a significant effect in the community of which it is part, changing its fundamental nature

A

keystone species

72
Q

spatially separate portions of a species’ population, between which there is only limited dispersal compared to the rate of dispersal within them

A

subpopulations

73
Q

a tendency in a population for some factor to cause density to increase when it is low and to decrease when it is high

A

population regulation

74
Q

the combined effects of all the factors and processes that affect population size (whether density-dependent or not)

A

determination of abundance

75
Q

“killing power” of an environment

A

k-value

76
Q

a series of sites that differ in age and succession levels since abandonment or disturbance

A

chronosequence

77
Q

patches within which many species suffer local extinction simultaneously

A

gaps

78
Q

which occurs when a predator reduces the abundance of its prey, and this cascades down to the trophic level

A

trophic cascade

79
Q

succession in an area that has not previously been influenced by a community

A

primary succession

80
Q

the nonseasonal, directional, and continuous pattern of colonization and extinction on a site by populations

A

succession

81
Q

the amount of water that could be evaporated and transpired if there was sufficient water available (a measure of atmospheric energy)

A

potential evapotranspiration

82
Q

enrichment of water body with plant nutrients

A

eutrophication

83
Q

the diversity between two different regions, each with many communities

A

gamma diversity

84
Q

this hypothesis explains how environmental temperature may affect a community of organisms

A

energy hypothesis

85
Q

bottom-dwelling organisms in aquatic systems

A

benthic organisms

86
Q

environments that are dominated by an extreme abiotic factor such as temperature or acidity

A

harsh environments

87
Q

the study of distribution of species and community composition on islands

A

island biogeography

88
Q

the increase in species richness if you move from the Arctic to the equator

A

latitudinal gradient

89
Q

the length of the portion of resources that an organism uses

A

niche breadth

90
Q

the diversity within a community

A

alpha diversity

91
Q

large circular current in the middle of the ocean

A

gyre

92
Q

a term that refers to diversity between communities

A

beta diversity

93
Q

the general pattern of increase in species richness with increasing area of observation

A

species-area relationship

94
Q

the developers of the equilibrium theory of island biogeography

A

MacArthur and Wilson

95
Q

the theory that local species diversity is maximized when ecological disturbance is neither too rare nor too frequent

A

intermediate disturbance hypothesis

96
Q

the model to obtain a quantitative estimate of biological variability that can be used to compare biological entities in space or in time

A

Shannon-Weaver diversity index

97
Q

the theory where enrichment destabilizes predator–prey systems, causing species extinction

A

paradox of enrichment

98
Q

an area with an uneven distribution of environmental characteristics

A

spatial heterogeneity

ecology 200 (3 decks)

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