Global Change Ecology

These flashcards cover key concepts related to biodiversity and global change ecology, including definitions of terms important for understanding ecological interactions and environmental challenges.

Biodiversity

The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem, measured at three levels: genetic, species, and ecosystem.

Ecosystem Services

Processes ecosystems provide that are necessary to sustain life, categorized into provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services.

Genetic Diversity

The variety of genes within a species, exemplified by the thousands of breeds of dogs or the hundreds of species of bacteria living in the human gut.

Invasive Species

Nonnative species introduced to a new ecosystem that outcompete native species for resources and can cause significant ecological disruption.

Pollution

The introduction of harmful substances into the environment, classified into three types: nutrient enrichment, environmental toxins, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Bioaccumulation

The accumulation of substances, such as pesticides, in the tissues of living organisms, often occurring in a food chain.

Biomagnification

The increased concentration of toxins in the tissues of organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain.

Extinction Vortex

A process that leads to further decline and potential extinction of a species due to a bottleneck event and loss of genetic diversity.

Climate Change

Long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place, largely driven by the accumulation of greenhouse gases.

Greenhouse Gases

Gas in Earth's atmosphere that traps heat, including CO2, CH4, N2O, and water vapor, originating from both human activities and natural sources.