AP Biology Ecology Flashcards
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| 6542553222 | Population | a localized group of individuals of the same species that can interbreed, producing fertile offspring | 0 | |
| 6542553223 | Community | all the organisms that inhabit a particular area; as assemblage of populations of different species living close enough together for potential interaction | 1 | |
| 6542553224 | Ecosystem | all the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact | 2 | |
| 6542553225 | Biotic | pertaining to the living organisms in the environment | 3 | |
| 6542553226 | Abiotic | nonliving; referring to physical and chemical properties of an environment | 4 | |
| 6542553227 | Biosphere | the entire portion of earth inhabited by life; the sum of all the planet's ecosystems | 5 | |
| 6542553228 | Niche | the sum of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment | 6 | |
| 6542553229 | Clumped Distribution | individual aggregated patches, some organisms group together where food is abundant | 7 | |
| 6542553230 | Uniform Distribution | evenly spaced, some organisms maintain evenly distributed spacing to avoid aggressive interactions between neighbors | 8 | |
| 6542553231 | Random Distribution | unpredictable spacing, some plants grow in random groups if their seeds were windblown across an area | 9 | |
| 6542553232 | Population Ecology | the study of populations in relation to their environment, including environmental influences on populations, on population density and distribution, age structure, and variations in population size | 10 | |
| 6542553239 | Carrying Capacity | the maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources, (symbolized by K) | 11 | |
| 6542553240 | Density Dependent | any characteristic that varies according to an increase in population density | 12 | |
| 6542553241 | Exponential Growth | growth of a population in an ideal, unlimited environment, (represented by a J-Shaped curve when population size is plotted over time) | 13 | |
| 6542553242 | Logistical Growth | population growth that levels off as population size approaches carrying capacity | 14 | |
| 6542553243 | K-Selected | stabilize around carrying capacity, have fewer offspring later in life, mature later, live longer and invest more parental care | 15 | |
| 6542553244 | R-Selected | reside in unstable environment, have many offspring early in life, mature earlier, shorter life span, no parental care | 16 | |
| 6542553245 | Survivorship Curve | the plot of the proportion or numbers in a cohort still alive at each age | 17 | |
| 6542553246 | Type I Surivorship Curve | low death rates during early/middle life then increase among older age groups (humans) | 18 | |
| 6542553247 | Type II Surviorship Curve | constant death rate over the organism's life span | 19 | |
| 6542553248 | Type III Surviorship Curve | very high death rates for the young and then declines for those few individuals that survive the early period (insects) | 20 | |
| 6542553249 | Symbiosis | an ecological relationship between organisms of two different species that live together in direct and intimate contact | 21 | |
| 6542553250 | Commensalism | a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits but the other is neither helped nor harmed | 22 | |
| 6542553251 | Mutualism | a symbiotic relationship in which both participants benefit | 23 | |
| 6542553252 | Parasitism | a symbiotic relationship in which one organism (the parasite) benefits at the expense of another (the host) by living either within or on its host | 24 | |
| 6542553253 | Intraspecific Competition | interactions between the same species competing for resources | 25 | |
| 6542553254 | Interspecific Competition | competition for resources between individuals of two or more species when resources are in short supply | 26 | |
| 6542553255 | Predation | an interaction between species in which one species (the predator) eats the other (the prey) | 27 | |
| 6542553256 | Aposematic Coloration | the bright coloration of animals with effective physical or chemical defenses that acts as a warning to predators | 28 | |
| 6542553257 | Batesian Mimicry | a type of mimicry in which a harmless species look like a species that is poisonous or harmful to predators | 29 | |
| 6542553258 | Cryptic Coloration | camouflage that makes a potential prey difficult to spot against its background | 30 | |
| 6542553259 | Mullerian Mimicry | a mutual mimicry by two unpalatable species | 31 | |
| 6542553260 | Pioneer Species | the first species to colonize previously disrupted or damaged ecosystems, beginning a chain of ecological succession that ultimately leads to a more biodiverse steady-state ecosystem | 32 | |
| 6542553261 | Climax Community | in a community of organisms in a specific area there is one state of equilibrium controlled solely by climate | 33 | |
| 6542553262 | Succession | the process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time | 34 | |
| 6542553263 | Primary Succession | a type of ecological succession that occurs in an area where there were originally no organisms present and where soil has not yet formed | 35 | |
| 6542553264 | Secondary Succession | a type of succession that occurs where an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil or substance intact | 36 | |
| 6542553265 | Photoautotrophs | an organism that harnesses light energy to drive the synthesis of organic compounds from Carbon Dioxide (CO2) | 37 | |
| 6542553266 | Chemoautotrophs | an organism that needs only CO2 as a carbon source but obtains energy by oxidizing inorganic substances | 38 | |
