Unit 2: Biodiversity Vocabulary Review

Unit 2 Essential Vocabulary - AP Environmental Science

What are the non-living components of an ecosystem that shape the environment and influence the distribution and abundance of organisms?

Abiotic Factors (e.g., sunlight, water, temperature, soil)

What are the living components of an ecosystem that interact with each other and with abiotic factors?

Biotic Factors (e.g., plants, animals, fungi, bacteria)

What refers to the number, variety, and variability of organisms, consisting of genetic diversity, species richness, and ecosystem diversity?

Biodiversity (e.g., a rainforest with thousands of plant and animal species)

What is a relatively small area of land that contains an exceptional number of endemic species and is at high risk from human activities?

Biodiversity Hotspot (e.g., the Caribbean islands or Madagascar)

What term refers to the collective plant life found in a certain area or during a given time period?

Flora (e.g., the oak trees and wildflowers in a forest)

What term refers to all animal life found in a certain area or during a given time period?

Fauna (e.g., the deer, squirrels, and birds in a forest)

What is the natural environment where an organism lives and grows, encompassing both living and non-living factors?

Habitat (e.g., a coral reef is the habitat for many marine species)

What is the variation in genes and genotypes within a species population?

Genetic Biodiversity (e.g., different coat colors in a population of wolves)

What is the variety of distinct locations supporting species in an ecosystem or biome?

Habitat Biodiversity (e.g., a landscape containing forests, grasslands, and rivers)

What refers to the number of species present in an ecosystem and the relative abundance of each species?

Species Biodiversity (e.g., the number of different bird species in a specific forest)

What is an organism's role or function within an ecosystem, encompassing its habitat, food sources, interactions with other species, and behaviors?

Niche (e.g., an owl's niche includes hunting at night, eating small rodents, and nesting in tree hollows)

What is the full range of environmental conditions and resources an organism can occupy and use, especially when limiting factors are absent?

Fundamental Niche (e.g., a specific fish species could theoretically live in a wide range of water temperatures and depths)

What is the part of the fundamental niche that an organism occupies due to limiting factors present in its habitat?

Realized Niche (e.g., the same fish species only lives in warmer, shallower waters due to the presence of predators in deeper, colder areas)

What occurs when the population number dramatically decreases as a result of natural disasters?

Bottleneck Effect (e.g., a natural disaster drastically reduces a population of cheetahs, leading to a loss of genetic diversity)

What are the species that play a major role in creating or maintaining habitats to support other species in an ecosystem?

Foundation Species (e.g., kelp in a kelp forest, or coral in a coral reef)

What type of species contributes to the physical geography of their habitat by modifying, creating, and maintaining habitats?

Ecosystem Engineer (e.g., beavers building dams, or prairie dogs digging burrows)

What type of species is only found in a single geographical area and does not occur naturally in any other part of the world?

Endemic Species (e.g., lemurs are endemic to Madagascar)

What type of species is naturally occurring in a particular region, having evolved and adapted to its specific environment?

Native Species (e.g., the bald eagle is a native species to North America)

What type of species is found in a particular location and surrounding areas?

Indigenous Species (e.g., a plant species found naturally in both Mexico and the southern U.S.)

What are human actions that prioritize human needs and interests over the well-being of other species and the environment?

Anthropocentric activities (e.g., diverting rivers for agriculture without considering downstream ecosystems)

What are the benefits humans obtain from ecosystems, such as clean air and water, fertile soil, crop pollination, and climate regulation?

Ecosystem Services (e.g., forests purifying air, wetlands filtering water, or bees pollinating crops)

What are the non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems, such as recreation, aesthetic enjoyment, spiritual enrichment, and cultural identity?

Cultural Services (e.g., hiking in a national park, fishing for sport, or sacred natural sites)

What products are obtained from ecosystems, such as food, water, timber, and fuel?

Provisioning Services (e.g., wood from forests, fresh water from rivers, fish from oceans, medicinal plants)

What benefits are obtained from balanced ecosystem processes, such as climate management, air and water purification, pollination, and pest control?

