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258 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Ecology
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Study of the relationships between organisms and the environment.
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Evolution
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A process that changes populations of organisms over time. Since evolution ultimately involves changes in the frequency of heritable traits in a population, we can define evolution more precisely as a change in gene frequencies in a population.
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Biosphere
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The portions of earth that support life; also refers to the total global ecosystem.
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Stable Isotope Analysis
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4
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Ecosystem
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A biological community plus all of the abiotic factors influencing that community.
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Nutrients
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6
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Epiphytes
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A plant, such as an orchid, that grows on the surface of another plant but is not parasitic.
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Adaptation
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An evolutionary process that changes anatomy, physiology, or behavior, resulting in an increased ability of a population to live in a particular environment. The term is also applied to the anatomical, physiological, or behavioral characteristics produced by this process.
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Natural History
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9
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Biomes
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Biomes are distinguished primarily by their predominant plants and are associated with particular climates. They consist of distinctive plant formations such as the tropical rain forest biome and the desert biome.
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Coriolis Effect
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A phenomenon caused by the rotation of the earth, which produces a deflection of winds and water currents to the right of their direction of travel in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left of their direction of travel in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Climate Diagram
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A standardized form of representing average patterns of variation in temperature and precipitation that identifies several ecologically important climatic factors such as relatively moist periods and periods of drought.
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Organic Horizon (O Horizon)
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3
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A Horizon
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A biologically active soil layer consisting of a mixture of mineral materials, such as clay, silt, and sand, as well as organic material, derived from the overlying O horizon; generally characterized by leaching.
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Sample Mean
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5
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B Horizon
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A subsoil in which materials leached from above, generally from the A horizon, accumulate. May be rich in clay , organic matter, iron, and other materials.
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C Horizon
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A soil layer composed of largely unaltered parent material, little affected by biological activity.
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Tropical Rain Forest
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8
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Mycorrhizae
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9
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Tropical Dry Forest
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10
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Tropical Savanna
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1
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Desert
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An arid biome occupying approximately 20% of the land surface of the earth in which water loss due to evaporation and transpiration by plants exceeds precipitation during most of the year.
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Lithosols
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3
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Caliche
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A calcium carbonate-rich hardpan soil horizon; the extent of caliche formation can be used to determine the age of desert soils.
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Mediterranean Woodland and Shrub-land
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5
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Temperate Grasslands
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6
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Temperate Forest
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7
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Boreal Forest (Taiga)
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Northern forests that occupy the area south of arctic tundra. Though dominated by coniferous trees they also contain aspen and birch. Also called taiga.
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Tundra
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9
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Solifluction
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10
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Palmer Drought Severity Index
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1
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Drought
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An extended period of dry weather during which precipitation is reduced sufficiently to damage crops, impair the functioning of natural ecosystems, or cause water shortages for human populations.
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Hydrologic Cycle
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3
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Littoral (Intertidal) Zone
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4
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Neritic Zone
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5
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Oceanic Zone
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6
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Epipelagic Zone
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The warm, well-lighted surface layer of the oceans.
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Mesopelagic Zone
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8
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Bathypelagic Zone
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A zone within the deep ocean that extends from about 1,000 to 4,000m.
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Abyssal Zone
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A zone of the ocean depths between 4,000 and 6,000m.
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Hadal Zone
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1
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Benthic
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An adjective referring to the bottom of bodies of waters such as seas, lakes, or streams.
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Pelagic
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3
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Thermocline
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4
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Gyres
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A large-scale, circular oceanic current that moves to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Upwelling
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6
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Salinity
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7
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Atoll
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A circle of low islands and coral reefs encircling a lagoon, generally formed on a submerged mountain called a seamount.
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Barrier Reef
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A long, ridge-like reef that parallels the mainland and is separated from it by a deep lagoon.
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Epilimnion
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The warm, well-lighted surface layer of lakes.
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Estuary
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The lowermost part of a river, which is under the influence of the tides and is a mixture of seawater and freshwater.
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Eutrophic
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A term applied to lakes, and sometimes to other ecosystems, with high nutrient content and high biological production.
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Flood Pulse Concept
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A theory of river ecology identifying periodic flooding as an essential organizer of river ecosystem structure and functioning.
