BIO 152 - Ecology

Biotic

living

Abiotic

non-living

Biogeography

the field of study that seeks to understand the spatial distribution of ecosystems according to climate and other fundamental abiotic drivers

Community

a group of multiple different species interacting with one-another

Ecosystem

a group of species interacting with both each other and their shared environment

Organismal ecology

the narrowest scope of ecology which looks at questions related ot one organism/species

Population ecology

the study of a population of the same species in the same geographic location

Community ecology

the study of how multiple species populations interact in the same area

Ecosystem ecology

the study of how organisms in an area interact with each other and their environment, including abiotic features

Landscape ecology

the study of interconnected ecosystems across a land area

Global (macro) ecology

the broadest field of ecology that looks at how ecosystems are connected across long distances

Biosphere

all the ecosystems on the globe put together

Climate

the long-term prevailing weather conditions in a particular place over many years

Hadley cell

an atmospheric cell ranging from the equator to 30º north or 30º south that drives a specific pattern of climate in that region

Coriolis effect (deflection)

the phenomenon generated by the rotation of the Earth that the speed of rotation differs at different latitudes

Seasonality

differential heating caused by the Earth’s tilt that is reflected in seasons

Currents (gyres)

patterns of water movement in large bodies of water

Windward

the side of a mountain that meets an air current causing a rain-out event; tends to be wetter than the leeward side of the mountain

Leeward

the side of the mountain over which cool dry air flows after moisture is rained out over the windward side; tends ot be a drier climate than the windward side

Microclimate

local atmospheric zone in which the climate differs from the surrounding area

Subnivium

a microclimate located beneath the snow in Northern climates

Phenotype

set of characters coded by the genome

Phenotypic mismatch

the phenomenon in which an organism’s phenotype is maladapted to the environment it lives in

Range contraction

the shrinking of a population’s distribution zone

Locally extirpated

extinction of an organism in a particular geographic area

No analog community

a collection of species that have not evolved in an environment in which they interact that are forced to interact due to changes in their range distribution

Biodiversity

the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem

Climograph

a graph showing the temperature and precipitation regime of an area

Net primary productivity (NPP)

gross primary productivity, or organic carbon generated by autotrophs, minus plant respiration; measured in units of mass per area per time

Species richness

the number of species in a region; a measure of biodiversity

Ecotone

the overlapping conditions of two or more biomes

Tension zone

an ecotone in Wisconsin identified in the late 1950s

Tropical rainforest

a biome characterized by high rainfall, warm temperatures, higher biodiversity, and high NPP

Desert

a biome characterized by dry conditions, warm temperatures, high biodiversity, and low NPP

Savanna

a biome characterized by seasonal rainfall, recurrent fires, medium biodiversity, and medium NPP

Grasslands

a biome characterized by strong seasonality in temperature and precipitation, moderate biodiversity and moderate NPP

Chaparral

a small biome characterized by seasonality dictated by oceanic gyres, summer fire regimes, low biodiversity, and high NPP

Northern coniferous forest (or Boreal forest)

a biome characterized by evergreen trees, long cold winters, short cool summers, high NPP, and low biodiversity

Primary productivity

the production of organic (usable) carbon, from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide, by autotrophs

Temperate deciduous forsest

a biome characterized by cool temperatures, minimal precipitation, low biodiversity, and high NPP

Tundra

a biome characterized by cool temperatures, minimal precipitation, low biodiversity, and low NPP

Anthrome

a human-caused biome, for example farmland or urban areas

Anthropogenic

human-caused

Autotroph

an organism that is able to form nutritional organic subsances from simple inorganic substances such as CO2 (mainly plants and algae)

Marine biome

a subclass of aquatic biomes characterized by salt water

Freshwater biome

a subclass of aquatic biomes characterized by salt content less than 1% NaCl

Oceanic pelagic system

a marine biome characterized by high gross primary productivity, but low net primary productivity scaled for space and time

Gross primary productivity (GPP)

the rate at which producers within an ecosystem capture and store chemical energy

Hydrothermal vent communities

a diverse biome found at the bottom of oceans whose primary producers are chemosynthetic bacteria

Symbiosis

the phenomenon in which two organisms exist together in a mutually beneficial relationship

Coral reef

a shallow marine biome characterized by structures made of calcium carbonate; high biodiversity and high NPP

