Ecology Chapter 12: Population Distribution, Test 3 Info

Fundamental niche

Range of abiotic conditions in which a species can exist

Realized niche

Range of abiotic and biotic conditions in which a species does persist

Geographical range

Total area covered by a population

Metapopulation

Small patches of geographic range caused by small scale variation in the environment

Ecological niche modelling

Process of determining the suitable habitat for a species

Ecological envelope

Range of ecological conditions that are predicted to be suitable for a species

Effects of global warming

Temperature changes can cause a shift in the geographic range of species

Endemic

Species that live in a single, often isolated location

Cosmopolitan

Species that have very large geographic ranges that can span multiple continents

Abundance

Total number of individuals in a population; exists within a defined area

Dispersion

Spacing of individuals with respect to one another

Clustered dispersion

Individuals are aggregated into groups

Uniform dispersion

Individuals maintain a uniform distance between themselves and their neighbors; common in territorial species

Random dispersion

Location of each individual is independent of other individuals

Dispersal

Movement of individuals from one area to another

Natal dispersal

Movement of an individual from where it hatched to its first breeding location

Census

Count of every individual in a population

Line-transect

Count of individuals along a line between two points

Area and volume based surveys

Surveys that define a sub-sample of an area or volume, then count all the individuals in the sub-sample in order to get a representative number of abundance or density for the entire population