Science Topic 1 and 2 Review: Biodiversity, Adaptations, Niches, and Symbiosis

Vocabulary flashcards covering key ecological terms from Science Topics 1 and 2, including biodiversity, species variation, natural selection, adaptations, niches, competition, and symbiotic interactions.

Biodiversity

The variety of organisms living in a specific environment, encompassing differences between species, individuals within the same species, and the variety of habitats. It builds resilient food webs and stabilizes ecosystems, such as an ecosystem with $20$ plant species or high-biodiversity regions like the Amazon.

Predation

A biotic interaction where one organism hunts and eats another organism.

Species

A group of organisms that can reproduce with each other and produce fertile offspring, as well as hybrids.

Intraspecific Variations

Differences between individuals belonging to the same species.

Interspecific Variations

Differences in physical characteristics, diet, behavior, habitat, and genetics between $2$ different species.

Speciation

The process where $1$ species splits into $2$ or more species after a group is separated by behavioral or geographical barriers, develops unique adaptations, and can no longer reproduce when coming back together.

Galápagos Finches

A group of island bird species whose ancestral population split into smaller groups across different habitats and adapted specialized beak shapes, sizes, and strengths to eat specific food sources such as hard seeds or insects.

Natural selection

The process where individuals best suited to survive during times of limited resources survive and pass down their genetics to their offspring.

Structural Adaptations

Physical features that help an organism survive, such as the beaks of Galápagos finches or polar bear fur.

Behavioural Adaptations

Ways of acting that help an organism survive, including migration, hibernation, and nocturnal behaviour.

Niche

An organism's job or role in a given environment, determined by its habitat, temperature, altitude, diet, place in the food web, reproduction, and physical/biological conditions. No $2$ species can share the exact same niche.

Intraspecific Competition

Competition for limited resources between members of the same species, which drives natural selection because all individuals require the same resources.

Interspecific Competition

Competition occurring between different species for broader limited resources in an environment.

Broad Niche (Generalists)

An ecological role where an organism is not dependent on a single resource and can survive in many environments, making it better suited to change but subject to more competition and less specialization (e.g., raccoons, coyotes, rats, cockroaches).

Narrow Niche (Specialists)

An ecological role where an organism is highly adapted to specific environments and resources, using them effectively with less competition, but making the organism vulnerable to environmental, habitat, or resource changes (e.g., koala, giant panda).

Symbiotic Relationships

Close, long-term biological interactions between $2$ organisms or species.

Mutualism

A symbiotic relationship represented as $(+,+)$ where both organisms benefit, such as bees and flowers or ants and fungus.

Paratism

A symbiotic relationship represented as $(+,-)$ where one organism benefits and the other is harmed, such as ticks on a dog or tapeworms and leeches in humans.

Commensalism

A symbiotic relationship represented as $(+,0)$ where one organism benefits while the other is unharmed or unaffected, such as remoras with sharks or barnacles on a whale.