APES Ecology Flashcards

6565415663	abundance	A lot of something.	0
6565415664	commensalism	A relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected	1
6565415665	trophic level	Each step in a food chain or food web	2
6565415666	tertiary consumer	A carnivore that eats other carnivores.	3
6565415667	secondary consumer	A carnivore that eats a herbivore	4
6565415668	primary consumer	An organism that eats producers	5
6565415669	complexity	difficulty	6
6565415670	competition	Interaction among organisms that want the same resource in an ecosystem	7
6565415671	thermocline	A layer of water in which temperature changes rapidly with the depth	8
6565415672	tropical rainforest	Hot climate, wet season year-round.	9
6565415673	tropical seasonal forest	Hot climate, wet and dry seasons, trees shed leaves during dry season	10
6565415674	wetland	An area of land that is covered with a shallow layer of water during some or all of the year.	11
6565415675	tundra	Cold climate, dry season year-round biome. Has permafrost, lots of shrubs	12
6565415676	permafrost	Permanently frozen ground	13
6565415677	temperate forest	Moderate climate, wet and dry season, trees shed leaves	14
6565415678	taiga	Cold winters, moderate summers, forest of coniferous trees.	15
6565415679	swamp	A wetland ecosystem in which trees grow	16
6565415680	savanna	Dominated by grasses and scattered trees, close to the equator.	17
6565415681	phytoplankton	Tiny floating photosynthetic organisms, primarily algae	18
6565415682	pelagic	Ocean area anywhere but the bottom. Made up of photic and aphotic	19
6565415683	marsh	A wetland ecosystem in which shrubs grow	20
6565415684	mangrove	Coastal wetlands, plants grow in waterlogged saltwater	21
6565415685	hypolimnion	The densest, coldest water layer in a lake. Isolated from wind. Too dark for photosynthesis, low oxygen.	22
6565415686	grassland	hot climate, dry season year-round. rich soils. found in the interior of continents	23
6565415687	estuary	A habitat in which the fresh water of a river meets the salt water of the ocean.	24
6565415688	epilmnion	water temperature changing due to wind and sunlight, high photosynthesis, high oxygen	25
6565415689	desert	An extremely dry area with little water and few plants, can be hot or cold.	26
6565415690	deciduous forest	a biome based on trees that lose their leaves each fall	27
6565415691	coral reef	An ocean ridge made up of skeletal remains of tiny sea animals	28
6565415692	coniferous forest	Evergreen trees with needles and cones, do not lose leaves.	29
6565415693	chapparal	biome bordering the mediterranean sea; characterized by wet winters and warm dry summers, shrubby --> prone to forest fires	30
6565415694	bog	wet muddy ground full of decaying peat moss --> decay process is slow due to low oxygen--> slowly forms peat (used as an energy source) and is the precursor to coal	31
6565415695	biome	A group of ecosystems with similar climates and organisms	32
6565415696	benthos	Bottom-dwelling organisms.	33
6565415697	tolerance limits	The limit of a variable at which a particular species cannot survive or is unable to reproduce	34
6565415698	territoriality	Animal defends its territory	35
6565415699	symbiosis	A close relationship between two species that benefits at least one of the species.	36
6565415700	stability	A situation in which things continue without any major changes or problems	37
6565415701	specialist	A consumer that primarily eats one specific organism or feeds on a very small number of organisms; disruptions to environment are catastrophic to survival	38
6565415702	secondary succession	A type of succession that occurs where an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil intact.	39
6565415703	resource partitioning	The differentiation of niches that enables similar species to coexist in a community	40
6565415704	resiliance	the ability of an organism to recover from stress or pressure	41
6565415705	law of tolerance	For each abiotic factor, an organism has a set range of tolerances within which it can survive	42
6565415706	realized niche	Part of a species fundamental niche that it actually uses, limited by competition.	43
6565415707	primary succession	Process by which a community arises in a virtually lifeless area with no soil	44
6565415708	primary productivity	Rate at which organic matter is created by producers in an ecosystem	45
6565415709	consumer	An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms	46
6565415710	producer	An organism that makes its own food (usually through photosynthesis	47
6565415711	photosynthesis	Converting light (heat energy) into food (chemical energy) CO2 + H2O --(light energy)--> C6H12O6 + O2	48
