AP Biology Ecology Flashcards

6572110065	population	A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area and interbreed, producing fertile offspring.	0
6572121230	community	A group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other	1
6572123436	biosphere	All the parts of the planet that are inhabited by living things; sum of all Earth's ecosystems	2
6572130507	ecosystem	A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.	3
6572131937	biotic	Living parts of an ecosystem	4
6572138951	abiotic	Any nonliving component of an environment	5
6572142941	climate	The average weather conditions in an area over a long period of time	6
6572145315	weather	The condition of Earth's atmosphere at a particular time and place.	7
6572148648	biome	A group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms	8
6572150281	population density	Number of individuals per unit area	9
6572152225	habitat	Physical area in which an organism lives	10
6572157640	dynamic	characterized by continuous change or activity	11
6572164624	BD model	The rate of change in the population (dN/dT) is equal to births minus deaths (B - D)	12
6572168351	per capita	Per person, or per organism. For example, GDP per capita is total GDP divided by the number of people in the population.	13
6572171495	demography	The scientific study of population characteristics.	14
6572173813	survivorship	The fraction of individuals that survive from birth to different life stages	15
6572192119	fecundity	The average number of offspring produced by an individual during a particular life stage, age or period of time.	16
6572200714	mortality	Death rate in a population	17
6572209734	doubling time	The number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural increase.	18
6572211314	density dependent	Depends on the number of members per unit area: predation, disease, parasites, competition	19
6572212945	density independent	Limiting factor that affects all populations in similar ways, regardless of population size.	20
6572218999	carrying capacity	Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support	21
6572221838	population equilibrium	When the population stops changing in size; it has reached a size that is called the carrying capacity, K.	22
6572230170	interspecific interactions	any interaction between members of different species	23
6572241967	limiting resource	resource that is in shortest supply relative to demand and therefore constrains the fitness of individuals	24
6572247538	competition	A common demand by two or more organisms upon a limited supply of a resource; for example, food, water, light, space, mates, nesting sites. It may be intraspecific or interspecific.	25
6572251832	intraspecific interaction	interactions among members of the same species	26
6572254310	predation	An interaction in which one organism kills another for food.	27
6572256843	herbivory	An interaction in which one animal feeds on producers	28
6572261572	parasitism	A relationship between two organisms of different species where one benefits and the other is harmed	29
6572263864	mutualism	A relationship between two species in which both species benefit	30
6572265629	commensalism	A relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected	31
6572267359	amensalism	A relationship between organisms of two different species in which one is unaffected and the other is negatively impacted by the association	32
6572271167	rarity advantage	A species gains a growth advantage when it is at a low density and when it's competitor is at a high density (because the competitor will have more interspecific competition). Prevents the population from going to zero.	33
6572283271	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 coexisting species	34
6572288824	autotroph	an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide.	35
6572293383	heterotroph	An organism that obtains organic food molecules by eating other organisms or substances derived from them.	36
6572306554	trophic level	The position of an organism in relation to the flow of energy and inorganic nutrients through an ecosystem (e.g., producer, consumer, and decomposer).	37
6572313965	primary producer	First producer of energy rich compounds that are later used by other organisms	38
6572316438	primary consumer	An herbivore; an organism in the trophic level of an ecosystem that eats producers	39
6572321225	secondary consumer	A trophic level of an ecosystem consisting of carnivores that eat herbivores.	40
6572324945	tertiary consumer	Carnivore that eats carnivores.	41
6572328517	omnivore	A consumer that eats both plants and animals	42
6572330750	decomposer	An organism that breaks down wastes and dead organisms	43
6572332228	food web	A community of organisms where there are several interrelated food chains	44
6572338037	trophic cascade	A series of changes in the population sizes of organisms at different trophic levels in a food chain, occurring when predators at high trophic levels indirectly promote populations of organisms at low trophic levels by keeping species at intermediate trophic levels in check.	45
6572358842	keystone species	A species that influences the survival of many other species in an ecosystem	46
6572360756	conservation	Protecting and preserving natural resources and the environment	47
6572366598	altruism	Behaviors that are disadvantageous to the individual acting, but confer benefits to other members of its social group.	48
6572384402	invasive species	species that enter new ecosystems and multiply, harming native species and their habitats	49
6572388034	disturbance	A discrete event that disrupts an ecosystem or community. Examples: fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, and floods, deforestation, overgrazing, and plowing.	50
6615543765	succession	The gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is established	51
6615545508	biomass	A measure of the total dry mass of organisms within a particular region	52
6615549226	gross primary productivity	The amount of energy converted to chemical energy by photosynthesis per unit time in an ecosystem	53
6615555651	net primary productivity	The storage of chemical energy in an ecosystem available to consumers.	54
6615567265	Ecological efficiency	The proportion of consumed energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another.	55
6615568990	niche	Full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions	56
6615578425	species diversity	Variety of different kinds of organisms that make up a community.	57
6615579906	species richness	The number of different species in a community.	58
6615581985	species evenness	Distribution of species in the ecosystem	59
6615583446	fragmentation	division, separation into parts, disorganization	60
6615593642	biogeochemical cycle	Movement of a chemical through the biological and geological, or living and nonliving, parts of an ecosystem	61
6615596952	nitrogen fixation	Process of converting nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds that plants can absorb and use	62
6615600365	denitrification	Conversion of nitrates into nitrogen gas	63
6615601870	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.	64
6633756515	flux	The rate of movement of energy or of matter between two compartments of an ecosystem or the earth.	65