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113 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Community |
An assemblage of species living close enough together for potential interaction. |
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Species Richness |
The amount of different species in a given location. |
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Abundance |
The amount of each type of species of different species. |
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Interspecific interactions |
Relationships between the species of a community. |
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Interspecific competition |
Competition for a certain resources when there is a limited. |
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Competitive Exclusion Principle |
Two species with similar needs for the same limiting resources cannot coexist in the same place. |
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Ecological Niche |
The sum total's of an organism's use of abiotic/ biotic resources in the environment. |
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Niche |
An organism's role in the environment. |
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Resource partitioning |
The differentiation of niches that enables two similar species to coexist in a community. |
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Character displacement |
The tendency for characteristics to be more divergent in sympatric populations of two species than in allopatric populations of the same two species. |
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Predation |
A predator eats prey. |
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Herbivore |
Animals that eat plants. |
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Parasitism |
Predators that live on/in a host and depend on the host for nutrition. |
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Behavioral Defense |
Actions such as fleeing, hiding, self defense (biting, stinging), noises (deep noises to sound bigger), and mobbing. |
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Camouflage (Cryptic Coloration) |
Organisms whose coloration allows them to blend into their environment. |
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Mechanical defenses |
Organisms that have characteristics such as spines. |
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Chemical defenses |
Organisms that have characteristics such as odors or toxins. |
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Aposematic coloration |
Coloration that indicates toxins through warning colors. |
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Mimicry |
When an organism resembles another species. |
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Batesian Mimicry |
A harmless species mimics a harmful one. |
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Müllerian Mimicry |
Two or more species resemble each other. |
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Endoparasite |
Parasites that live inside the host (tapeworm). |
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Ectoparasite |
Parasites that live on the surface of the host (ticks). |
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Parasitoidism |
A type of parasitism where the parasite eventually kills the host. |
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Pathogen |
Predators that are disease-causing organisms. |
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Mutualism |
Interactions in which two species benefit. |
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Commensalism |
Interactions where one species benefits, while the other one isn't affected. |
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Coevolution |
When one species evolves, it exerts selective pressure on the other to evolve to continue the interaction. |
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Food chain |
The transfer of food energy from its source in photosynthetic organisms through herbivores and carnivores. |
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Trophic levels |
The links or levels of a food chain. |
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Food web |
The relationship between every species in an environment, connected into many food chains. |
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Energetic hypothesis |
The length of the food chain is limited by the inefficiency of energy transfer along the chain. |
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Dynamic stability hypothesis |
Long food chains are less stable than short chains. |
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Dominant species |
Species in a community that have the highest abundance or highest biomass. |
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Keystone species |
A species that exert an important regulating effect on other species in a community. |
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Disturbance |
Events like fires, weather, or human activities that can alter communities. |
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Ecological succession |
The transition in species composition over ecological time. |
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Primary succession |
The initial phase in a lifeless area where soil has not yet formed, and the development of soil occurs through mosses and lichens. |
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Secondary succession |
An existing community has been cleared, but the soil is left intact. The plants come first, followed by the animals. |
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Ecosystem |
All organisms living in a community as well as all the abiotic factors with which they interact. |
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Autotrophs |
Primary producers that are usually photosynthetic. |
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Heterotrophs |
Organisms that are trophic levels above the autotrophs, and depend on the autotroph's photosynthetic output. |
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Primary consumers |
Herbivores that eat primary producers. |
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Secondary consumers |
Carnivores that eat herbivores. |
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Tertiary consumers |
Carnivores that eat the secondary consumers. |
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Detritivores |
Organisms that get their energy from non-living organic material, and help material cycling. |
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Secondary consumers |
The amount of chemical energy in consumer's food that is converted to their own new biomass. |
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Production efficiency |
The relationship between the energy used for growth v.s. the energy used for daily needs. |
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Trophic efficiency |
The percentage of production transferred from one trophic level to the next. |
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Pyramids of Production |
Depictions of the multiplicative loss of energy from a food chain. |
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Biomass pyramids |
Depictions of the ecological consequence of low trophic efficiencies. |
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Acid precipitation |
The releasing of sulfur oxides and nitrogen react with water in the atmosphere to produce sulfuric and nitric acid, which falls to the earth as acid precipitation. |
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Biological Magnification |
The increased concentration of toxins from one trophic level to the next. |
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Greenhouse effect |
The increased retention of solar radiation due to the thickening of the atmosphere. |
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Global Warming |
A doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere will cause a 2C increase in the average temperature of Earth. |
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Coriolis Effect |
The rotation of the Earth that causes air masses to move clockwise north of the equator, and counterclockwise south of the equator. |
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Permafrost |
