Module 2.2: Environmental Science Chapter 5

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering species interactions, ecological succession, range of tolerance, and population growth dynamics from Chapter 5.

Interspecific Competition

An interaction occurring when two or more species compete for the same limited resources, such as food, shelter, or space, causing their ecological niches to overlap.

Resource Partitioning

An evolutionary process where competing species adapt specialized traits that allow them to share resources by using them at different times, in different ways, or in different places.

Predation

An interaction in which an individual of one species (the predator) feeds directly on an individual of another plant or animal species (the prey).

Mimicry

A defense strategy in which a non-poisonous species evolves to closely resemble or look like a poisonous or dangerous species.

Coevolution

A process in which two interacting species exert selective pressure on each other over time, so that changes in the gene pool of one species lead to changes in the gene pool of the other.

Parasitism

A relationship in which one species (the parasite) feeds on the body of, or energy used by, another organism (the host), usually living on or inside the host without killing it immediately.

Mutualism

An interaction between two species where both benefit by providing each other with food, shelter, protection, or other essential resources.

Commensalism

An interaction between species that benefits one species while leaving the other unaffected and unharmed.

Ecological Succession

The normal, gradual change in species composition in a given geographic area over time in response to changing environmental conditions.

Primary Ecological Succession

The gradual establishment of biotic communities in lifeless areas where there is no pre-existing soil in a terrestrial ecosystem or no bottom sediment in an aquatic system.

Secondary Ecological Succession

The reestablishment of an ecosystem or community in an area where a natural community was disturbed, removed, or destroyed, but retained soil or bottom sediment.

Range of Tolerance

The range of physical and chemical environmental conditions within which a population can survive and function effectively.

Limiting Factors

Physical or chemical factors (such as temperature, water, nutrients, or light) that restrict the size, growth, or distribution of a population.

Population Density

The number of individuals of a population found within a specified unit of geographic area.

Density-Dependent Factors

Limiting factors whose effects on a population become more significant as the population density increases, such as disease transmission, parasitism, and competition for mates.

Density-Independent Factors

Limiting factors that affect population size regardless of the population's density, such as severe droughts, storms, and climate variations.

Environmental Resistance

The combination of all limiting factors that act together to restrict the growth of a population.

Carrying Capacity

The maximum population of a given species that a particular habitat can sustain indefinitely without degrading the environment.

Logistic Growth

A growth pattern in which a population grows exponentially at first, then slows down and levels off as it encounters environmental resistance and approaches carrying capacity, forming an S-curve.

Population Crash

A sharp, rapid decline in population size (also known as dieback) that occurs when a population overshoots its ecosystem's carrying capacity.

r-Selected Species

Species with a capacity for a high rate of population increase that typically have short life spans, produce many small offspring, and provide little to no parental care.

k-Selected Species

Species adapted to compete successfully when population size approaches carrying capacity, characterized by longer life spans, later reproduction, and fewer offspring with significant parental protection.

Opportunists

Species that reproduce rapidly under favorable environmental conditions (such as after a fire or clearing) and often experience irregular, unstable boom-and-bust cycles.

Southern Sea Otter

A coastal marine species in recovery whose population dropped to about 50 in 1938 before being protected as an endangered species in 1977 and recovering to approximately 2,900 by 2013.