Odum 1 - Glossary Flashcards by Jedy Anne Dela Cruz

Relating to bottom of waters of oceans

Abyssal

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Anthropogenic emissions of hydrogen sulfide and nitrogen oxides from fossil fuel combustion that interact with water vapor to produce dilute sulfuric and nitric acids, causing widespread acidification of cloud and rainwater

Acid Rain

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Refers to life in the presence of free oxygen, either as a gas in the atmosphere or dissolved in water

Aerobic

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Dormancy in animals during periods of drought

Aestivation

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Surface stratum of soil, characterized by maximum accumulation of organic matter and biological activity

A Horizon

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Refers to life or processes that occur in the absence of free oxygen

Anaerobic

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

A relationship between two species in which one population is; inhibited and the other not affected

Amensalism

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Tundra-like conditions found above tree lines on high mountains

Alpine Tundra

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Human-created urban soil type, containing an abundance of pulverized concrete, dust, debris. and “fill” materials

Anthrosol

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Porous underground strata (limestone, sand, or gravel) bounded by impervious rock or clay, containing significant quantities of water

Aquifer

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Producing its own food (as photosynthetic plants), production (P) is greater than respiration (R)

Autotrophic

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Lowermost region or bottom of a freshwater lake or aquatic ecosystem

Benthic Zone

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Bottom-dwelling organisms that inhabit the bottom of rivers, lakes, and the sea

Benthos

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

A stratum of soil characterized by minerals, in which organic matter in the A horizon has been converted by decomposers into inorganic compounds such as silica and clay

B Horizon

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Plant that requires two years to complete is vegetative and reproductive growth cycle

Biennial

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Large regional or subcontinental system characterized by a particular major vegetation type
(such as a temperate deciduous forest); biomes are distinguished by the predominant plants associated with a particular climate (especially temperature and precipitation)

Biome

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

That part of the environment of Earth in which living organisms are found

Biosphere

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Wetland ecosystem characterized by acidic conditions and accumulation of peat, dominated by sphagnum moss

Bog

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Weight of having material, typically expressed as dry weight per unit area or volume

Biomass

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Refers to photosynthesis or organic materials generated within the community or ecosystem

Autochthonous

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Circular or semicircular group of islands encircling a lagoon, formed by coral reefs growing on the submerged slopes of a seamount

Atoll

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Plant that produces a 3-carbon compound (phosphoglyceric acid) as the first step in photosynthesis; pathway of carbon fixation common in plants adapted to low temperatures, average light conditions, and adequate water supply

C3 plant

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Plant that produces a 4-carbon compound (malic or aspartic acid) as the first step in photosynthesis; pathway of carbon fixation common in plants adapted to high temperatures, strong light, and low water supply

C4 plant

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Biome type dominated by broadleaf scrubs and sclerophyllous woodland located in regions of Medirerranean climate, a fire-dependent ecosystem that tends to perpetuate scrub dominance at the expense of trees

Chaparral

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Stratum of soil beneath the A and B horizons that is relatively unmodified by biological activity or soil-forming processes (the stratum of parent material)

C horizon

Movement of carbon, C, between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere, and the transformations (such as photosynthesis and respiration) between its different chemical forms

Carbon Cycle

(from Greek chele, "claw") a complex formation of organic matter with metal ions (for example, chlorophyll is a chelate compound in which the metal ion is magnesium)

Chelation

Refers to a habitat or landscape patch in which the vagility of a given animal species is low relative to the size of the patch

Coarse-grained

Relationship between two species in which one population is benefited but the other is not affected

Commensalism

Includes all the populations inhatibing a specific area at the same time

Community

Depth in a lake where light penetration is so reduced that oxygen production by photosynthesis balances oxygen consumption by respiration (that is, the depth in a lake where P/R = I)

Compensation depth

Connection between two patches of landscape habitat

Corridor

Overfertilization of freshwater ecosystems by nutrients, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus, from anthropogenic sources

Cultural Eutrophication

Forest composed of trees that drop leaves during unfavorable winter conditions, temperate deciduous forest are a major biome-type in eastern North America