Permanent ice that exists within 1 meter of the surface. |
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Gyres |
Large currents altered by the rotation of the Earth. |
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El Niño |
The reversing of the trade wind along South America, which occurs every 2-7 years. |
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Upwelling |
Trade winds push warm water away from the surface, allowing cold water to well from the depths. |
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Plankton |
Free drifting microscopic organisms. |
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Nekton |
Fish and other large organisms that feed on the plankton and each other. |
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Chemosynthesis |
Organisms that use H2S for energy instead of sunlight. |
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Thermal Stratification |
The layering effect due to temperature differences that occur in large temperate lakes. |
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Epilimnion |
Warmer water at the surface of lakes. |
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Hypolimnion |
Cooler water below the warm surface water in a lake. |
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Thermocline |
The separation that occurs due to abrupt changes in temperature in lakes. |
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Endangered species |
A species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. |
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Threatened species |
A species that is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. |
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Fragmentation |
Occurs when small "islands" of quality habitat are left after massive habitat destruction, which can lead to local extinction due to genetic drift and isolation. |
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Small population approach |
A method that studies the processes that can cause very small populations to finally become extinct. |
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Extinction Vortex |
Inbreeding and genetic drift contribute continually to a decline in species population until extinction. |
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Minimum viable population size |
A minimum size when a rare species population can sustain their members and survive. |
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Population Viability Analysis |
A prediction for the population's chances for survival. |
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Effective population size |
An equation that is based on the breeding potential of a population. |
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Declining population approach |
A method that focuses on threatened and endangered species, even if they are above their minimum viable size. |
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Edges (ecotones) |
Transitions between ecosystems, important sites of speciation. |
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Movement Corridors |
Narrow strips or series of small clumps of ecosystems, connecting isolated patches of habitat. |
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Biodiversity hotspots |
Small areas with exceptionally high concentrations of endemic species.qa |
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Restorative Ecology |
Application of ecological principles in an effort to return degraded ecosystems to conditions similar as possible to their natural, pregraded states. |
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Lysogenic cycle |
The stage where the viral DNA is incorporated into the host's genome through recombination. The DNA will replicate, and the daughter cells will contain the new viral DNA. |
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Lytic cycle |
The stage where the host cell is used to become a virus-producing factory, and the cell lyses to release the new viruses. |
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Prophage stage |
The stage where the viral genome is replicated into the host's DNA. |
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Temperate phages |
Phages that contain both a lytic and lysogenic cycle. |
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Virulent phages |
Phages that only contain the lytic cycle. |
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Vaccine |
A harmless variant or derivative of a pathogen that stimulates the immune system to mount defenses against a harmful pathogen. |
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Retrovirus |
A type of virus that can replicate RNA to create a DNA copy, and then enter the lysogenic phase. |
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Prion |
A mis-folded protein that becomes a chaperon protein, causing disease (mad cow disease). |
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Extremophiles |
Archae that live in extreme environments. |
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Bacillus |
Straight and rod-shaped bacteria. |
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Coccus |
Spherical shaped bacteria. |
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Spirillum |
Long helical shaped bacteria. |
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Spore |
Single celled bodies that grow into new bacterial individuals. |
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Gram Positive Bacteria |
Bacteria which have a simpler, thicker peptidoglycan walls that stain purple with Gram stain. |
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Gram Negative Bacteria |
Bacteria which have a complex, thin peptidoglycan walls that don't stain with Gram stain. |
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Pilli |
Bacterial surface appendages that are used to adhere to other surfaces and exchange genetic information. |
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Endospore |
Thick walls that prokaryotes build around their genome for protection. |
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Phototroph |
Species that use light energy. |
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Chemotrophs |
Species that obtain energy from chemicals in their surroundings. |
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Bacteria autotrophs |
Organisms that only need CO2 as a carbon source. |
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Bacteria Heterotrophs |
Organisms that require at least one organic nutrient as a carbon source. |
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Photoautotrophs |
Photosynthetic organisms that harness energy to drive the synthesis of organic compounds from carbon dioxide. |
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Chemoautotrophs |
Organisms that require CO2 for carbon source, but get energy from oxidizing chemicals. |
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Photoheterotrophs |
Organisms that use light to synthesize ATP, but obtain their carbon in organic form. |
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Chemoheterotrophs |
Organisms that must consume organic molecules for energy and carbon. |
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Obligate aerobe |
Organisms that require oxygen for cellular respiration. |
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Facultative aerobe |
Organisms that can use either oxygen or fermentation for cell respiration. |
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Obligate anaerobe |
Organisms that will die if exposed to oxygen. |
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Exotoxin |
Proteins that are secreted by the prokaryote which cause diseases such as cholera. |
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Endotoxin |
Compounds of the outer membrane of some gram-negative bacteria, which causes salmonella. |
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Extreme halophile |
Archae that live in highly saline environments. |
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Extreme Thermophile |
Archae that thrive in very hot environments. |
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Methanogens |
Archae that live in both extreme and moderate environments, but don't use oxygen. |