Regulating Services (e.g., mangroves protecting coastlines from storms, forests absorbing carbon dioxide, bats controlling insect populations)

What are the underlying processes enabling the other three ecosystem services, including nutrient cycling, soil formation, and primary production?

Supporting Services (e.g., soil formation, photosynthesis, nutrient recycling)

What is the process by which new species arrive on an island and establish a population?

Colonization (e.g., a new species of bird arriving on a remote island)

What theory predicts that species richness is a function of island size and distance from the mainland, with large islands close to the mainland having the highest level of biodiversity?

Island Biogeography (e.g., larger islands closer to continents have more species than smaller, more distant islands)

What type of species has a broad niche and is easily adaptable to many environmental conditions?

Generalist Species (e.g., raccoons, cockroaches, or coyotes)

What type of species has a narrow niche and incredibly specific needs in order to survive?

Specialist Species (e.g., pandas (which eat only bamboo) or koalas (which eat only eucalyptus leaves))

What type of species causes ecological or economic harm in a new environment where it is not native?

Invasive Species (e.g., zebra mussels in the Great Lakes, or Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades)

What is the maximum number of individuals of a given species that a particular environment can support, represented by the letter K?

Carrying Capacity (e.g., a forest can only support a certain number of deer due to limited food)

What represents all relevant abiotic conditions that define a species' fundamental niche?

Range of Tolerance (e.g., a fish species might tolerate water temperatures between 10^\circ C and 25^\circ C)

What are any factors (variables) in an environment capable of limiting a process, such as the growth or distribution of a population?

Limiting Factors (e.g., limited food supply, lack of water, or presence of predators can limit population growth)

What refers to the long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, primarily driven by human activities since the 1800s?

Climate change (e.g., increased global temperatures leading to more frequent heatwaves)

What are events or processes that alter the structure, function, or composition of an ecosystem?

Disruptions (e.g., a forest fire, a flood, or widespread deforestation)

What are the interconnected natural processes that shape our planet, involving interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and cryosphere?

Earth system processes (e.g., the water cycle, carbon cycle, or plate tectonics)

What events, like fires, floods, volcanic eruptions, and climate change, can cause significant damage to ecosystems but also create opportunities for new growth?

Natural disruptions (e.g., Hurricane Katrina causing widespread ecological damage, or a volcanic eruption creating new land)

What are anthropocentric activities that can lead to the loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, water pollution, and climate change, such as deforestation and overfishing?

Human-induced disruptions (e.g., deforestation for agriculture, plastic pollution in oceans, overfishing)

What is the regular, often seasonal movement of animals from one location to another, triggered by changes in environmental conditions?

Migration (e.g., monarch butterflies flying south for the winter, or wildebeest crossing the Serengeti)

What phenomenon describes the average height of the ocean's surface increasing over time?

Sea level rise (e.g., Venice, Italy experiencing more frequent flooding)

What explains sea level rise due to ocean water warming up and expanding?

Thermal expansion (e.g., a glass of water overflowing when heated significantly)

What contributes to sea level rise by adding more water to the oceans from glaciers and ice sheets on land?

Melting ice (e.g., glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica shrinking and contributing water to the oceans)

What phenomenon describes the average height of the ocean's surface decreasing?

Sea level fall (e.g., during the last ice age, sea levels were much lower, exposing land bridges)

What occurs during ice ages when huge amounts of water are locked up in glaciers and ice sheets, lowering sea levels?

Ice age glaciation (e.g., during the Pleistocene epoch, vast ice sheets covered much of North America and Europe)

What refers to geological processes, like tectonic plate movement, that can slightly change the volume of ocean basins, leading to changes in sea level?

Ocean basin volume (e.g., the formation of new oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges can slightly increase basin volume, leading to minor sea level changes over millions of years)

What is a physical or behavioral trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment, developing over generations through natural selection?

Adaptation (e.g., a desert fox developing large ears to dissipate heat, or a polar bear having thick fur for insulation)

What is the process in which organisms with traits that make them better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce?