Deciduous Forest

Organisms, typically bacteria and fungi, that obtain energy from the breakdown of dead organic matter

Decomposers

Reduction of nitrates to atmospheric nitrogen by microorganisms

Denitrification

Biome with less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rainfall per year, dominated by stem succulents, such as cacti, and desert shrubs that are frequently regularly spaced in their distribution

Desert

Organisms that feed on dead or decaying organic matter (such as earthworms)

Detritivores

Dead or partially decomposed plant and animal matter; nonliving organic matter

Detritus

Food chain in which the primary producers are not consumed by grazing herbivores, but where dead and decaying plant parts form litter (detritus) on which decomposers (bacteria and fungi) and detritivores feed with subsequent transfer of energy thru the detritus food chain

Detritus Food Chain

Refers to a body of water, such as a shallow freshwater lake, with a high content of humic matter, with deeper water depleted of oxygen

Dystrophic

The area of productive ecosystems outside a city that is required to support life in the city

Ecological Footprint

Branch of science dealing with interactions and relationships between organisms and the environment; the study of goods and services provided by natural ecosystems, including the integration of these nonmarket services with the economic market

Ecology

All the living organisms of Earth interacting with the physical environment as a whole

Ecosphere

Classification of major vegetation types or ecosystems developed by R. W Bailey in 1976, based on a continuous land area in which the interaction of climate, soil, and topography permit the development of similar types of vegetation

Ecoregion

A biotic community and its abiotic environment functioning as a system (first used by A. G. Tansley in 1935); a discrete unit that consists of living and nonliving parts interacting to form an ecological system

Ecosystem

Zone of transition from one type of community or ecosystem to another (a transition from a forest to a grassland, for example)

Ecotone

That branch of ecology concerned with the responses of individual organisms to abiotic factors such as temperature, moisture, atmospheric gases, and other factors of the environment

Ecophysiology

Subspecies or local populations adapted to a particular set of environmental conditions

Ecotypes

Response of plants and animals to the site where two or more communities or ecosystems meet (typically creating an increase in biotic diversity along the edge site)

Edge Effect

A site where two or more structurally different communities or ecosystems meet (such as the edge of a pond or lake)

Edge

Warmer oxygen-rich upper part of lake when thermally stratified during summer

Epilimnion

Plant that grows on another plant but is not parasitic (such as orchid living on a tree)

Epiphyte

(from Latin aestus, "tide") partially closed embayment, such as river mouth or coastal bay; where freshwater and salt (sea) water meet and where tidal action is important physical regulator and energy subsidy

Estuary

Refers to a body of water high in nutrient and productivity

Eutrophic

Process of nutrient enrichment (typically of phospates and nitrates in aquatic ecosystems, resulting in increased primary productivity

Eutrophication

Total loss of water by evaporation from an ecosystem, including water loss from the surface of plants, mainly through the stomata

Evapotranspiration

Number of disseminules (eggs or seeds) produced by an organism

Fecundity

Wetland ecosystem that receives part of is nutrient input through a flow of groundwater; wetland that is only slightly acidic, dominated by sedges

Fen

Influence of gaps in landscape corridors that allow certain organisms to cross but restricts the movement of others

Filter Effect

Refers to a habitat or landscape patch in which the vagility of a given animal species is high relative to the size of the patch

Fine-grained

Population founded by a small number of colonists, often resulting in genetic variation markedly different from the parent population

Founder Effect

Organism that feeds on fruit

Frugivore

Rain forest that occurs along bank and floodplains of rivers; riverine forest

Gallery Forest

(from'Greek Gaia,the Earth goddess) hypothesis formulated by James Lovelock in 1968, which holds that organisms, especially microorganisms, have evolved with the physical environment to provide control (self-regulation) and to maintain conditions favorable to life on Earth

Gaia Hypothesis

Principle (first demonstrated in 1932 by G F. Gause, a Russian biologist) that states that no two species with the same ecological requirements can coexist (see competitive exclusion principle)

Gause Principle

Diversity or maintenance of genotypic heterozygosity, polymorphism, and other genetic variability in a natural population

