APES Chapter 4 Vocab

artificial selection

humans select the desired traits for an organism with the help of selective breeding

background extinction rate

a normal extinction cause by environmental changes

ecological niche

the or a species in an ecosystem

ecotone

the transition between two biome

edge effect

the change of a community structure at the boundary of two habitats

endemic species

species found in only one area

eukaryotic cell

a cell surrounded by a membrane

functional diversity

the biochemical flow of energy

generalist species

a species that live anywhere, eat anything, and tolerate a lot of environments

genetic engineering

inserting an alien gene into an organism

geographic isolation

the physical separation of a species from their community

indicator species

a decreasing species serves as a warning sign for an ecosystem

native species

species that thrive In certain ecosystems

nonnative species

species that migrated into an ecosystem

phylogenetic tree

a diagram showing the relationship between different species

prokaryotic cells

cell with no nucleus

specialists species

can live in one type of species and have a very narrow diet

speciation

species from different environments mating

species richness

a wide variety of species in an ecosystem