Ecology Vocab Words

biological magnification

Textbook: A process in which retained substances become more concentrated at each higher trophic level in a food chain.

Notes:

biomass

Textbook: The total mass of organic matter comprising a group of organisms in a particular habitat.

Notes:

carrying capacity

Textbook: The maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources, symbolized as K.

Notes: Maximum population size that an environment can support with no degradation of habitat & varies with changes in resources

commensalism

Textbook: A +/0 ecological interaction that benefits the individuals of one species but neither harms nor helps the individuals of the other species.

Notes:

competitive exclusion

Textbook: The concept that when populations of two similar species compete for the same limited resources, one population will use the resources more efficiently and have a reproductive advantage that will eventually lead to the elimination of the other population.

Notes: No two similar species can occupy the same niche at the same time

consumer

Textbook: An organism that feeds on producers, other consumers, or nonliving organic material.

Notes:

density-dependent factor

Textbook: Referring to any characteristic that varies with population density.

Notes: For only large populations

density-independent factor

Textbook: Referring to any characteristic that is not affected by population density.

Notes: For all populations

ecological niche

Textbook: The sum of a species’ use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.

Notes: An organism’s niche is its ecological role - fundamental (bigger) & realized (with competition) - habitat (address) vs. niche (job)

Ecosystem

Textbook: All the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact; one or more communities and the physical environment around them.

Notes:

exponential growth

Textbook: Growth of a population in an ideal, unlimited environment, represented by a J-shaped curve when population size is plotted over time.

Notes: Growth of a population with ideal conditions - no limit

fixed action pattern

Textbook: In animal behavior, a sequence of unlearned acts that is essentially unchangeable and, once initiated, usually carried to completion.

Notes: Sequence of behaviors essentially unchangeable & usually conducted to completion once started.

gross primary production (GPP)

Textbook: The total primary production of an ecosystem.

Notes:

imprinting (& genomic imprinting)

Textbook: In animal behavior, the formation at a specific stage in life of a long-lasting behavioral response to a specific individual or object. (Genomic imprinting - A phenomenon in which expression of an allele in offspring depends on whether the allele is inherited from the male or the female parent.)

Notes: Learning at a specific critical time forming social attachments - both learned (basic) and innate (advanced) components - INBETWEEN

kin selection (& altruism)

Textbook: Natural selection that favors altruistic behavior (selflessness - behavior that reduces an individual’s fitness while increasing the fitness of another individual) by enhancing the reproductive success of relatives.

Notes:

K-selection

Textbook: Selection for life history traits that are sensitive to population density.

Notes: Species with late reproduction, fewer offspring, and invest a lot of energy in raising offspring

Population

Textbook: A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area and interbreed, producing fertile offspring.

Notes: Group of individuals of the same species in the same area at the same time

logistic population growth

Textbook: Population growth that levels off as population size approaches carrying capacity.

Notes: Population growth that starts off slow, speeds up, and then levels around the carrying capacity of the population (might creep up & down but operates around a general average)

mutualism

Textbook: A +/+ ecological interaction that benefits individuals of both interacting species.

Notes:

net primary production (NPP)

Textbook: The gross primary production of an ecosystem minus the energy used by the producers for respiration.

Notes:

parasitism

Textbook: A +/- ecological interaction in which one organism, the parasite, benefits by feeding upon another organism, the host, which is harmed; some parasites live within the host (feeding on its tissues), while others feed on the host’s external surface.

Notes:

primary succession

Textbook: A type of ecological succession that occurs in an area where there were originally no organisms present and where soil has not yet formed.

Notes:

producer

Textbook: An organism that produces organic compounds from CO2 by harnessing light energy (in photosynthesis) or by oxidizing inorganic chemicals (in chemosynthetic reactions carried out by some prokaryotes).

Notes:

r-selection

Textbook: Selection for life history traits that maximize reproductive success in uncrowded environments.

Notes: Early reproduction, many offspring, and little parental care

secondary succession

Textbook: A type of succession that occurs where an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil or substrate intact.

Notes:

sign stimulus

Textbook: An external sensory cue that triggers a fixed action pattern by an animal.

Notes: The releaser that triggers FAP (fixed action pattern)

symbiosis

Textbook: An ecological relationship between organisms of two different species that live together in direct and intimate contact.

Notes: How two different populations interact and in turn influence each other

taxis

Textbook: An oriented movement toward or away from a stimulus.

Notes: Change in direction, automatic movement toward (positive taxis) or away from (negative taxis) a stimulus - DIRECTION

kinesis

Textbook:

Notes: Change in rate of movement in response to stimulus - RATE

agonistic behavior

Textbook: A contest, typically ritualized, that determines which competitor gains access to a resource, such as food or a mate

Notes: Threatening & submissive rituals - usually connected to territories (usually males)

classical conditioning

Textbook:

Notes: Pavlovian conditioning & associates a “neutral stimulus” (0) with a “significant stimulus” (+)

critical/sensitive period

Textbook: A limited phase in an animal’s development when learning of particular behaviors can take place

Notes: Sensitive phase for optimal imprinting

dominance hierarchy

Textbook:

Notes: Social ranking within a group

habituation

Textbook:

Notes: Loss of response to stimulus - Learn not to respond to repeated occurrences of stimulus (lack of strong signal)

mimicry

Textbook:

Notes:

operant conditioning

Textbook:

Notes: Trial and error learning & associate behavior with reward (+) or punishment (-)

productivity

Textbook:

Notes:

succession

Textbook:

Notes: