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10% Rule
The rule that in a food chain, only about 10% of the energy is transferred from one level to the next.
Abiotic
Related to factors of things that are separate and independent from living things; nonliving.
Abyssal Zone
The deepest region of the ocean, marked by extremely cold temperatures and low levels of dissolved oxygen, but high levels of nutrients because of the decaying plant and animal matter that sinks down from the zones above.
Ammonification
The production of ammonia or ammonium compounds in the decomposition of organic matter, especially through the action of bacteria.
Anaerobic
Without oxygen.
Aquatic Life Zones
Ecosystems in aqueous environments.
Assimilation
The process in which plants absorb ammonium (NH3), ammonia ions (NH4+), and nitrate ions (NO3) through their roots.
Autotrophs
Producers; organisms that produce their own organic compounds from inorganic compounds; they use energy from the Sun or from the oxidation of inorganic substances.
Barrier Islands
A long, relatively narrow island running parallel to the mainland, built up by the actions of waves and currents and serving to protect the coast form erosion by surf and tidal surges.
Bathyal Zone
The middle region of the ocean, characterized by the low density of organisms because it does not receive enough light to support photosynthesis.
Benthic Zone
The lowest layers of the river-, lake-, pond-, or streambed, characterized by very low temperatures and low oxygen levels.
Biodiversity
The number and variety of organisms found within a specified geographic region, or ecosystem, or the variability among living organisms, including the variability within and between species and within and between ecosystems.
Biogeochemical Cycles
The complex cycles through which nutrients such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and water move through the environment.
Biological Extinction
True extermination of a species; no individuals of this species are left on the planet.
Biomes
Ecosystems based on land.
Biotic
Living or derived from living things.
Chaparral
Scrub forest or shrubland; a biome characterized by moderate precipitation, shallow or infertile soil, small trees with large, hard evergreen leaves, and spiny shrubs.
Chemotrophs
Autotrophic bacteria that uses chemosynthesis to produce energy in anaerobic environments.
Climax Community
A stable, mature community in a successive series that has reached equilibrium after having evolved through stages and adapted to its environment.
Coastal Zone
Ocean zone consisting of the ocean water closest to land, usually defined as between the shore and the end of the continental shelf (the edge of the tectonic plate); characterized by abundant sunlight and oxygen.
Combusted
Burned
Commensualism
Symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is neither helped nor hurt.
Commercial (Economic) Extinction
A few individuals exist but the effort needed to locate and harvest them is not worth the expense.
Community
Formed from populations of different species occupying the same geographic area.
Competition
The relationship that exists when two individuals- of the same species or of different species- compete for resources in the same environment.
Competitive Exclusion
The process that occurs when two different species in a region compete and the better adapted species wins.
Coniferous Forest (Taiga)
A biome characterized by moderate precipitation, acidic soil, and coniferous trees.
Consumers
Organisms that must obtain food energy from secondary sources, for example, by eating plant or animal matter.
Coral Reef
An erosion-resistant marine ridge or mound consisting chiefly of compacted coral together with algal material and biochemically deposited magnesium and calcium carbonates.
Cultural Services
Use of nature for science and education, therapeutic and recreational uses, and spiritual and cultural uses.
Deciduous Forest
A biome characterized by adequate precipitation, rich soil with high organic soil content, and hardwood trees.
Decomposers
Organisms that consume dead plant and animal material- the process of decomposition returns nutrients to the environemnt.
Denitrification
The process by which specialized bacteria (mostly anaerobic bacteria) convert ammonia to NO3, NO2, and N2, which are released back into the atmosphere.
Deserts
Biomes characterized by extremely low precipitation, coarse sandy soil, and cactus and other low-water adapted plants.
Detritivores
Organisms that derive energy from consuming nonliving organic matter, such as dead animals or fallen leaves.
Ecological Extinction
The condition in which there are so few individuals of a species that the species can no longer perform its ecological function.
Ecological Succession
The transition in species composition of a biological community, often following ecological disturbance of the community; the establishment of a biological community in any area virtually barren of life.
Economic Extinction
A few individuals exist but the effort needed to locate and harvest them is not worth the expense.
Ecoregions
Smaller regions within ecosystems that share similar physical features.
Ecosystem
A system of interconnected elements; a community of living organisms and its environment.
Ecosystem Services
Benefits that humans receive from the ecosystems in nature when they function properly.
Ecotones
Regions where different biomes overlap.
Ecozones (Ecoregions)
Smaller regions within ecosystems that share similar physical features.
Edge Effect
The condition in which there is greater species diversity and biological density at ecosystem boundaries than there is in the heart of ecological communities.
Energy Pyramid
The structure obtained if we organize the amount of energy contained in producers and consumers in an ecosystem by kilocaolries per square meter, from largest to smallest.
