Grade 11 Biology Chapter 1: Biodiversity & Ecosystem Health

Flashcards covering terminology from Grade 11 Biology Chapter 1, including taxonomy, cladistics, biomes, ecology, and conservation.

Nomenclature

The system of rules used to name things.

Taxonomy

The system of naming organisms.

Systematics

The system of classifying organisms based on their evolutionary relationship.

Scientific nomenclature (Binomial name)

A unique Latin name for a species consisting of a Genus and species, where the Genus is capitalized and both are italicized, such as $Bufo\,boreas$.

Hierarchical Classification

A system of naming organisms using nested levels including Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.

Phylogenetic Trees

Branching diagrams that represent hypotheses about the evolutionary history and relationships of organisms.

Phylogeny

The evolutionary history of a species or group of species.

Taxon (Taxa)

The taxonomic unit at any level of the hierarchical classification system, such as kingdom Animalia.

Sister taxa

Two or more taxa that are located next to each other on a phylogenetic tree, indicating they are closely related.

Clade

A group of taxa that share a common ancestor.

In group

A group of interest that is usually the focus of an evolutionary study.

Out group

One or more taxa that are distantly related to the in group being studied.

Character

A specific characteristic used in cladistics, such as a wing or a tail.

State

A particular property or variation of a character, such as the color of a tail or the shape of a wing.

Analogous traits

Traits that appear similar but actually evolved independently through convergent evolution.

Convergent evolution

The process where natural selection produces similar traits from different starting points due to similar environments.

Homologous traits

Traits that are similar due to true shared ancestry from a common ancestor.

Dichotomous Keys

A two-part classification system requiring two choices at each node to identify living things.

Biomes

Broad geographical areas with similar biological communities determined primarily by temperature and precipitation.

Evapotranspiration

The amount of water plants lose due to climate factors.

Freshwater Biome

A body of water characterized by a salt concentration of less than $1\%$, including ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, and wetlands.

Littoral Zone

The area of a freshwater body near the shore that supports algae, aquatic plants, and various invertebrates.

Limnetic Zone

The open water of a lake or pond near the surface that supports plankton and fish.

Profundal Zone

The cold, dense bottom of a lake with little to no light, supporting minimal plant life.

Hydrophytes

Plants adapted to grow in water or very moist soil, such as lilies, cattails, and black spruce.

Intertidal Zone

The marine region where land and ocean meet, often organized vertically in rocky coastal areas.

Pelagic Zone

The open ocean region near the surface that supports seaweed, plankton, and large marine animals like whales.

Benthic Zone

The ocean region below the pelagic zone but above the abyssal zone characterized by cold temperatures and very little light.

Abyssal Zone

The deep ocean zone with no light, high oxygen levels, and high pressure, containing chemosynthetic bacteria near hydrothermal vents.

Estuaries

Zones found where freshwater streams or rivers meet the mouth of the ocean.

Tropical Forests

Forests near the equator with no winter, constant day lengths, and rainfall exceeding $200\,cm/year$.

Temperate Forests

Forests at $25-50^{\circ}$ latitudes with fertile soil and trees that lose their leaves annually.

Boreal (Taiga) Forests

The largest terrestrial ecosystem, supporting cold-tolerant evergreen trees and precipitation primarily as snow.

Hot and Dry Deserts

Ecosystems with evaporation rates higher than rainfall and daily temperatures ranging from sub-zero to $45^{\circ}\text{C}$.

Desert

Any ecosystem that receives less than $50\,cm/year$ of rainfall.

Savanna

A grassland in warm climates with annual rainfall of $50-130\,cm/year$ concentrated over $6-8$ months.

Permafrost

Permanently frozen subsoil that is a distinct characteristic of the Arctic Tundra.

Niche

The combination of a species' physical habitat and its ecological role, determined by both abiotic and biotic factors.

Fundamental Niche

The theoretical range in which a species could exist based on climate, food, and shelter.

Realized Niche

The actual range in which a species exists, often limited by interactions with other species.

Intraspecific Competition

Competition for resources between individuals belonging to the same species.

Interspecific Competition

Competition for resources between individuals of different species.

Competitive Exclusion

When interspecific competition is so severe that one species completely excludes another from a niche.

Resource Partitioning

The process where species evolve differences in traits, such as feeding strategies or activity times, to reduce competition.

Predation

An interaction where one species (predator) benefits by consuming another (prey).

Parasitism

A relationship where one species (parasite) gains nutrition from the tissues of another species (host) without typically killing it.

Facilitation

An interaction where two species cooperate to prey on a third species, such as fungi and beetles attacking pine trees.

Mutualism

A biological interaction where both species involved benefit.

Symbiosis

A close relationship where two mutualists completely depend on each other for survival.

Obligate mutualism

A type of mutualism where one or both species cannot survive without the other, such as aphids and their gut bacteria.

Facultative mutualism

A type of mutualism where species can survive without each other if necessary.

Commensalism

An interaction where one species benefits while the other is unaffected.

Disturbances

Events like storms, fires, or human activities that produce severe physical impacts on a habitat.

Pulse disturbances

Short-term, immediate disturbances such as windstorms, floods, or sudden disease outbreaks.

Press disturbances

Long-term, persistent disturbances such as climate change or geological processes.

Succession

The process of community response and development in a new habitat created by a disturbance.

Primary succession

Succession that begins when all life has been wiped out and started 'from scratch,' such as after a glacier melts.

Secondary succession

Succession that occurs when only some life is wiped out, leaving soil and seeds intact, such as after a forest fire.

Pioneer species

The first organisms to re-colonize an area after a disturbance, often starting with lichens.

Climax Community

The final stage of succession when an ecosystem reaches equilibrium and species composition stabilizes.

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (IDH)

The theory that intermediate levels of disturbance support the greatest species diversity.

Monoculture

The agricultural practice of growing a single crop, plant, or livestock animal in a field.

Polyculture

The agricultural practice of growing multiple crops or livestock animals in an area to increase resilience and biological control.

Habitat Destruction

A process where land usage or quality changes so severely that no native species can be supported.

Habitat Degradation

A reduction in habitat quality that supports some native species while excluding many others.

Habitat Fragmentation

The interruption of a species' historical range by human activities, causing habitats to become smaller and more isolated.

Land Use Change

The process of changing historical land usage for human economic or urbanization purposes.

Wildlife corridors

Strips of natural habitat designed to connect wild populations that have been disconnected by human development.

Conservation

The planned management of natural resources intended to prevent exploitation and destruction.

Keystone Species

A single species whose loss would dramatically affect the balance of the entire ecosystem and cannot be functionally replaced.

Umbrella Species

A species with a large geographic range whose protection often determines the size of protected areas for other species.

Foundation Species

Species that play a primary role in creating or maintaining a habitat, such as coral reefs.

Ecosystem Engineers

Species like beavers or corals that have the ability to change, create, or maintain their habitat.

Indicator Species

Species sensitive to environmental changes that serve as signals for the overall health of an ecosystem.

Flagship Species

Charismatic 'mascot' species used to gain public support for conservation efforts, such as the giant panda.

Ecological Restoration

The practice of assisting the recovery of ecosystems that have been damaged, degraded, or destroyed.