Ecology and Conservation Biology Review Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering introductory ecology, population dynamics, community interactions, nutrition adaptations, energy flow, nutrient cycles, succession, human impacts, and conservation biology derived from the lecture transcript.

Stability

The capacity of an ecosystem to preserve its fundamental structure and function, characterized by resistance and resilience.

Resistance

The attribute of an ecosystem that allows it to remain largely unchanged when subjected to a disturbance.

Resilience

The capacity of an ecosystem to recover and maintain stability following a disturbance.

Open System

A system that can exchange both matter and energy with its surrounding environments; most ecosystems are categorized as this type.

Closed System

A system that can exchange energy but not matter with its surroundings, such as the global biosphere's relationship with matter due to gravity.

Sample

An unbiased representation of a population used to make estimations when a full census is not feasible or efficient.

Sessile

Organisms that are permanently attached or established and do not move, often sampled using a quadrat.

Motile

Organisms that are mobile and capable of movement, requiring sampling methods like capture-mark-release-recapture.

Quadrat

A square frame used in ecological studies to define a specific sample area for counting or measuring sessile organisms.

Lincoln Index

A formula used in capture-mark-release-recapture methods to estimate the population size of motile species.

Exponential Growth

A pattern of population increase where the growth rate remains constant relative to the population size, often resulting in a J-shaped curve.

Carrying Capacity ($K$)

The maximum number of individuals of a particular species that a given environment can sustainably support.

Density-Dependent Factors

Limiting factors whose effects on a population vary with the population density, such as predation, disease, and competition.

Density-Independent Factors

Limiting factors that affect population size regardless of density, typically including natural disasters and extreme weather.

Negative Feedback Mechanism

A process that counteracts change to return a system to a stable set point, such as factors regulating population size near carrying capacity.

Sigmoid Growth Curve

An S-shaped population growth pattern that occurs when growth is limited by resources or other density-dependent factors.

Ecological Community

The collection of all interacting populations of different species within a specific ecosystem.

Intraspecific Relationships

Interactions that occur between members of the same species, which can involve competition for resources or cooperation.

Interspecific Relationships

Interactions between members of different species, including herbivory, predation, competition, mutualism, and parasitism.

Ecological Niche

The specific specialized role or function that a species fills within its ecosystem.

Fundamental Niche

The theoretical range of environmental conditions and resources a species could potentially occupy without competition or predation.

Realized Niche

The actual environmental conditions and resources a species occupies due to limiting factors like competition.

Competitive Exclusion Principle

The ecological rule stating that two species competing for the exact same niche cannot coexist indefinitely.

Resource Partitioning

The division of environmental resources by species to avoid direct competition, such as using different parts of a habitat.

Allelopathy

A biological phenomenon where an organism produces chemicals that influence the growth, survival, or reproduction of other organisms, such as the black walnut tree.

Endemic Species

Species that occur naturally in a specific geographic area and were not introduced by human activity.

Invasive Species

Exotic species that outcompete endemic species, often because they lack natural predators in their new environment.

Symbiotic Relationship

A close, long-term interaction between two different species that can be mutualistic, parasitic, or pathogenic.

Mutualism

An interspecific relationship where both participating organisms derive a benefit.

Keystone Species

A species that exerts a disproportionately large influence on its community structure relative to its abundance.

Top-Down Control

Ecosystem regulation where higher trophic level predators control the populations of lower trophic levels.

Bottom-Up Control

Ecosystem regulation where the availability of resources at lower trophic levels limits the populations of higher levels.

Autotrophs

Organisms that synthesize their own organic carbon compounds from inorganic substances using external energy sources.

Carbon Fixation

The process of converting inorganic carbon, such as $CO_2$, into organic molecules like glucose.

Photoautotrophs

Organisms that use light as the primary energy source for carbon fixation via photosynthesis.

Chemoautotrophs

Organisms, often bacteria, that derive energy from the oxidation of inorganic compounds for carbon fixation.

