AP Bio Vocab Unit 8

Flashcards for vocabulary review of lecture notes.

Autotroph

Organisms that produce their own food using energy from sunlight or chemical sources.

Behavior

The way an organism acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus.

Biodiversity

The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

Biogeochemical cycles

The pathways by which chemical substances or elements move through biotic and abiotic compartments of Earth.

Birth rate (B)

The number of live births per thousand of population per year.

Camouflage

Adaptation that allows animals to blend in with certain backgrounds.

Carrying capacity (K)

The maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other necessities available.

Chemical defenses

Use of chemical compounds by plants and animals to deter herbivores and predators.

Chemosynthesis

The biological conversion of one or more carbon-containing molecules and nutrients into organic matter using the oxidation of inorganic compounds (e.g. hydrogen gas, hydrogen sulfide) or methane as a source of energy.

CHIPPO (or HIPPCO)

Acronym for Habitat Destruction, Invasive Species, Pollution, Population Growth, Overexploitation - the main threats to biodiversity.

CHNOPS

Acronym for the six most abundant elements in living organisms: Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur.

Climate change

A long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates.

Coloration

The appearance of an animal that may be used as camouflage, warning, or to attract mates.

Commensalism (symbiosis +/0)

A symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped.

Community

An interacting group of various species in a common location.

Competition (-/-)

A symbiotic relationship where two or more species are using the same limited resource; results in lower fitness of both.

Continental drift

The movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other, thus appearing to 'drift' across the ocean bed.

Cooperation (+/+)

Form of a social behavior where individuals are working together, all benefiting from that action.

Cooperative behavior

Behavior that tends to increase the fitness of the individual and the survival of the population.

Courtship behavior

The behavior patterns that precede mating and fertilization in animals.

Death rate (D)

The number of deaths per thousand of population per year.

Deforestation

The clearing of forested areas.

Dehydration synthesis

A chemical reaction in which two molecules are bonded together with the removal of a water molecule.

Density-dependent limiting factors

Limiting factors where the effect on the population increases as the population density increases.

Density-independent limiting factors

Limiting factors where the effect on the population is not related to the population density.

Disease

A disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.

Diurnal

Active during the daytime.

Ecological relationships

The interrelationships of organisms with each other and with their environment.

Ecosystem

A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Ecosystem diversity

The variation in ecosystems within a geographic location and its overall impact on human existence and the environment.

El Niño/La Niña

Irregular but cyclical variation in winds and sea surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, affecting much of the tropics and subtropics.

Endangered species

Species at risk of extinction because of a dramatic decrease in its population.

Endotherm

An animal that is dependent on or capable of the internal generation of heat; a warm-blooded animal.

Energy availability

The amount of energy available to an organism or ecosystem.

Exotherm

An organism that relies on external sources of heat energy to regulate its body temperature.

Exponential growth

Growth whose rate becomes ever more rapid in proportion to the growing total number or size.

Fight-or-flight

A physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival.

Foraging

The act of searching for and exploiting food resources.

Genetic diversity

The total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species.

Growth rate

The rate at which a population increases (or decreases) in size per unit of time.

Habitat loss

The destruction of habitats that results from human activities.

Heterotroph

An organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter.

Hormones

A regulatory substance produced in an organism and transported in tissue fluids such as blood or sap to stimulate specific cells or tissues into action.

Hydrolysis

The chemical breakdown of a compound due to reaction with water.

Innate behavior

Behaviors that are genetically programmed.

Invasive species

An organism that is not native to a particular region and causes ecological or economic harm.

J-growth curve (exponential)

A growth curve that displays exponential growth.

Joule

A unit of energy.

Keystone species

A species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.

Kinesis

A non-directional, locomotor response to a stimulus.

Law of Conservation of Energy

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can be altered from one form to another.

Law of Conservation of Mass

Mass cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system.

Learned behavior

A behavior that has been acquired from experience.

Limiting factors

Environmental conditions that limit the growth, abundance, or distribution of an organism or a population of organisms in an ecosystem.

Logistic growth

Occurs when the growth rate decreases as the population reaches carrying capacity.

Mating behavior

Behavior exhibited during courtship or copulation.

Maximum per capita growth rate (rmax)

The intrinsic growth rate of a population.

Metabolic rate

The rate at which the body uses energy.

Meteor impact

The collision of a meteoroid with a larger body, such as a planet or moon.

Mimicry

The close external resemblance of an animal or plant to another animal, plant, or inanimate object.

Monoculture

he cultivation of a single crop in a given area.

Mutualism (symbiosis +/+)

A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the interaction.

Natural selection

The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Net energy gain

The difference between energy invested and energy produced.

Net energy loss

More energy is invested than produced.

Niche partitioning

The process by which natural selection drives competing species into different patterns of resource use or different niches.

Nocturnal

Active during the night.

Pack behavior

A social behavior in which a group of animals live and hunt together.

Parasitism (symbiosis +/-)

A symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other is harmed.

Parent/Offspring interactions

Behaviors between parents and their offspring, usually focused on offspring survival and reproductive success.

Photoperiodism

The physiological reaction of organisms to the length of day or night.

Photosynthesis

The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water.

Phototropism

The orientation of a plant or other organism in response to light, either towards the source of light (positive phototropism) or away from it (negative phototropism).

Physical defenses

Physical features (such as thorns on plants, or the quills of a porcupine) that help protect an organism.

Physiology

Branch of biology that deals with the normal functions of living organisms and their parts.

Phytoplankton

Microscopic plants responsible for the majority of photosynthesis that occurs on Earth.

Population

A group of individuals of the same species living and interbreeding within a given area.

Population density

A measurement of population size per unit area.

Population growth/change (ΔN)

The change in the size of a population over a specific period.

Population size (N)

The number of individual organisms in a population.

Predation (+/-)

A symbiotic relationship where one organism (the predator) kills and eats another organism (the prey).

Predator warning

A signal from a predator to its prey to indicate possible interactions in the future.

Predator/prey relationship

The relationship between two species where one (the predator) hunts and eats the other (the prey).

Primary consumer

An organism that feeds on primary producers; an herbivore.

Primary producer

An autotrophic organism producing complex organic matter, using photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.

Primary productivity

The rate at which energy is converted by photosynthetic and chemosynthetic autotrophs to organic substances.

Quaternary consumer

A carnivore that preys on other carnivores.

Reproductive strategies

The behaviors or behavioral systems involved in the process of reproduction.

Resource availability

The amount of resources (food, water, shelter, etc.) that are available to a population.

S-growth curve (logistic)

The population growth pattern where the rate of growth decreases as the population reaches carrying capacity.

SA:V ratio

The ratio of a cell's surface area to its volume.

Secondary consumer

An organism that eats primary consumers.

Signals

A behavior that causes a change in another animal's behavior.

Simpson's Diversity Index (SDI)

A measure of biodiversity that takes into account species richness and species evenness.

Species diversity

The number of different species that are represented in a given community.

Species evenness

How close in numbers each species in an environment is.

Species richness

The number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region.

Symbiosis

Interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both.

Taxis

A directional response to a stimulus.

Territorial marking

The act of an animal 'marking' its territory with urine, feces, or scent gland secretions.