6565415712	predation	An interaction in which one organism kills another for food.	49
6565415713	pioneer species	First species to populate an area during primary succession	50
6565415714	pathogen	An organism that causes disease	51
6565415715	natural selection	A natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms best adapted to the environment.	52
6565415716	species	A group of living organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring.	53
6565415717	parasitism	A symbiotic association in which one organism benefits while the other is harmed.	54
6565415718	mutualism	A relationship between two species in which both species benefit	55
6565415719	keystone species	A species that influences the survival of many other species in an ecosystem	56
6565415720	intraspecific competition	Competition among members of the same species	57
6565415721	interspecific competition	Competition between members of different species	58
6565415722	generalist	a species with a broad niche that can tolerate a wide range of conditions and can use a variety of resources; highly adaptable to environmental disturbances	59
6565415723	exotic species	Non-native species in an area; may take over niches of native species in an area and eventually replace them.	60
6565415724	native species	Species that have naturally evolved in an area	61
6565415725	fundamental niche	The full potential range of conditions and resources a species could theoretically use if there was no competition from other species	62
6565415726	fire-climaxed communities	biome characterized by periodic fires every few years, followed by secondary succession (Chapparal)	63
6565415727	evolution	Change over time	64
6565415728	environmental indicators	A measured variable that can inform a scientist about the state of an environmental system	65
6565415729	edge effect	different conditions along the boundaries of an ecosystem	66
6565415730	ecotone	A transitional zone where ecosystems meet. edge effect	67
6565415731	succession	Gradual change in organisms that occurs when the environment changes	68
6565415732	niche	Full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions	69
6565415733	diversity	A measurement of the number of species inhabiting an ecosystem.	70
6565415734	biotic potential	maximum rate at which a population could increase without competition	71
6565415735	density dependent factors	A limiting factor of a population wherein large, dense populations are more strongly affected than small, less crowded ones. (food shortages, land, disease)	72
6565415736	emigration	movement of individuals out of an area	73
6565415737	immigration	movement of individuals into an area	74
6565415738	mortality	Death rate	75
6565415739	natality	Birth rate	76
6565415740	survivorship	Shows the number of survivors of each age group for a particular species.	77
6565415741	S curve	Logistic growth curve. Leveling off of an exponential, J-shaped curve when a rapidly growing population exceeds the carrying capacity of its environment and ceases to grow.	78
6565415742	r-selected species	Species that reproduce early in their life span and produce large numbers of usually small and short-lived offspring in a short period; no mothering of their young	79
6565415743	population crash	a sudden population decline caused by predation, waste accumulation, or resource depletion	80
6565415744	population density	Describes how many individuals are in a certain area.	81
6565415745	overshoots	to exceed the carrying capacity of an area	82
6565415746	minimum viable population	The smallest population size at which a species is able to sustain its numbers and survive. Any lower than this, and genetic diversity is too low.	83
6565415747	logistic growth	Population growth that is controlled by limited resources.	84
6565415748	life expectancy	How long an individual is expected to live	85
6565415749	k-selected species	are characterized by producing low numbers of large offspring. They have slow maturation, long gestation periods, parental care and long life in a stable environment. Bigger animals. humans	86
6565415750	J curve	a curve representing exponential (unrestricted) population growth	87
6565415751	genetic drift	A change in the gene pool of a population due to chance	88
6565415752	founder effect	Genetic drift that occurs after a small number of individuals colonize a new area	89
6565415753	fertility	the ability of a population to reproduce, or soil to support plants	90
6565415754	fecundity	fertility	91
6565415755	environmental resistance	All of the limiting factors that act together to limit the growth of a population.	92
6565415756	density independent factors	Environmental resistance that affects a population regardless of density. (weather disasters)	93