Natural Selection (e.g., giraffes with longer necks being better able to reach leaves, leading to more long-necked offspring)

What is the range of genetic material in a gene pool or population of a single species?

Genetic Diversity (e.g., the variety of fur colors and patterns within a population of domestic cats)

What occurs when two (or more) species affect each other's evolution, often caused by symbiotic relationships and predator-prey dynamics?

Coevolution (e.g., a flower and its specific pollinator evolving together, like a hummingbird's beak fitting a particular flower)

What is a branching diagram or "tree" showing the inferred evolutionary relationships among various biological species?

Phylogenetic Tree (e.g., a diagram showing how humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas evolved from a common ancestor)

What selective force or forces in nature push a population toward the average or median trait?

Stabilizing Selection (e.g., human birth weight, where very low or very high weights have lower survival rates)

What selective force or forces cause a population to evolve towards one end of a trait spectrum?

Directional Selection (e.g., the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, or increasing brain size in hominids)

What selective force or forces in nature push a population toward the two ends of the trait spectrum, potentially leading to the formation of two distinct species?

Diversifying Selection (e.g., a population of birds with either very small beaks (for small seeds) or very large beaks (for large seeds), but few with medium-sized beaks (for medium seeds))

What is the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is established?

Succession (e.g., a forest regrowing after a wildfire)

What type of succession occurs in essentially lifeless areas, such as lava flows or newly formed sand dunes, where soil is incapable of sustaining life?

Primary Succession (e.g., plant growth on newly formed volcanic rock or a retreating glacier's barren land)

What type of succession occurs in areas where a community that previously existed has been removed by smaller-scale disturbances that do not eliminate all life and nutrients?

Secondary Succession (e.g., a field returning to forest after being abandoned by farmers, or a burned forest regrowing)

What is a stable, mature community in a successive series that has reached equilibrium after having evolved through stages and adapted to its environment?

Climax Community (e.g., an old-growth forest that has remained stable for centuries)

What are the first organisms (such as lichens and mosses) to colonize an area and begin the first stages of succession?

Pioneer Species (e.g., lichens and mosses growing on bare rock)

What is a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed, the ecosystem would change drastically?

Keystone Species (e.g., sea otters, which control sea urchin populations and prevent kelp forests from being overgrazed)

What is the property of communities or populations to remain "essentially unchanged" when subject to disturbance?

Ecological Resistance (e.g., a diverse forest maintaining its structure and function despite a pest outbreak)

What is the ability of an ecosystem to maintain its normal patterns of nutrient cycling and biomass production after being subjected to damage caused by an ecological disturbance?

Ecological Resilience (e.g., a grassland quickly recovering its plant cover after a drought)

What is an organism whose presence, absence, or abundance reflects a specific environmental condition?

Indicator Species (e.g., amphibians are often indicator species for water quality due to their permeable skin)

What organisms come after pioneer species and help to continue to modify the soil and habitat in ecological succession, eventually being replaced by climax community species?

Intermediate species (e.g., grasses and shrubs growing after pioneer species, but before a climax forest develops)

What refers to the number of species within a defined region?

Species Richness (e.g., a tropical rainforest having hundreds of tree species in a small area)

What refers to the relative abundance of different species in a particular sample, community, or habitat area?

Species Evenness (e.g., an ecosystem where all present species have roughly equal population sizes, rather than one dominant species)

What is a species selected as a symbol or ambassador for an environmental cause, often a large, charismatic animal, to help raise awareness and funding for broader conservation efforts?

Flagship Species (e.g., The giant panda is a widely recognized and beloved species, making it an effective symbol for conservation efforts.)

What is a species whose conservation requires the protection of its entire habitat, thereby indirectly protecting many other species that share that habitat?

Umbrella Species (e.g., The grizzly bear requires large, undisturbed territories. Conserving land for grizzlies in areas like the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem benefits numerous other birds, mammals, and amphibians that share the same habitat.)