APES Unit 2

save my soul

Indicator Species

Species whose tolerance limits can be used to judge the environmental conditions.

Keystone Species

A species whose impact on its community or ecosystem are much larger and more influential than would be expected from its population size.

Pioneer Species

In primary succession on a terrestrial site; the plants lichens, and microbes that first colonize the site.

Foundation Species

Species that can create and enhance habitats that can benefit other species in a community.

Parasitism

Symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives in or on another organism and harms it.

Mutualism

Symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship.

Commensalism

Symbiotic relationship in which one member of the association benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.

CITES

An international agreement between governments to ensure that international trade with wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Primary Succession

Land that is bared of soil is colonized by living organisms where none lived before.

Secondary Succession

When an existing community is disturbed, a new one develops from the biological legacy of the old community.

Benthos

Bottom dwellers that either burrow, anchor, or move along the floor. Some species filter feed.

Decomposers

bacteria that break down organic compounds and return nutrients to producers.

Estuary

Partially enclosed area of coastal water where seawater mixes with fresh water.

Intertidal Zones

The area of the shoreline between low and high tides and have many niches.

Biomes

A major biotic community characterized by the dominant forms of plant life and prevailing climate.

Boreal forest

Northern coniferous forest where trees are adapted to harsh winter conditions (between 45-60 degrees).

Chaparral

Characterized by hot dry summers and cool moist winters, dominated by a dense growth of mostly small-leaved evergreen shrubs and are prone to wildfires.

Desert

Areas characterized by less than 25 cm of precipitation annually and where evaporation exceeds precipitation.

Savannas

A plain characterized by coarse grasses and scattered tree growth. Especially on the margins of the tropics where the rainfall is seasonal.

Temperate Deciduous Forest

Biome with defined seasons and regular precipitation, characterized by the presence of broad-leaf deciduous leaved trees.

Tundra

A vast treeless plain in the arctic regions between the ice cap and the tree line.

Polar desert

A desert at the poles with ice but little precipitation.

Taiga

Just south of the tundra; characterized by a northern coniferous forest, mineral-poor topsoil, boreal forest, and evergreen coniferous forest.

Temperate Grassland

Found in temperate regions with a semiarid climate, dominated by grass species.

Tropical Rain Forest

Receives large amounts of precipitation, characterized by high levels of biodiversity, rapid nutrient cycling and nutrient-poor soil

Abiotic Factors

Non Living components such as water, air nutrients, rocks, heat, and solar energy.

Biotic Factors

Living and once living biological components such as plants, animals, and microbes.

Range of Tolerance

Each population has a range of tolerance to variations in its physical and chemical environment.

Limiting Factors

Too much or too little of any factors can limit the growth of a population in an ecosystem even if all other factors are at the optimum range of tolerance for the species.

Producers

Autotrophs, make their own food

Autotrophs

An organism that produces its own food from inorganic compounds and a source of energy.

Photosynthesis

6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy --> C6H12O6 + 6O2

Chemosynthesis

Synthesis of organic compounds by energy derived from chemical reactions.

Consumers

Heterotrophs, gain nutrients by feeding on other organisms or their remains.

Heterotrophs

Organisms that cannot make their own food from inorganic chemicals and therefore live by feeding on other organisms.

Detritivores

Feeds on the wastes or dead bodies of other organisms, called detritus. Examples include mites, earthworms, catfish, and vultures.

Aerobic Respiration/Fermentation

Uses oxygen to convert nutrients back to carbon dioxide and water.

Anaerobic Respiration

Done in absence of oxygen and produces methane, alcohol, vinegar, hydrogen sulfide, etc…

Ecological Efficiency

The percentage of usable chemical energy transferred as biomass from one trophic level to the next.

Gross Primary Productivity

The rate at which an ecosystem's producers convert solar energy into chemical energy as biomass found in their tissues.

Net Primary Productivity

The rate at which producers use photosynthesis to produce and store chemical energy minus the rate at which they use some of this stored chemical energy through aerobic respiration.

HIPPO

Habitat destruction, invasive species, population growth, pollution, overharvesting

Coevolution

The process in which a change in the gene pool of one species may lead to the change of the gene pool of another.

Ecological Niche

Particular area within a habitat occupied by an organism and includes the function of that organism within an ecological community.

Fundamental Niche

The full potential range of the physical, chemical, and biological factors a species can use if there is no competition from other species.

Realized Niche

Parts of the fundamental niche of a species that are actually used by that species.

Specialist Species

Species with a narrow ecological niche; may be able to live only in a certain habitat, and tolerate a narrow range of climatic and other environmental conditions.

Generalist Species

Species with a broad ecological niche; they can live in many different habitats, eat a variety of foods, and tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions.

Speciation

Geographic Isolation

Separation of populations of a species for long periods of time into different areas.

Reproductive Isolation

Long-term geographic separation of members of a particular sexually reproducing species.

Endemic Species

Species that are native to and found only within a limited area.

Entropy

A thermodynamic quantity representing the amount of energy in a system that is no longer available for doing mechanical work.

First Law of Thermodynamics

The total energy of an isolated system is constant despite internal changes, energy is conserved and is neither created nor destroyed under normal conditions.

Second Law of Thermodynamics

Mechanical work can be derived from a body only when that body interacts with another at a lower temperature. With each successive energy transfer in a system, less energy is available to do work.