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Fringing Reef
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A coral reef that forms near the shore of an island or continent.
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Hypolimnion
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5
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Hyporheic Zone
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6
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Insectivore
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7
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Mangrove Forest
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8
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Metalimnion
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9
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Oligotrophic
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10
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Omnivore
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1
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Phreatic Zone
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2
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Phytoplankton
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3
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Piscivore
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4
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Riparian Zone
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5
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River Continuum Concept
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6
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Salt Marsh
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7
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Sample Median
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8
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Stream Order
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9
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Zonation of Species
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10
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Zooplankton
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1
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Agriculture
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The growing of crops and livestock for human consumption.
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Allele
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One of the alternative forms of the same gene.
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Allele Frequencies
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The proportions of alternative forms of a gene (alleles) in a population of organisms.
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Artificial Selection
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Selective breeding techniques used to develop or maintain desirable traits in domesticated plants and animals.
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Directional Selection
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A form of natural selection that favors an extreme phenotype over other phenotypes.
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Disruptive Selection
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A form of natural selection that favors two or more extreme phenotypes over the average phenotype in a population.
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Ecotype
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Locally adapted and genetically distinctive population within a species.
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Endemic
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A term applied to populations or species that are found in a particular locality, for instance, an island, and nowhere else.
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Genetic Drift
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Change in gene frequencies in a population due to chance or random events.
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Genetic Engineering
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Alteration of the genetic makeup of an organism through the introduction or deletion of genes; for example. the introduction of bacterial genes into crop plants to give them more resistance to insect pests.
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Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
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Organisms hose genetic makeup has been modified through the process of genetic engineering, generally through the deletion of genes or insertion of novel genes, often from different organisms.
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Hardy-Weinberg Principle
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5
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Heritability
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6
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Inbreeding
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7
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Loci
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8
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Microsatellite DNA
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9
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Natural Selection
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10
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Phenotypic Plasticity
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1
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Population Genetics
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2
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Range
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3
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Rhizome
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4
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Stabilizing Selection
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5
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Standard Deviation
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6
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Variance
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7
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Acclimation
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Physiological adjustment to change in a particular environmental factor, such as temperature or salinity.
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Conduction
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The movement of heat between objects in direct physical contact.
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Convection
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10
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Ectotherm
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An organism that relies mainly on external sources of energy for regulating body temperature.
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Endotherm
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An organism that relies mainly on internal sources of energy for regulating body temperature.
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Estivation
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A dormant state that some animals enter during the summer; involves a reduction of metabolic rate.
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Evaporation
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The process by which a liquid changes from liquid phase toa gas, as in the change from liquid water to water vapor.
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Hibernation
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5
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Homeotherm
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6
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Macroclimate
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7
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Metabolic Heat
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8
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Microclimate
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9
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Photosynthesis
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10
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Poikilotherm
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1
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Principle of Allocation
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2
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Psychrophilic
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3
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Radiation
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4
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Riparian Vegetation
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5
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Thermal Neutral Zone
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6
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Thernophilic
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7
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Torpor
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8
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Diffusion
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Transport of material due to the random movement of particles; net movement is from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration.
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Hyperosmotic
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10
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Hypoosmotic
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1
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Isosmotic
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2
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Matric Forces
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3
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Metabolic Water
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4
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Omsoregulation
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5
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Osmosis
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6
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Relative Humidity
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7
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Saturation Water Vapor Pressure
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8
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Stable Isotope Analysis
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9
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Vapor Pressure Deficit
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10
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Water Potential
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1
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Water Vapor Pressure
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2
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Archaea
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Prokaryotes distinguished from bacteria on the basis of structural, physiological, and other biological features.
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Autotroph
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An organism that can synthesize organic molecules using inorganic molecules and energy from either sunlight( photosynthetic autotrophs) or from inorganic molecules, such as hydrogen sulfide (chemosynthetic autotrophs)
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Batesian Mimicry
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Evolution of non-noxious species to resemble a poisonous or inedible species.
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Bundle Sheath
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Structure, which surrounds the leaf veins of C4 plants, made up of cells, where four-carbon acids produced during carbon fixation are broken down to three-carbon acids and CO2.
