APES REVIEW

Resource Partitioning

The process by which species divide resources to avoid competition and enhance survival.

Parasitism

An interaction where one organism lives on or in another organism (host), benefiting at the host's expense (e.g., ticks feeding on a mammal's blood).

Predator/Prey

An interaction where one animal (predator) kills and consumes another animal (prey) (e.g., a lion hunting a zebra).

Mutualism

An interaction between two species that benefits both, increasing their chances of survival (e.g., bees pollinating flowers while collecting nectar).

Commensalism

An interaction where one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed (e.g., barnacles on a turtle's shell).

Ecosystem

A complex network of living organisms interacting with each other and their physical environment in a specific area.

Biome

A geographic region characterized by specific plants and animals adapted to the climate and environment of that region.

Terrestrial Biome

A geographic region of land categorized by a particular combination of annual precipitation, average annual temperature, and distinctive plant growth

Tundra

A cold and treeless biome with low-growing vegetation

Taiga (Boreal Forest)

A forest biome made up of mostly evergreen trees that can tolerate cold winters and short growing seasons. (Also known as Boreal Forest)

Temperate Forest

A coastal biome typified by moderate temperatures and high precipitation

Temperate Grassland

A biome characterized by cold, harsh winters, and hot, dry summers. Known as cold desert.

Hot Desert

A biome characterized by hot temperatures, extremely dry conditions, and sparse vegetation

Savanna

A biome marked by warm temperatures and distinct wet and dry seasons. (Tropical Seasonal Forest)

Tropical Rainforest

A biome near the equator, with warm weather and lots of rainfall. Found in Central and South America

Chaparral

A biome with dry summers, wet winters, moderate rainfall, and frequent wildfires.

Mediterranean Forest

A biome with moderate rainfall, wet winters, dry summers, and diverse plant species.

Freshwater Aquatic Biomes

An aquatic region characterized by a combination of salinity, depth, and water flow.

Three types: include lakes, rivers, and wetlands, characterized by low salt concentration.

Saltwater (Marine) Biomes

Five types include oceans, coral reefs, estuaries, intertidal zones, and deep-sea environments.

Food Web

A model showing how energy and matter move through interconnected food chains in an ecosystem.

Energy Flow

The transfer of energy through an ecosystem, typically represented by food webs and energy pyramids.

Laws of Thermodynamics

Principles governing energy flow, including conservation of energy and matter, impacting ecosystems.

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)

The total amount of energy produced by photosynthesis in an ecosystem.

Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

The amount of energy available to consumers after accounting for plant respiration.

10% Rule

The principle that only about 10% of energy at one trophic level is converted to the next higher trophic level.

Lake Zones

Different areas in lakes, including littoral, limnetic, profundal, and benthic zones, each with distinct characteristics.

Phytoplankton

Floating algae that live in the limnetic zone of lakes, contributing to primary productivity.

Benthic Zone

The bottom layer of a lake, pond, or ocean, where organisms live on or in the sediment.

Symbiosis

two species living in a close and long-term association ith each other in an ecosystem

Competition exclusion principle

tells us that two species can't have exactly the same niche in a habitat and stably coexist.

Herbivory

An interaction in which an animal consumes plants or algae

Oligotrophic

Describes a lake with low levels of phytoplankton due to low amounts of nutrients in the water

Mesotrophic

Lake with low levels of fertility

Eutrophic

Lake with high levels of fertility

Greenhouse Gases

Gases in the Earth’s atmosphere that trap heat near the surface

Intertidal zone

A narrow band of coastline that exists between levels of high and low tide

Littoral Zone

Shallow zone of soil and water in lakes and ponds near the shore where most algae and plants grow

Limnetic Zone

A zone of open water in lakes and ponds as deep as the sunlight can penetrate

Tertiary Consumers

A carnivore that eats secondary consumers

GPP

the amount of chemical energy, typically expressed as carbon biomass, that primary producers create in a given length of time.

NPP = GPP - Respiration

NPP

the amount of biomass or carbon produced by primary producers per unit area and time, obtained by subtracting plant respiratory costs (Rp) from gross primary productivity (GPP) or total photosynthesis.

Streams and Rivers

characterized by flowing fresh water that originates from underground springs, or runoff from precipitation

Lakes and Ponds

Contain standing water, some of it too deep to support emergent vegetation. Plants that are rooted to the bottom and emerge above the water's surface.

Freshwater Wetlands

Aquatic biomes that are submerged by water for at least part of each year, but shallow enough to support emergent vegetation.

Estuaries and Salt Marshes

Areas along the coast where freshwater mixes with saltwater. Productive place for plants and Algae, plants help take out the contaminants in the water.

Mangrove Swamps

Occur along the tropical and subtropical coasts, containing trees whose roots submerge in water. Salt tolerant.

Intertidal Zones

A narrow band of coastline that exists between levels of high and low tide. Steep rocky areas.

Coral Reefs

Found in warm shallow waters beyond the shoreline in tropical regions, most diverse marine biome.

Open Ocean

Contains deep ocean water that is located away from the shoreline where sunlight doesn’t reach the ocean bottom.

Water Cycle

First Law of Thermodynamics

A theory with no known exception that states that energy is neither created nor destroyed but it can change from one form to another

Second Law of Thermodynamics

A theory with no known exception that states when energy is transformed, the quantity of energy remains the same, but its ability to do work diminishes,

Watershed

All the land in an area that drains into a particular stream, river, lake, or wetland.