AP Biology Vocabulary - Mr. Pate 2023

Abiotic Factor

Physical, or nonliving, factor that shapes an ecosystem.

Age structure

The distribution of individuals among different ages in a population.

Biodiversity

The diversity of plant and animal life in a particular habitat (or in the world as a whole).

Biosphere

The part of the earth, including air, land, surface rocks, and water, within which life occurs.

Biome

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

Biotic factor

Biological influence on organisms within an ecosystem.

Carrying capacity

Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support.

Community

All the different populations that live together in an area.

Density dependent factor

Limiting factor that depends on population size.

Gross primary productivity

The rate at which producers in an ecosystem capture energy.

Net primary productivity

The rate at which biomass accumulates in an ecosystem.

Habitat

The place where an organism lives.

Nutrient cycle

Continuous flow of nutrients into and out of stores in the ecosystem; balanced, unless disturbed by human activity.

Competition

Organisms compete for the limited number of biotic and abiotic factors.

Interspecific competition

In a community competition for resources between members of different species.

Intraspecific competition

In a community competition for resources among members of the same species.

Distribution

The arrangement of something across Earth's surface.

K-selection (density-dependent selection)

Selection for life history traits that are sensitive to population density.

R-selection (density-independent selection)

Selection for life history traits that maximize reproductive success in uncrowded environments.

Logistic growth

Growth pattern in which a population's growth rate slows or stops following a period of exponential growth.

Exponential growth

Growth pattern in which the individuals in a population reproduce at a constant rate.

Species

A group of similar organisms whose members can mate with one another and produce fertile offspring.

Keystone species

A species that is critical to the functioning of the ecosystem in which it lives because it affects the survival and abundance of many other species in its community.

Parasite

An organism that lives on or in a host and causes harm to the host.

Photoautotroph

Organism that uses energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water to carbon compounds.

Population

A group of organisms of the same species populating a given area.

Population growth

The increasing and decreasing of a population.

Pollution

Undesirable state of the natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities.

Primary consumer

An organism that eats producers.

Secondary consumer

An organism that eats primary consumers.

Quadrat

Any of a group of small, usually rectangular plots of land arranged for close study of the distribution of plants or animals in an area.

Rate of increase

Birth rate minus the death rate, suggesting the annual rate of population growth without considering net migration.

Niche

An organism's particular role in an ecosystem, or how it makes its living.

Ecological pyramid

Diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter within each trophic level in a food chain or food web.

Trophic level

Step in the movement of energy through an ecosystem; an organism's feeding status in an ecosystem.

Ten percent rule

The general observation that only ten percent of energy available at one trophic level is actually passed up to the next.

Trophic efficiency

The percentage of production transferred from one trophic level to the next.

Ecological succession

The gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is established.

Ecosystem

Collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place, together with their nonliving environment.

Limiting factor

Any biotic or abiotic factor that restricts the existence, numbers, reproduction, or distribution of organisms.

Migration

The periodic passage of groups of animals (especially birds or fishes) from one region to another for feeding or breeding.

Mortality

Death rate in a population; the probability of dying.

Mutualism

Symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship.

Survivorship curve

A plot of the number of members of a cohort (group) that are still alive at each age (one way to represent age-specific mortality).

Host

An organism that provides a source of energy or a suitable environment for a virus or for another organism to live.

Symbiosis

The living in a mutually helpful association of two dissimilar organisms.

Commensalism

A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected.

Transpiration

The process by which water is lost through a plant's leaves.