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C3 Photosynthesis
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The photosynthetic pathway used by most plants and all algae, in which the product of the initial reaction is phosphoglyceric acid, or PGA, a three carbon acid.
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C4 Photosynthesis
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In C4 photosynthesis, CO2 is fixed in mesophyll cells by combining it with phosphoenol pyruvate, or PEP, to produce a four-carbon acid. Plants using C4 photosynthesis are generally more drought tolerant than plants employing C3 photosynthesis.
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CAM Photosynthesis
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A photosynthetic pathway largely limited to succulent plants in arid and semiarid environments, in which carbon fixation takes place at night, when lower temperatures reduce the rate of water loss during CO2 uptake. The resulting four-carbon acids are stored until daylight, when they are broken down into pyruvate and CO2.
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Carnivore
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An organism that consumes flesh; approximately synonymous with predator.
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Chemosynthetic Autotroph
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Refers to autotrophs that use inorganic molecules as a source of carbon and energy.
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Detritivore
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Organisms that feed on nonliving organic matter, usually on the remains of plants.
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Functional Response
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An increase in animal feeding rate, which eventually levels off, that occurs in response to an increase in food availability.
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Herbivore
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4
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Heterotroph
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5
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Irradiance
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6
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I-sat
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7
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Mullerian Mimicry
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8
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Net Photosynthesis
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9
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Optimal Foraging Theory
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10
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Optimization
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1
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Organic Compounds
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2
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Photon Flux Density
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3
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Photorespiration
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4
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Photosynthetic Autotroph
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5
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Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)
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6
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P-max
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7
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Principle of Allocation
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8
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Prokaryote
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9
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Rhodopsin
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10
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Rubisco
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1
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Size-selective Predation
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2
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Trophic (feeding) Biology
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3
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Behavioral Ecology
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The study of the relationships between organisms and environment that are mediated by behavior.
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Caste
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A group of individuals that are physically distinctive and engage in specialized behavior within a social unit, such as a colony.
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Comparative Method
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A method for reconstructing evolutionary processes and mechanisms that involves comparisons of different species or populations in a way that attempts to isolate a particular variable or characteristic of interest, while randomizing the influence of confounding, or confusing, variables on the variable of interest across the species or populations in the study.
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Dependent Variable
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The variable traditionally plotted on the vertical, or "Y", axis of a scatter plot.
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Environmental Enrichment
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Increasing the complexity of the environment of captive animals to foster behaviors characteristic of the species in the wild; may be critical to the survival of captive-bred animals reintroduced to the natural environment.
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Eusociality
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Highly specialized sociality generally including (1) individuals of more than one generation living together, (2) cooperative care of young, and (3) division of individuals into sterile, or nonreproductive, and reproductive castes.
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Female
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Sex that produces larger, more energetically costly gametes.
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Fitness
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The number of offspring contributed by an individual relative to the number of offspring produced by other members of the population. Ultimately defined as the relative genetic contribution of individuals to future generations.
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Hamilton's Rule
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2
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Haplodiploidy
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3
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Hermaphrodite
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4
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Inclusive Fitness
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5
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Independent Variable
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6
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Intersexual Selection
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7
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Intrasexual Selection
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8
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Kin Selection
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9
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Lifetime Reproductive Success
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10
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Male
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1
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Natal Territory
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2
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Philopatry
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3
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Pistil
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4
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Regression Coefficient
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5
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Regression Line
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6
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Self-incompatibility
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7
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Sexual Selection
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8
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Sociality
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9
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Sociobiology
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10
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Stamen
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1
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Abundance
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The total number of individuals, or biomass, of a species present in a specified area.
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Clumped Distribution
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A pattern of distribution in a population in which individuals have a much higher probability of being found in some areas than in others; in other words, individuals are aggregated rather than dispersed.
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Density
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The number of individuals in a population per unit area.
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Distribution
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The geographic range of an organism or the spatial arrangement of individuals in a local population.
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Fundamental Niche
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The physical conditions under which a species might live, in the absence of interactions with other species.
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Large Scale
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7
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Niche
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8
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Pheromone
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9
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Population
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10
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Random Distribution
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1
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Realized Niche
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2
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Regular Distribution
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3
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Small Scale
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4
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Age Distribution
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The distribution of individuals among age groups in a population; often called age structure.
