UNIT 1 & 2 Vocab APES

2nd Law of Thermodynamics

Energy cannot be changed from one form to another without a loss of usable energy.

System

A group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements or parts that functon together as a whole to accomplish a goal.

Food Web

A network of complex interactions formed by feeding relationships among the various organisms in an ecosystem.

Cellular Respiration

Process that releases energy by breaking down glucose and other food molecules in the presence of oxygen.

Trophic level

A position occupied in the food chain.

Abiotic

Non-Living.

Population

Group of individual species living in a particular area.

Commensalism

A relationship between two organism benefits and the other is unaffected.

Hydrologic Cycle

The cycle through which waterin the hydosphere moves; includes such processes as evaporation , precipitation and surface and groundwater runoff.

Salinity

A measure of the amount of dissolved salts in a given amount of liquid.

Ecology

Scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment.

Producer

Creates complex and simple compounds through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)

The total amount of solar energy that produces in an ecosystem capture via photosynthesis over given amount of time.

Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

The energy captured by producers in an ecosystem minus the energy producers respire.

Ammonia

A small, very toxic molecule (NH3) produced by nitrogen fixation or as a metabolic waste product of protein and nucleic acid metabolism.

Turbidity

Cloudiness of water.

Community

All the different populations that live together in an area.

Biogeochemical cycle

Process in which elements, chemical compounds and other forms of matter are passed from one organism to another and from one part of the biosphere to another.

10% Rule

Most of the energy that is passed up the food chain is lost as heat according to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. Only about 10% of useful energy is passed up to the next trophic level.

Food Chain

A series of steps in an ecosystem that shows the flow of energy form the sun to organisms that produce food energy to consumers.

Decomposition

The breaking down of organisms in nutrients and simple chemical products.

Carbon sink

Absorbs carbon dioxide fromt the atmosphere, the ocean, soil and forests are the largest of these.

Nutrient

Chemical substance that an organism needs to sustain life.

Groundwater

Water that is beneath the Earth’s surface and flows through bodies of rock know as aquifiers.

Biome

A group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms

Parasitism

A relationship in which one organism lives on or in a host and harms it.

Competition

The struggle between organisms to survive in a habitat with limited resources.

Mutualism

A relationship between two species in which both species benefit.

Ecosystem

A community of organisms and their abiotic environment.

Primary Productivity

Rate at which producers capture and store chemical energy as biomass in a given amount of time.

Reservior

A storage location or source of specific chemical (Carbon, Phosporous, Nitrogen or Water).

Symbiosis

A relationship in which two diifferent organisms live in a close association with each other.

Nitrogen Fixation

Process of converting nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds that plants can absorb and use.

First Law of Thermodynamics

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed.

Biotic

Living thinggs

Resource Partitioning

The division of environmental resources by coexistance species such that niche oof each species differs by one or more significant factors from the niche of all coexisting species.

Negative Feedback Loop

Causes a system to change in the opposite direction from which it is moving.

Photosynthesis

Process by which plants and some other organisms use light energy to conver water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and high-energy carbohydrates such as sugars and starches.

Positive Feedback Loop

Causes a system to change further in the same direction.

Ecosystem Services

An essential service that supports life and makes economic activity possible.

Evolution

The process in which of species changes over time and adapts to its environment.

Natural Selection

When a species goes extinct because it doesn’t have the right genes to survive (aka survival of the fittest).

Mutation

A change in genes that could affect amny generations of the species.

Biodiversity

Variety of life in an ecosystem.

Species Diversity

The number and abundance of different diversities.

Genetic Diversity

variety of genes found in population of species that can be visible or non-visible.

Ecosystem Diversity

Different ecosystems in a location.

Invasive species

Non-Native species that has a negative species on the ecosystem, usually because they ahve no predators and outcompete.

Speciation

When a species develops new characteristics and can no longer mate, it seperates off and becomesa new species.

Specialist species

Species that are the best at surviving in one ecosystem and are more prone toe extinction with an environmental change.

Generalist Species

Species that have a wide niche or range of tolerance and are more suited for changing conditions.

Endemic Species

A species that is unique to a specific area.

Resilience

The ability to recover quickly after a disturbance.

Natural Disruptions

Natural phenomena that causes damage to the ecosystem, examples include tornados, hurricanes, earthquacks, and volacanes.

Primary Succession

A form of ecological succession after an exterme disturbance where the ecosystem starts as a bare rock with no soil.

Secondary Succession

A type of ecological succession where soil is present after a disturbance.

Pioneer Species

Some of the first species to appear in an ecosystem, examples include lichen

Keystone Species

A species that has an unproportionally large effect on its environment.

Indicator Species

A sensitive organism that points out changes in the ecosystem (usually to an abiotic factor).

Island Biogeography Island

The theory that concludes that islands that are large and close to the mainland will have the most biodiverse communities when colonizing. Also, the islands that are smaller and farther from the mainland will have more specialist species and will have greater extinction rates.

Provisioning Services

Tangible goods that nature provides to humans.

Regulating Ecosystem Services

A service provided by the ecosystem that moderates natural phenomena including pollination.

Cultural Ecosystem Service

Intangible aesthetic benefits provided by nature.

Supporting Ecosystem Services

Services like nutrient cycling that make all other ecosystem services possible.

Ecological Tolerance

A measurement of a species' ability to handle change in abiotic factors.

Optimal Zone

The range of an abiotic factor when a species is most comfortable.

Zone of Physiological Stress

Ranges of abiotic factors where species start to exhibit stress and reduction in population.

Zone of Intolerance

Ranges of an abiotic factor where all organisms of a species die.