ALL APES VOCAB TERMS

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).