Heterotrophs

Organisms that must obtain carbon compounds by consuming other organisms or organic matter.

Holozoic Nutrition

A type of heterotrophic nutrition involving the internal digestion, absorption, and assimilation of organic matter.

Secondary Metabolites

Chemical compounds produced by plants that are not essential for basic growth but serve as defenses against herbivory.

Saprotrophic Nutrition

A process where organisms like fungi and bacteria obtain nutrients by secreting digestive enzymes onto dead organic matter for external digestion.

Mixotrophic Nutrition

A nutritional strategy where an organism can use both autotrophic and heterotrophic methods to obtain energy.

Obligate Mixotrophs

Organisms that must use both autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition to survive.

Archaea

A domain of single-celled prokaryotes with unique cell wall compositions, often found in extreme environments.

Trophic Level

The functional position of an organism in a food chain or web based on its feeding relationship.

Energy Pyramid

A diagram representing the flow of energy through trophic levels, typically showing that only about $10.0\%$ of energy is transferred to the next level.

Gross Primary Production ($GPP$)

The total amount of organic matter produced by autotrophs through photosynthesis in a specific area and time.

Net Primary Production ($NPP$)

The biomass remaining in producers after energy has been lost through cellular respiration.

Carbon Sink

An ecosystem or reservoir that accumulates and stores carbon-containing chemical compounds for an indefinite period.

Carbon Flux

The process of transferring carbon from one pool or reservoir to another, such as through photosynthesis or combustion.

Carbon Sequestration

The long-term storage of carbon in sinks like forests, oceans, or peatlands to mitigate climate change.

Keeling Curve

A graph showing the continuous rise in atmospheric $CO_2$ levels since the late 1950s, also illustrating seasonal fluctuations.

Range of Tolerance

The span of abiotic conditions, such as temperature or $pH$, within which a species can survive.

Ecological Succession

The predictable process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time.

Primary Succession

Ecological succession occurring in a barren environment that lacks pre-existing soil or organisms.

Secondary Succession

Ecological succession following a disturbance that has destroyed a community but left the soil intact.

Climax Community

The final, stable stage of succession where the community is in equilibrium with the local environmental conditions.

Arrested Succession

A situation where human activity or other stressors prevent an ecosystem from reaching its climax community.

Mesocosm

An experimental, enclosed ecosystem used to study the effects of specific variables on ecological stability under controlled conditions.

Anthropogenic

Originating from human activity, particularly regarding environmental impacts or climate change.

Eutrophication

The depletion of oxygen in a water body caused by an increase in nutrients, leading to excessive plant and algal growth.

Biochemical Oxygen Demand ($BOD$)

The amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic decomposers to break down organic matter in a water body.

Bioaccumulation

The build-up of a substance, such as a pollutant, in the tissues of a single organism over its lifetime.

Biomagnification

The increasing concentration of a chemical or pollutant in the tissues of organisms at higher levels in a food chain.

Greenhouse Effect

The warming of Earth's surface caused by atmospheric gases that absorb and re-radiate infrared radiation.

Ocean Acidification

The reduction in ocean $pH$ caused by the absorption of atmospheric $CO_2$, which reacts with water to form carbonic acid.

Phenology

The study of the timing of recurring biological events, such as flowering or migration, influenced by environmental changes.

Photoperiod

The relative duration of light and dark within a $24.0\,\text{hour}$ period, which many organisms use to time biological events.

EDGE of Existence Programme

A conservation initiative that prioritizes species that are both evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered.

In-situ Conservation

Sustainability efforts that protect species within their natural habitats, such as in national parks or nature reserves.

Ex-situ Conservation

Conservation efforts that take place outside of a species' natural habitat, such as in zoos, botanical gardens, or seed banks.

Rewilding

An ecological restoration strategy involving the reintroduction of key species and the reduction of human interference to restore natural processes.

Afforestation

The practice of planting trees in an area where there was no previous tree cover to create new carbon sinks.