AP environmental science vocabulary 1

Study for first vocal quiz

Ecosystem diversity

The number of diff. habitats available in a given area

Species diversity

The number of diff. species in an ecosystem and the balance or evens of the pop. sizers of all species in the ecosystem

Genetic diversity

How different the genes are of individuals within a population (group of the same species)

Bottleneck Event

An env. disturbance (natural disasters/human hab.destruction) that drastically reduces the pop. sizes and kills organism regardless of their genome

Inbreeding depression

Inbreeding is when organisms male with closely related “family” members

Richness

Is just the total number of different species found in an ecosystem

Evenness

A measure of how all of the individual organism in an ecosystem are balanced between the different speciesE

Ecosystem resilience

resilience : the ability of an ecosystem to return to it original conditions after a major disturbance E(Wind storm, fire, flood, clear-cutting,etc.)

Ecosystem services

Good that come from natural resources or services / function that ecosystems carry out that have measurable economic / financial value to humans

Provisioning services

Goods / products directly provided to humans for sale / use by ecosystem

Regulating services

benefit provided by ecosystem processes that conditions natural conditions like climate and our quality

Supporting services

Natural ecosystems support processes we do ourselves, making them less costly and easier for us

Cultural services

Revenue for recreational activités (hunting / fishing licenses, park fees, tourism - related spending) and profits for scientific discoveries made in ecosystems ( health/ag./educational knowledge)

Island Biogeography

Study of ecological relationship and community structure on islands

Ecological range of tolerance

Range of conditions such as temperature salinity ph or sunlight that an organism can endure before injury or death results

Species and individual organisms both have a range of tolerance for all the different environmental conditions of their habitat

Optimal range

Range where organisms survive, grow, and reproduce

Zone of physiological stress

Range where organisms survive, but experience some stress such as infertility, lack of growth, decreased activity, etc.

Zone of intolerance

Range where the organism will die

Natural disturbance

A natural event that disrupts the structure and or function of an ecosystem

Periodic

Occurs with regular frequency

Episodic

Occasional events with irregular frequency

Random

No regular frequency

Natural Climate change

Earth’s climate has varied over geologic time for numerous reasons

Migration

Wildlife may migrate to a new habitat as the result of natural disruptions

Fitness and adaptation

All population have some genetic diversity, or variability in genomes of individuals; genetic diversity exists

Adaptation

A new trait that increases an organism’s fitness (ability to survive and reproduce)

Natural selection

Organisms that are better adapted to their env. survive and reproduce more offspring

Crossing over

In parents chromosome create new combinations of genes (and therefore traits)

Environmental change and evolution

The environment an organism lives determines which traits are adaptations

Pace of evolution

The more rapidly an env. changes, the less likely a species in the env. will be to adapt to those changes