Kelp forest

a shallow marine biome characterized by structures made of calcium carbonate, high biodiversity, and high NPP

Estuary

a biome located where freshwater and marine systems meet - characterized by high levels of NPP

Salt marshes

a biome located at the intersection of terrestrial and marine biomes found at mid to high latitudes

Mangrove forests

a biome located at the intersection of terrestrial and marine biomes characterized by mangroves, shrub-like trees that provide physical protection for the shoreline

Lentic

still, terrestrial freshwater includes lakes and wetlands

Lotic

moving, terrestrial freshwater such as rivers and streams

Oligotrophic lake

a cold, deep lake characterized by low NPP and low biodiversity

Eutrophic lake

a warm, shallow lake characterized by high NPP and high biodiversity

Benthos

the community of organisms and organic matter located at the bottom of a lake

Eutrophication

the process of making an oligotrophic lake warmer and more nutrient-rich so that its NPP rises

Wetlands

a lentic, freshwater aquatic biome in which the land is covered by water for part of the year so taht the soil is wet, and the vegetation is made up of hydrophytes (water-loving plants); includes marshes, swamps, bogs, and vernal pools

River continuum

the observed phenomenon in which the diversity and productivity of a river looks different at different points along its length

Headwaters

the beginning of a river

Shredders

invertebrates in a river that break down coarse particulate matter dropped from surrounding terrestrial vegetation to release energy and nutrients into the river

Latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG)

the well-documented ecological phenomenon in many taxa that biodiversity is higher near the equator and lower towards the poles

Mid-domain effect

a statistical model of the LDG in which simply by chance there is more diversity near the equator, at the center of the globe, because all species have finite distributional ranges

Behavior

an action carried out by the muscles under control of the nervous system in response to a stimulus

Behavioral ecology

the study of ethology focusing on ecological and evolutionary implications of animal behavior

Ethology

the study of animal behavior

Ontogeny

age

Proximate causes

causation and ontogeny: the immediate causes of behavior

Innate behavior

behaviors that are developmentally fixed; these behaviors are exhibited by all individuals in a population, despite individual and environmental differences

Fixed action pattern (FAP)

an innate behavioral sequences that is indivisible and runs to completion

Taxis

an innate behavioral response by an animal in response to a directional stimulus or gradient of stimulus intensity

Kinesis

an innate movement of an animal in response to a non-directional stimulus

Orthokinesis

innate movement relating to the speed of the animal’s movement

Klinokinesis

innate movement relating to the sinuosity of the animal’s movement

Signal

a stimulus transmitted from one animal to another

Communication

the transmission and reception of signals between animals

Stimulus response chain

a series of behaviors in which the response to each stimulus is the stimulus for the next behavior

Imprinting

any phase-sensitive learning that is rapid and independent of the consequences of the behavior

Filial imprinting

a young animal acquires behavioral responses from its parent

Spatial learning

the intake and memory of the spatial distribution of important landmarks

Path integration (ded reckoning)

a type of spatial learning in which the organism can compute its location in space based on its past trajectory

Cognitive map

an internal representation of a landscape

Associative learning

the association of one stimulus with another

Classical conditioning

the association of an arbitrary stimulus with a particular outcome

Operant conditioning

the association of a behavior with a reward or punishment so that the animal tends to repeat or avoid that behavior

Cognition

the process of knowing that involves awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgement

Social learning

in social species, the teaching of behaviors

Foraging ecology

the study of the suite of behaviors an animal employs to search for, find, capture, subdue, and consume food

Optimal foraging theory

the theory that organisms balance the costs and benefits of their resources to make decisions about how and when to get food; the optimal foraging level is a function of the energy in food, searching time, and handling time

Infanticide

the killing of young offspring by a mature animal of its own species

Non-consumptive effects

effects not directly resulting from the death of animals by predation; for example, changes to animal behavior in response to a risk of predation

Consumptive effects

effects of predation, for example population size shrinkage

Landscape of fear

the phenomenon in which prey animals change their foraging behaviors based on an assessment of where in their landscape holds the highest risk of predation

Repatriation

the reintroduction of a species to an area

Riparian

areas found near streams, rich in high nutrient plant life such as willows

Ghost of predator past

the hypothesis that a species subject to past selection for antipredator behavior will retain that antipredator behavior if it is not too costly to do so, even after the predator has disappeared