Epilimnion
The uppermost and thus most oxygenated layer of freshwater.
Estuary
The part of the wide lower course of a river where its currents is met by the tides.
Euphotic Zone
The photic, upper layers of ocean waters; the euphotic zone is the warmest region of ocean water and has the highest levels of dissolved oxygen.
Eutrophication
Warm water becoming overly enriched with minerals and nutrients to the point that excessive growth of algae and other phytoplankton occurs (algal bloom).
Evaporation
Conversion of a liquid into a gas (vapor).
Evolution
Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals and resulting in the development of new species.
Evolutionary Fitness
The better-adaptedness of individual organisms for their environment that allows them to live and reproduce, ensuring that their genes are part of their population’s next generation.
Exchange Pool
A site where a nutrient sits for only a short period of time.
Extinction
The death of an entire species; permanent inactivity.
Food Chain
A succession of organisms in an ecological community that constitutes a continuation of food energy from one organism to another as each consumes a lower member and, in turn, is preyed upon by a higher member.
Food Web
A complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.
Fundamental Niche
The niche a species would have if there were no competition.
Gause’s Principle
States that no two species can occupy the same niche at the same times, and that the species that is less fit to live in the environment will either relocate, die out, or occupy a smaller niche.
Gene Pool
The total genetic makeup of a population.
Generalist
A species that has a broad niche, is highly adaptable, and can live in varied habitats.
Genetic Drift
The random fluctuations in the frequency of the appearance of a gene in a small, isolated population, presumably owing to chance, rather than natural selection.
Grasslands
A biome characterized by moderate precipitation, rich soil, and sod-forming grasses.
Gross Primary Productivity
The amount of sugar that the plants produce in photosynthesis.
Groundwater
Any water that comes from below the ground (from wells or from aquifers).
Habitat
The area or environment where an organism or ecological community normally lives or occurs.
Habitat Fragmentation
When the size of an organism’s natural habitat is reduced, or when development occurs that isolates a habitat or part of one.
Heterotroph
An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition.
Hypolimnion
The lower, colder, and denser layer of freshwater.
Indicator Species
Species that are used as a standard to evaluate the health of an ecosystem.
Indigenous Species
Species that originate and live, or occur naturally, in an area or environment.
Interspecific Competition
Competition between individuals of different species.
Intraspecific Competition
Competition between individuals of the same species.
Invasive Species
Introduced, non-native species.
Keystone Species
A species whose very presence contributes to an ecosystem’s diversity and whose extinction would consequently lead to the extinction of other forms of life.
Law of Conservation of Matter
States that matter can neither be created nor destroyed.
Law of the Minimum
States that living organisms will continue to live, consuming available materials until the supply of these materials is exhausted.
Law of Tolerance
Describes the degree to which living organisms are capable of tolerating changes in their environment.
Limiting Factor
Any factor that controls a population’s growth.Limnet
Limnetic Zone
The surface of open ocean water; the region that extends to the depth that sunlight can penetrate.
Littoral Zone
Ocean zone beginning with the very shallow water at the shoreline and extending to the depth at which rooted plants stop growing.
Macroevolution
Large-scale patterns of evolution within biological organisms over long periods of time.
Mangrove Swamps
Coastal wetlands (areas of land covered in fresh water, salt water, or a combination of both) found in tropical and subtropical regions.
Microevolution
Small-scale evolutionary changes over relatively short period of time.
Mutualism
A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.
Natural Selection
The process by which, according to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characteristics in increasing numbers to succeeding generations, while those less adapted tend to be eliminated.
Net Primary Productivity (NPP)
The amount of energy that plants pass on to the community of herbivores in an ecosystem; the amount of sugar that the plants produce in photosynthesis minus the amount of energy plants need for growth, maintenance, repair, and reproduction.
Niche
The total sum of a species’ use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.
Nitrification
The process in which soil bacteria convert ammonium (NH4+) to a form that can be used by plants: nitrate or NO3-.
Nitrogen Fixation
The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into compounds, such as ammonia, by naturalP agencies or various industrial processes.
Parasitism
A symbiotic relationship in which one member is helped by the association and the other is harmed.
Phosphorus Cycle
The cycle through which phosphorus moves through the environment in different forms.
Photosynthesis
The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source; most forms of photosynthesis release oxygen as a byproduct.
Phylogenetic Tree
A branching diagram used to model evolution and describe the evolutionary relationships between species.
Pioneer Species
The organisms that take root and adapt to the conditions of a habitat in the first stages of ecological succession.Populat
Population
A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area.Precipit
Precipitation
Water that condenses in the atmosphere and falls to the Earth’s surface in liquid or solid form.
Predation
When one species feeds on another.
Predator
A species that feeds on another species.
Prey
A species that’s subject to predation by another species.
Primary Consumers
Organisms that consume producers (plants and algae).
