APES things that I need to relearn for the test

Just some terms and words that I need to learn and understand for my test on 10/7/26

Ecological Succession

The species in a community change over time, along with the community’s structure.

Primary succession

Where a community develops over a long period from bare rock to grasses, shrubs and eventually a mature forest.

Second succession

Starts with soil after some kind of disturbance that has happened in that area.

Pioneer Species

The first organisms to colonize there.

Lichens

a mix of bacteria like fungi and algae

Facilitation

A process where early species make the environment more suitable for later species.

Climax community

A stable but late stage of succession for an environment

Total biomass

starts low and usually increases as larger plants store more organic matter

Species richness

Often rises at first because soil and habitat complexity increase.

Net Primary productivity

starts low, rises as producers establish, and may later level off or decline as respiration increases

Keystone species

Has a very large effect on community structure compared with its abundance or biomass

Indicator species

Reveals environmental conditions or ecosystem quality through its presence, absence, abundance, condition or chemical makeup

Natural disruption

A nonhuman event or process that changes abiotic conditions, habitat, population size, species composition, or community structure.

Intensity

Severity at one location

Extent

How much area is affected

Duration

How long the disturbance lasts

Frequency

How often it happens

Timing

The season of life stages when it hits

Rate of change

How fast conditions shift

Disturbance history

whether the ecosystem is adapted to that kind of event

Disturbance regime

The usual pattern of disturbance type, frequency, intensity, extent, and season in an ecosystem

Wildfire

Removes vegetation and organic matter

Floods

Drown organisms, erode banks, move sediment, alter aquatic habitat

Drought

Lowers water availability, primary productivity, and dissolved oxygen

Hurricanes and severe storms

Cause wind damage, flooding, storm surge, saltwater intrusion, and erosion

Volcanic eruptions

Lava, ash, pyroclastic material, and mudflows destroy or bury habitat

Earthquakes and tsunamis

Cause ground displacement, landslides, groundwater changes, and shoreline change

Patchy

Uneven disturbance effects that can lead to a mix of big and small damages

Resistance

The ability to stay mostly unchanged during a disturbance

Resilience

The ability, or speed of recovery after change

Biodiversity

The variety of living organisms in an area and often drops when disturbance is very severe or very frequent.

Intermediate disturbance hypothesis

The idea that biodiversity may be at its highest at moderate levels of disturbance

Periodic processes

regular and predictable

Episodic processes

distinct events

Random processes

have absolutely no predictable schedule

Recolonization

The return of organisms to an area after disturbance

niche

A species role in an ecosystem

Extinction vortex

A downward spiral where small populations become even less likely to survive.

Endangered species act

A U.S law that protects endangered species and their critical habitat

CITES

An international agreement that regulates wildlife trade across borders.

Captive breeding

The breeding of threatened species in controlled settings to increase population size

Ex situ

Conservation carried out outside a species natural habitat

Extirpation

Local extinction

Naturalized species

A non-native species that survives and reproduces regularly in its new habitat

Biological invasion

The process by which a species is transported, introduced, established and spread into a new ecosystem

Ballast Water

Water stored in ships that can carry aquatic organisms from one region to another.

Tropic Cascade

A chain reaction in a food web caused by changes at one feeding level

Invasive Species

A non-native species that established and spreads in a new area and threatens native species

Endangered Species

A species that face a very high risk of extinction