Campbell Biology: Ecology, Phylogeny, and Speciation

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core concepts of ecology, biological hierarchy, phylogenetics, systematics, and speciation from Campbell Biology Chapters 24, 26, and 52.

Ecology

The scientific study of the interactions between organisms and the living and nonliving components of their environment.

Organismal Ecology

The subdiscipline of ecology concerned with how an organism's structure, physiology, and behavior meet the challenges posed by its environment.

Population

A group of individuals of the same species living in a specified area.

Population Ecology

The study of factors affecting population size and why and how it changes over time.

Community

A group of populations of different species living together in an area.

Community Ecology

The examination of how interspecific interactions affect community structure and organization.

Ecosystem

The community of organisms in an area along with the physical and chemical factors with which they interact.

Ecosystem Ecology

The study of ecology that emphasizes energy flow and chemical cycling between organisms and their environment.

Landscape (or Seascape)

A mosaic of connected ecosystems.

Landscape Ecology

The study focused on the exchanges of energy, materials, and organisms across multiple ecosystems.

Biosphere

The global ecosystem, representing the sum of all the planet's ecosystems and landscapes.

Global Ecology

The examination of how regional exchanges of energy and materials influence the function and distribution of organisms across the biosphere.

Paedophryne swiftorum

A tiny frog discovered in 2008 in Papua New Guinea that measures about $8\,\text{mm}$ long as an adult, making it among the smallest adult vertebrates on Earth.

Climate

The long-term prevailing weather conditions in a given area, governed principally by temperature, precipitation, sunlight, and wind.

Microclimate

Very fine, localized patterns of climate influenced by environmental features such as shade, soil evaporation, and wind barriers.

Abiotic Factors

The nonliving chemical and physical properties of the environment, including temperature, light, water, salinity, and nutrients.

Biotic Factors

The living components of the environment, including other organisms that interact with an individual through predation, competition, pollination, or disease.

Climate Change

A directional change to the global climate lasting for three decades or more.

Climograph

A graphical plot of the annual mean temperature and annual mean precipitation in a specific region.

Disturbance

An event such as a storm, fire, or human activity that changes a biological community and alters resource availability.

Phylogeny

The evolutionary history of a species or group of related species.

Systematics

A scientific discipline focused on classifying organisms and determining their evolutionary relationships.

Ophisaurus apodus

The European glass lizard, a legless lizard that resembles a snake because of convergent evolution rather than immediate common ancestry.

Binomial Nomenclature

The two-part scientific naming format introduced by Carolus Linnaeus, consisting of a genus followed by a specific epithet.

Genus

The first part of a binomial scientific name that groups related species; its first letter is capitalized and the entire word is italicized.

Specific Epithet

The second part of a binomial scientific name that is unique to a single species within a genus; it is written in lowercase and italicized.

Taxon

A named taxonomic unit at any given level of the biological classification hierarchy.

Phylogenetic Tree

A branching diagram that represents a hypothesis about the evolutionary history and patterns of descent among a group of organisms.

Homology

Phenotypic or genetic similarity between organisms resulting from shared ancestry.

Analogy

Phenotypic or genetic similarity between organisms resulting from convergent evolution rather than common descent.

Convergent Evolution

The independent evolution of similar structural or ecological features in distinct evolutionary lineages due to similar selective pressures.

Shared Ancestral Character

A character that originated in an ancestor of the taxon and is retained in descendants.

Shared Derived Character

An evolutionary novelty that is unique to a particular clade and not present in its ancestral lineage.

Speciation

The evolutionary process by which one ancestral species splits into two or more descendant species.

Microevolution

Evolutionary change consisting of shifts in allele frequencies within a single population over time.

Macroevolution

Broad patterns of evolutionary change occurring above the species level over long periods of time.

Biological Species Concept

The definition of a species as a group of populations whose members have the potential to interbreed in nature and produce viable, fertile offspring, but cannot do so with other groups.

Reproductive Isolation

The existence of biological barriers that impede individuals of two different species from interbreeding and producing viable, fertile offspring.

Hybrid

An offspring resulting from the interspecific mating of individuals from two distinct species.

Prezygotic Barriers

Reproductive isolation mechanisms that impede mating attempts, prevent completion of mating, or hinder fertilization.

Postzygotic Barriers

Reproductive isolation mechanisms that prevent a hybrid zygote from developing into a viable, fertile adult.

Habitat Isolation

A prezygotic barrier wherein two species occupy different habitats within the same area and rarely or never encounter one another.

Temporal Isolation

A prezygotic barrier in which species breed at different times of day, different seasons, or different years, preventing gamete exchange.

Behavioral Isolation

A prezygotic barrier where unique courtship displays or mating rituals prevent interbreeding between species.

Morphological Species Concept

A species definition that distinguishes species primarily on the basis of body shape and structural characteristics.

Ecological Species Concept

A species definition that identifies a species by its ecological niche and its interactions with the living and nonliving environment.

Allopatric Speciation

The mode of speciation that takes place when a population becomes divided into geographically isolated subpopulations, restricting gene flow.

Sympatric Speciation

The mode of speciation that occurs among populations living in the same geographic area without physical isolation.

Polyploidy

A mutational condition resulting from errors in cell division that produces extra sets of chromosomes.

Autopolyploid

An individual possessing more than two chromosome sets that are all derived from a single ancestral species.

Allopolyploid

A fertile polyploid individual produced when two distinct species interbreed and combine their chromosome sets.