PLANT ECOLOGY TERMS LIST

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering life cycles, growth forms, energy sources, reproduction, cloning, genetics, population dynamics, and species interactions in plant ecology.

Annual

A plant that survives only one growing season after germination.

Biennial

A plant that survives two growing seasons after germination, generally spending the first growing and storing energy and the second reproducing.

Perennial

A plant that survives more than two seasons after germination; includes all trees and shrubs and many herbaceous plants.

Herbaceous

A plant that doesn't make wood (e.g., wildflowers); can be annual, biennial, or perennial.

Woody

Any plant that makes wood, such as trees and shrubs; these plants are perennial.

Secondary growth

Growth in the diameter of a stem, rather than just elongation.

Bulbs

Underground storage organs mainly comprised of modified leaves, such as an onion or tulip.

Rhizomes

Underground storage organs made of stem material, such as trillium, Solomon’s seal, and bamboo.

Corms

Underground storage organs made of undifferentiated stem tissue, such as crocus and gladiolus.

Saprophyte

A plant that feeds on or digests dead organic matter.

Parasitic plants

Plants that obtain energy from another plant, such as dodder (a stem parasite).

Holoparasite

A plant that obtains all its energy from other plants, such as ground cone (a root parasite) and dodder (a stem parasite).

Hemiparasite

A plant that obtains some, but not all, of its energy from other plants, such as Phoradendron (mistletoe).

Carnivory

Plants that eat animals for nutrition, such as the pitcher plant and venus fly trap.

Iteroperous (or polycarpic)

A plant that can reproduce more than once in a lifetime, such as most trees and shrubs.

Semelparous (or monocarpic)

A plant that can only reproduce once in a lifetime; includes all annuals and some perennials.

Genet

A group of genetically identical individuals derived from a single ancestor (one seed) asexually by cloning, including all clones separated or not.

Ramet

A modular unit derived asexually from another plant, with its own roots, that may live freely if separated; includes the original stem produced from a seed.

Genotype

The specific genetic makeup of an individual in the form of DNA.

Phenotype

The expressed individual resulting from the genotype interacting with its environment.

Phenotypic plasticity

The variation one genotype can display when grown in different environments.

Ecotype

A population that is genetically different than other populations of the same species, often evolved in an adaptive way to unique conditions.

Natural selection

The process by which individuals with certain heritable characteristics tend to survive and reproduce more successfully than others.

Haploid

Describes a nucleus, cell, or organism possessing a single set of unpaired chromosomes; gametes are an example.

Diploid

Describes a nucleus, cell, or organism possessing sets of paired chromosomes; includes most plant material and human bodies.

Quantitative trait

A trait that varies continuously, such as human height or plant height.

Qualitative trait

Traits that have a few distinct conditions, such as flowers being blue and white but no color in between.

Demography

The study of populations, especially growth rates and age structures.

Age class

A category of age, such as 1 year olds or 2 year olds.

Stage class

A category based on size and function, such as seedling, vegetative, or reproductive.

Retrogression

The change of one individual from a larger size (stage) class to a smaller one from one year to the next.

Vital rates

The probability of any given stage class either growing, reproducing, dying, or retrogressing.

Environmental stochasticity

Random fluctuations in environmental conditions, such as weather, that influence demographic parameters like survival and growth.

Metapopulation

Commonly defined as a group of interacting populations; traditionally, a group where each population has potential to aid the entire group's persistence.

Habitat fragmentation

The division of a once contiguous landscape into smaller, more isolated remnants surrounded by a new habitat called a matrix.

Matrix

The new habitat that surrounds smaller, isolated remnants in habitat fragmentation.

Mutualism

Relationships between two species that benefit both species.

Obligate mutualisms

Mutualisms where one or both species will go extinct if the other is lost, such as fig plants and fig wasps.

Facultative mutualisms

Cases where the loss of one member of the mutualism will not result in the loss of the other species.

Competition

Relationships between two species that reduce the abundance and/or distribution of each species.

Herbivory

The consumption of all or part of a plant by a consumer.

Vegetation

All the plant species in a region and the way they are arranged.

Population

All individuals of one species within a prescribed area.

Community

A group of species in a given area that interact, typically across trophic levels.

Hypothesis

An explanation put forth to account for observed phenomena; an assertion that leads to testable predictions.

Inbreeding

The mating of closely related individuals.

Inbreeding depression

Reduced fitness of progeny from mating of related individuals or selfing; the detrimental effects of inbreeding.