| 6542553267 | Herbivore | an animal that eats mainly plants or algae | 39 | |
| 6542553268 | Carnivore | an animal that mainly eats other animals | 40 | |
| 6542553269 | Detritivore | a consumer that derives its energy and nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes of living organism (a decomposer) | 41 | |
| 6542553270 | Food Chain | the pathway along which food energy is transferred from trophic level to trophic level, beginning with producers | 42 | |
| 6542553271 | Food Web | the interconnected feeding relationships in an ecosystem | 43 | |
| 6542553272 | Trophic Levels | the positions organisms occupy in a food chain |  | 44 |
| 6542553273 | Secondary Consumer | a carnivore that eats herbivores | 45 | |
| 6542553274 | Primary Consumer | a herbivore; an organism that eats plants or other autotrophs | 46 | |
| 6542553275 | Biogeochemical Cycles | any of the various chemical cycles, which involve both biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems | 47 | |
| 6542553276 | Carbon Cycle | forming the framework of organic molecules, photosynthesis & cellular respiration circulate this nutrient | 48 | |
| 6542553277 | Phosphorus Cycle | cycling of this nutrient through geologic processes such as erosion and sedimentation | 49 | |
| 6542553278 | Nitrogen Cycle | this nutrient is converted to compounds that can be assimilated by plants then returned in gas form to the atmosphere; all processes rely on bacteria | 50 | |
| 6542553279 | Nitrogen Fixation | the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia | 51 | |
| 6542553280 | Denitrification | process where bacteria use nitrates in their metabolism instead of oxygen releasing nitrogen gas then into the atmosphere | 52 | |
| 6542553281 | Water Cycle | this nutrient cycle involves evaporation from the earth & transpiration from plants and falls then by precipitation back down to the earth to begin the cycle again | 53 | |
| 6542553282 | Age Structure Diagrams | a visual representation of the relative number of individuals of each age in a population | 54 | |
| 6542553283 | Competitive Exclusion Principle | the concept that when populations of two similar species compete for the same limited resources, one population will use the resources more efficiently and have a reproductive advantage that will eventually lead to the elimination of the other population | 55 | |
| 6542553284 | Resource Partitioning | the division of environmental resources by coexisting species such that the niche of each species differs by one or more significant factors from the niches of all the coexisting species | 56 | |
| 6542553285 | Zero Population Growth (ZPG) | a period of stability in population size, when the per capita birth rate and death rate are equal | 57 | |
| 6542553286 | Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) | the total primary production of an ecosystem | 58 | |
| 6542553287 | Net Primary Productivity (NPP) | the gross primary production of an ecosystem minus the energy used by the producers for respiration | 59 | |
| 6542553288 | Keystone Species | a species that is not necessarily abundant in a community yet experts strong control on community structure by the nature of its ecological role or niche | 60 | |
| 6542553289 | Bottom-up Model | a model of community organization in which mineral nutrients influence community organization by controlling plant or phytoplankton numbers, which in turn control herbivores, which in turn control predator numbers | 61 | |
| 6542553290 | Top-down Model | a model of community organization in which predation influences community organization by controlling herbivore numbers, which in turn control plant or phytoplankton numbers, which in turn control nutrient levels; also called the trophic cascade model | 62 | |
| 6542553291 | Biological Magnification | a process in which retained substances become more concentrated at each high trophic level in a food chain | 63 | |
| 6542553292 | Decomposers | organisms that absorb nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, the wastes of living organisms and converts them into inorganic forms; a detritivore | 64 | |
| 6542553293 | Eutrophication | a process by which nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, become highly concentrated in a body of water, leading to increased growth of organisms such as algae or cyanobacteria | 65 | |
| 6542553294 | Fundamental Niche | the niche potentially occupied by that species | 66 | |
| 6542553295 | Realized Niche | the portion of the fundamental niche that a species actually occupies in the environment | 67 | |
| 6542553296 | Invasive Species | a species often introduced by humans, that takes hold outside its native range | 68 | |
| 6542553297 | Altruism | behavior that increases fitness of another individual but decreases their own fitness | 69 | |
| 6542553298 | Kin selection | enhancing the reproductive success of one's relatives | 70 | |
| 6542553299 | Nitrification | ammonia is converted to nitrates and nitrites | 71 | |
| 6542553300 | Ammonification | decomposers convert organic nitrogen to ammonia | 72 | |
| 6542553307 | Density dependent factor | factor that affects population based on size (disease, predation etc) | 73 | |
| 6542553308 | Density independent factor | factor that affect population regardless of size (weather, humans etc) | 74 | |
| 6542553309 | Species diversity | variety of organisms in a community | 75 | |
| 6542553310 | Species richness | the number of different species in a community | 76 | |
| 6542553311 | Relative abundance | evenness of distribution of individuals among species in a community | 77 |