AP BIO: Ecology Review Flashcards

7593485047	Population	a group of organisms of the same species populating a given area	0
7593485048	Community	a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other	1
7593485049	ecosystem	a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment	2
7593485050	biosphere	the regions of the surface and atmosphere of the Earth (or other planet) where living organisms exist	3
7593485051	habitat	the type of environment in which an organism or group normally lives or occurs	4
7593485052	niche	the status or role of an organism within its environment and community (affecting its survival as a species)	5
7593485053	exponential growth	=(r max)N	6
7593485054	population density	number of individuals per unit area	7
7593485055	dispersion	The pattern of distribution of organisms in a population	8
7593485056	age structure	proportion of people in different age groups in a population	9
7593485057	survivorship curves	They show the likelihood of survival at different ages throughout the lifetime of the organism.	10
7593485058	type I	Survivorship curve in which the likelihood of dying is small until late in life, when mortality increases rapidly (such as Humans or elephants).	11
7593485059	type II	Survivorship curve in which there is an equal likelihood of dying throughout life (such as birds or small mammals).	12
7593485060	type III	Survivorship curve in which organisms are most likely to die when young; the few survivors tend to live until old age (such as oysters, salmon, or insects).	13
7593485061	logistic growth	=rmax x N(K-N/K)	14
7593485062	carrying capacity	largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support	15
7593485063	limiting factors	Conditions in the environment that put limits on where an organism can live	16
7593485064	density-dependent factors	limiting factors (such as competition, predation, parasitism, and disease) that are affected by the number of individuals in a given area	17
7593485065	density-independent factors	limiting factor that affects all populations in similar ways, regardless of population size	18
7593485066	Gross Productivity	Total amount of organic compounds made by primary producers	19
7593485067	Net Productivity	the amount of organic compounds available to an ecosystem after the primary producers use what they need to survive	20
7593485068	intrinsic growth rate	the mean rate of growth of a population calculated by birth minus death rates when the population is free of competition with other species and from other factors that affect growth.	21
7593485069	exponential growth	growth pattern in which the individuals in a population reproduce at a constant rate	22
7593485070	logistic growth	growth pattern in which a population's growth rate slows or stops following a period of exponential growth	23
7593485071	logistic growth curve	a period of exponential growth; population approaches its environmental limits, growth slows and finally stabilizes, fluctuating around the carrying capacity of the environment	24
7593485072	population cycles	some populations have boom and bust cycles. Large growth, and then a lot of death, and then growth.	25
7593485073	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.	26
7593485074	invasive species	Any nonnative species that significantly modifies or disrupts the ecosystems it colonizes	27
7593485075	k-selected species	Species that produce a few, often fairly large offspring but invest a great deal of time and energy to ensure that most of those offspring reach reproductive age.	28
7593485076	competitive exclusion principle	ecological rule that states that no two species can occupy the same exact niche in the same habitat at the same time	29
7593485077	resource partitioning	in a biological community various populations sharing environmental resources through specialization thereby reducing direct competition	30
7593485079	realized niche	the range of resources and conditions a species actually uses or can tolerate at optimal efficiency; smaller than fundamental niche	31
7593485081	predation	the act of preying by a predator who kills and eats the prey	32
7593485083	parasite	an animal or plant that lives in or on a host (another animal or plant)	33
7593485085	herbivore	any animal that feeds chiefly on grass and other plants	34
7593485089	symbiosis	the relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent	35
7593485090	mutualism	the relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent	36
7593485091	commensalism	the relation between two different kinds of organisms when one receives benefits from the other without damaging it	37
7593485092	parasitism	the relation between two different kinds of organisms in which one receives benefits from the other by causing damage to it (usually not fatal damage)	38
7593485094	cryptic coloration	the act of concealing the identity of something by modifying its appearance	39
7593485095	aposematic coloration	The bright coloration of animals with effective physical or chemical defenses that acts as a warning to predators	40
7593485096	mimicry	the resemblance of an animal species to another species or to natural objects	41
7593485097	mullerian mimicry	evolution of two species, both of which are unpalatable and, have poisonous stingers or some other defense mechanism, to resemble each other	42
7593485098	batesian mimicry	A type of mimicry in which a harmless species looks like a species that is poisonous or otherwise harmful to predators.	43
7593485099	ecological 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	44
7593485100	climax community	a relatively stable long-lasting community reached in a successional series; usually determined by climax and soil type	45
7593485101	pioneer species	in primary succession on a terrestrial site, the plants, lichens, and microbes that first colonize the site	46
7593485102	primary succession	an ecological succession that begins in a an area where no biotic community previously existed	47
7593485103	secondary succession	succession on a site where an existing community has been disrupted	48
7593485104	trophic levels	The hierarchical levels of the food chain through which energy flows from primary producers to primary consumers, secondary consumers and so on.	49
7593485105	primary producers	An autotroph, usually a photosynthetic organism. Collectively, autotrophs make up the trophic level of an ecosystem that ultimately supports all other levels.	50
7593485106	primary consumers	animals that feed on producers; ex. herbivores	51
7593485107	secondary consumers	carnivores that eat herbivores	52
7593485109	detritivores	organisms that feed on the detritus and decomposing organic material of living organisms	53
7593485110	decomposers	organisms that break down wastes and dead organisms and return raw materials to the environment	54
7593485111	ecological pyramids	show the relative amount of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a given food chain or food web	55
7593485112	ecological efficiency	Percentage of energy transferred from one trophic level to another in a food chain or web (10%)	56
7593485113	food chain	a diagram of a community of organisms where each member is eaten in turn by another member	57
7593485114	food web	a diagram that shows the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem	58
7593485141	algal blooms	a vast increase in the concentration of algae and other photosynthetic protists due to increased nutrients in the water.	59
7593485142	eutrophication	process by which a body of water becomes too rich in dissolved nutrients, leading to plant growth that depletes oxygen	60