Genetic Diversity

(GPS) system that determines locations on the surface of Earth, including longitude, latitude, and altitude, using radio signals from satellites

Global Positioning System

Food chain originating with feeding on seeds

Granivorous Food Chain

Absorption of infrared radiation by greenhouse gases. esp. CO2, in the atmosphere that was reradiated from the surface of Earth

Greenhouse Effect

group of species that make their living by exploiting the same class of resources in a similar way

Guild

Industrial catalytic process for synthesizing ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen, discovered by Fritz Haber, a German chemist

Haber Process

Analysis determining how the landscape has changed by humans affecting the size, shape, and frequency of landscape elements (patches, corridors, and matrices)

Habitat Fragmentation

Law, discovered independently in 1908 by G H Hardy and W. Weinberg, stating that in a population mating at random in the absence of evolutionary forces, allele frequencies will remain constant

Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium Law

Technique for measuring net primary productivity of herbaceous, terrestrial vegetation (such as old fields or grasslands); harvests are made periodically by clipping the vegetation at ground level from randomized sample sites, sorting to species, and then drying to a constant dry weight

Harvest Method

Organism that feeds on plant material

Herbivore

Individual unable to manufacture its own food from inorganic matter, which therefore consumes other organisms for its source of energy

Heterotroph

(from Greek "maintaining the flow") tendency of a system to maintain itself in a pulsing state of equilibrium

Homeorhesis

Tendency of a system to resist change and maintain itself in a state of stable equilibrium

Homeostasis

Containing two identical alleles at the same loci of a pair of chromosomes

Homozygous

Organic matter derived from partial decay of plant and animal matter

Humus

Cold, oxygen-poor, bottom part of a lake when thermally stratified during summer; zone of a lake below the thermocline

Hypolimnion

Movement of new individuals into a population or habitat

Immigation

Concept of community development, first proposed by H A Gleason in 1926,stating that species of plants are distributed individually with respect to biotic and abiotic factors; thus, associations result only from similar requirements

Individualistic Concept

Competition between individuals of different species

Interspecific Competition

Competition between individuals of the same species

Intraspecific Competition

Population fluctuations controlled primarily by regulatory mechanisms (genetic, endocrine, behavioral, disease, and so on) within the population

Intrinsic Factors

Functional group or population without redundancy; a species (such as a predator) having a dominating influence on the structure and functioning of a community or ecosystem

Keystone Species

Heterogeneous area composed of a cluster of interacting ecosystems that are repeated in a similar manner throughout the area; landforms of a region in the aggregate; a regional level of organization between the ecosystem and the biome

Landscape

Strip of vegetation that differs from the matrix and frequently connects two or more patches of similar habitat

Landscape Corridor

The branch of ecology that focuses on the development and dynamics of spatial heterogeneity, the influences of spatial heterogeneity on biotic and abiotic processes among ecosystems, and the management of spatial heterogeneity at the landscape scale

Landscape Ecology

Large area of similar ecosystem or vegetation types (agricultural or forest, for example) in which landscape patches are embedded

Landscape Matrix

Relatively homogeneous area that differs from the surrounding matrix (such as a woodlot embedded in an agricultural matrix)

Landscape Patch

As an ecosystem becomes larger and more complex, the proportion of gross productivity that must be respired to sustain growth increases (in other words, the proportion of productivity that can go into further growth declines)

Law of Diminishing Return

(from Latin lenis, "calm") refers to standing-water ecosystems such as lakes and ponds

Lentic

Organism that consists of a fungus (the mycobiont) and an alga or cyanobacterium (the phycobiont) living in a mutualistic association; a lichen may be crustose, foliose, or fruticose according to species

Lichen

Concept, first stated by Baron J. von Liebig in 1840, that the essential material or resource most closely approaching the minimum need tends to be the limiting one

Liebig Law of the Minimum

The open water of a lake beyond the littoral zone, where P/R > 1

Limnetic Zone

Study of freshwater ecosystems such as lakes

Limnology

Mark-recapture method use to estimate the total population density;an index devised in 1930 by the American ornithologist Frederick C. Lincoln to estimate population density

Lincoln Index