Textbook - Chapter 1: The Nature of Ecology Flashcards
Abiotic
nonliving; the abiotic component of the environment includes soil, water, air, light, nutrients and the like
Behavioral Ecology
The study of the behavior of an organism in its natural habitat
Biotic
Applied to the living component of an ecosystem
Bisophere
Thin layer about Earth in which all living organisms exist
Biomes
major regional ecological community of plants and animals; usually corresponds to plant ecologists’ and European ecologists’ classification of plant formations and life zones
Categorical data
Qualitative observations that fall into separate and distinct categories
Community Ecology
Study of the living component of ecosystems; description and analysis of patterns and processes within the community
Community
A group of interacting plants and animals inhabiting a given area
Continuous data
Numerical data in which any value within an interval is possible, limited only by the ability of the measurement device
Chemical ecology
Study of the nature and use of chemical substances produced by plants and animals
Discrete data
Numerical data in which only certain values are possible such as with integer values or counts
Evolutionary ecology
Integrated study of evolution, genetics, natural selection and adaptations within an ecological context; evolutionary interpretation of population, community and ecosystem ecology.
Ecosystem ecology
The study of natural systems with emphasis on energy flow and nutrient cycling
Ecosystem
The biotic community and its abiotic environment, functioning as a system
Ecology
The study of relations between organisms and their natural environment, living and nonliving
Frequency distribution
A count of the number of observations (frequency) having a given score or value
Hypothesis
Proposed explanation for a phenomenon; we should be able to test it, accepting or rejecting it based on experimentation
Histogram
Type of bar graph.
Landscape
An area of land (or water) composed of a patchwork of communities and ecosystems
Landscape ecology
Study of structure, function and change in a heterogeneous landscape composed of interacting ecosystems
Models
In theoretical and systems ecology, an abstraction or simplification of a natural phenomenon
Numerical Data
Data in which objects are measured based on some quantitative trait
Nominal data
Categorical data in which objects fall into unordered categories such as hair color or sex
Ordinal data
Categorical data in which order is important, such as reproductive status
Population genetics
The study of changes in gene frequency and genotypes in populations
Population ecology
Study of how populations grow, fluctuate, spread and interact intraspecifically and interspecifically.
Population
A group of individuals of the same species living in a given area at a given time
Physiological ecology
Study of the physiological functioning of organisms in relation to their environment
Sample
The part of a population that is selected for observation by an investigator (a subset of the total population)
Scatter plot
A type of graph constructed by defining two axes (x and y), each representing one of the two variables being examined. The individuals are then plotted as points on the graph,
Statistical population
Set of objects about which inferences can be drawn
Theory
An integrated set of hypotheses that together explain a broader set of observations than any single hypothesis
