APES Unit 2.1 Introduction to Biodiversity.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

Vocab for of part of APES Unit 2

Ecosystem Diversity

The number of different habitats available in a given area

Species Diversity

The number of different species in an ecosystem and the balance or evenness of the population sizes of all species in the ecosystem.

Richness

The total number of different species found in an ecosystem

Evenness

A measure of how all of the individual organisms in an ecosystem are balanced between the different species

Genetic diversity

How different the genes are of individuals within a population

Bottleneck event

A reduction in the genetic diversity of a population caused by a severe reduction in its sizes.

Inbreeding depression

Determines if a species will survive a disruption or a bottleneck event

Economic Resilience

Higher species diversity = Higher ecosystem resilience

Selective pressure/force

The environmental condition that kills individuals without the adaptation

Adaptation

Genes that lead to better reproductive success will eventually evolve through the entire population

Pace of Evolution

The more rapidly an environment changes, the less likely a species in the environment will be to adapt to those changes

Ecological Range of Tolerance

Range of conditions that an organism can endure before injury

Optimal range

where organisms survive, grow and reproduce

Zone of physiological stress

Where organisms survive, but experience some stress

Zone of intolerance

Where the organisms will die

Connections

Global climate change is either pushing organisms outside their optimum range of tolerance and/or shifting the geographic location of their optimum zone of tolerance

Specialists

less adaptable because of specialized needs

Generalists

Adaptable to many environments

Keystone species

A species that has an impact for greater than its abundance

Tropic cascade

When top predators are lost and primary consumers will overcome producers and alter the entire ecosystem

Island bio geography

The study of ecological relationships and community structure on a island

Larger islands

Higher ecosystem diversity

Positive Correlation

between island size and species richness

Distance of mainland

Closer to mainland = higher species richness

Inverse relationship

Between island distance from mainland and species richness

Natural Disturbance

A period of ecological stress that is relatively short and causes drastic changes in the biotic factors of the ecosystem

Periodic

Occurs with regular frequency

Episodic

Occasional events with irregular frequency

Random

No regular frequency

Natural climate change

Earth’s climate has varied over geological time for numerous reasons

Environmental Change = Habitat Disruption

Major environmental disturbances that result in widespread habitat changes or loss

Migration

Wildlife may migrate to a new habitat as a result of natural disruption

Provisioning

Ecosystems provide a good that humans can use directly

Regulating

Natural ecosystems help to regulate environmental conditions

Supporting

Natural ecosystems support the most basic environmental conditional

Cultural

People like nature so the awe-inspiring beauty of nature has instrumental value because it provides an aesthetic benefit for which people are willing to pay