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Birthrate
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The number of new individuals produced in a population generally expressed as births per individual or per thousand individuals in the population.
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Clutch Size
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The number of eggs laid by a bird, reptile, amphibian, or fish. The term is also sometimes applied to the number of seeds produced by a plant.
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Cohort
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A group of individuals of the same age.
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Cohort Life Table
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A life table based on individuals born (or beginning life in some other way) at the same time.
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Colonization Cycle
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The situation in which stream populations are maintained through a dynamic interplay between downstream drift and upstream dispersal.
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Drift
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The active or passive downstream movement of stream organisms.
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Fecundity Schedule
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A table of birthrates for females of different ages in a population.
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Geometric Rate of Increase (gamma)
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The ratio of the population size at two points in time: λ = Nt+1/Nt, where Nt+1 is the size of the population at some future time and Nt is the size of the population at some earlier time.
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Life Table
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4
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Metapopulation
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5
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Net Reproductive Rate (R-0)
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6
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Numerical Response
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7
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Per Capita Rate of Increase (r)
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8
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Population Dynamics
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9
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Spate
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10
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Stable Age Distribution
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1
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Static Life Table
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2
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Subpopulation
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3
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Survivorship Curve
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4
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Type 1 Survivorship Curve
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5
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Type 2 Survivorship Curve
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6
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Type 3 Survivorship Curve
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7
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Carrying Capacity (K)
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The maximum population of a species that a particular ecosystem can sustain.
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Chi-squared (X^2)
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A statistic used to measure how much a sample distribution differs from a theoretical distribution.
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Density-Dependent
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Biotic factors in the environment, such as disease and competition, are often called density-dependent factors because their effects on populations may be related to, or depend upon, local population density.
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Density-Independent Factor
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Abiotic factors in the environment, such as floods and extreme temperature, are often called density-independent factors because the effects on populations may be independent of population density.
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Exponential Population Growth
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Population growth that produces a J-Shaped pattern of population increase. In exponential population growth, the change in numbers with time is the product of the per capita rate of increase, r, and population size, N.
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Geometric Population Growth
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Population growth in which generations do not overlap and in which successive generations differ in size by a constant ratio.
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Intrinsic Rate of Increase
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4
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Logistic Equation
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5
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Logistic Population Growth
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6
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Sigmoidal Population Growth Curve
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7
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Adhesion-Adapted
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A term applied to seeds with hooks, spines, or barbs that disperse by attaching to passing animals.
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Aril
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A fleshy covering of some seeds that attracts birds and other vertebrates, which act as dispersers of such seeds.
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Competitive Plant
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According to Grime (1977) competitive plants occupy environments where disturbance intensity is low and the intensity of stress is also low.
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Disturbance
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Grime (1977) defined disturbance from the perspective of plants as any process that limits plants by destroying pant biomass. Sousa (1984) also defined disturbance from an organismic perspective as any discrete, punctuated killing, displacement, or damaging of one or more individuals (or colonies) that directly or indirectly creates an opportunity for new individuals (or colonies) to become established. White and Pickett (1985) defined disturbance more broadly as any relatively discrete event that disrupts ecosystem, community, or population structure and changes resources, substrate availability, or the physical environment.
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Elaiosome
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A structure on the surface of some seeds generally containing oils attractive to ants, which act as dispersers of such seeds.
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Fecundity
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The number of eggs or seeds produced by an organism.
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Forb
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Herbaceous plants other than graminoids.
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Germination
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The sprouting of seeds.
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Gonadosomatic Index (GSI)
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An index of reproductive effort calculated as ovary weight divided by body weight and adjusted for the number of batches of offspring produced per year.
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Graminoid
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Grasses and grass-like plants, such as sedges and rushes.
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Growth Form
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The life-form of a plant is a combination of its structure and its growth dynamics. Plant life-forms include trees, vines, annual plants, sclerophyllous vegetation, grasses, and forbs.
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Iteroparity
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9
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K Selection
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10
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Life History
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1
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Phenology
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2
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Polymorphic Locus
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3
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r selection
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4
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Reproductive Effort
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5
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Ruderal
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6
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Scatterhoarded
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7
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Semelparity
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8
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Stress
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9
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Stress-Tolerant Plant
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10
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