Ecology

Abiotic forces

No living and physical attributions

Biotic factors

Living parents of individual environment

Taxonomy

Classification and discipline or organisms

Tassel Formula

Morphological feature used to classify animals at the genus level

Morphological

Anatomy, size, shape

Ecological

Behavior with other organisms in its surroundings

Biological characteristics

Potential to interbreed

Phylogenetic characteristics

Comparing DNA sequences to show relatedness

Binomial Nomenclature

Genus is capitalized, species is lowercase, and scientific name is italicized

Polytomy

two lineages stemming from one branching point

reproductive isolation

Biological factor impeding interbreeding and producing viable, fertile offspring

Prezygotic barriers

Reproductive barrier impeding mating/hinder fertilization

Postzygotic barriers

Reproductive isolation after zygote is formed

Climate

long term prevailing weather condition; temperature, pre

Biomes

major life zones - climate and biota

Aquatic biomes

Life zones characterized primarily by physical and chemical environment

Estuaries

freshwater from streams and rivers mix with salt water from the ocean

Aquatic biomes are most influenced

by light and inorganic nutrients

Communities are distributed by

Water depth, light penetration, distance from shore, and ocean water vs bottom dwelling

Bodies of water are zoned

horizontally and vertically

Light intensity

decreases rapidly wIt’s depth reducing photosynthetic ability/products

Climograph

Plot of the annual mean temperature and precipitation in a region

In the middle to high latitudes

Earth’s tilted axis of rotation and its annual passage and the temperature

Because of the high specific heat of water

Aquatic environments have low temperature variation compared to terrestrial environments.

Coastal regions

are generally wetter than inland areas at the same latitude