AP Environmental Science Unit 2 Vocabulary Review

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering Unit 2 topics in AP Environmental Science based on the lecture review.

Biodiversity

The diversity of different life forms found in an ecosystem.

Genetic Diversity

The variance of genes or traits found within individuals of a population.

Species Diversity

The diversity of different types of organisms found in an ecosystem.

Species Richness

A count of the total number of different species found in a given ecosystem.

Species Evenness

The distribution or balance of the population sizes of all the different species present in an ecosystem.

Ecosystem Diversity

The variance in the different ecosystems found in a given area.

Ecosystem Services

Financial and environmental benefits that humans obtain directly or indirectly from the natural functions of ecosystems.

Provisioning Services

Goods or resources directly provided to humans by natural ecosystems, such as wood for furniture or houses that can be harvested and sold.

Supporting Services

Natural processes done by ecosystems that support valuable human actions, such as insects like bees and moths pollinating crops.

Regulating Services

Ecosystem processes that stabilize climate or environmental factors, saving money on cleanup or environmental damage, such as carbon sequestration by trees.

Cultural Services

Recreational or intellectual benefits derived from nature, such as tourism generated by visiting national parks or scientific research on ecosystems.

Theory of Island Biogeography

A theoretical model stating that island species richness is determined by distance from the mainland (closer islands have higher species richness) and island size (larger islands support higher species richness).

Ecological Tolerance

The range of environmental conditions that an organism or species can tolerate before serious injury or death ensues.

Optimal Range

The specific range of environmental conditions where an organism's body functions most efficiently, allowing it to survive, grow, and develop.

Zone of Physiological Stress

The range of environmental conditions outside an organism's optimal range where it experiences stress and impaired function.

Zone of Intolerance

The range of environmental conditions far outside an organism's optimal range that quickly results in death.

Periodic Events

Natural environmental disturbance events that occur with regular frequency, such as rainy seasons or dry seasons.

Episodic Events

Natural environmental disturbance events that occur less regularly but with some predictability when specific conditions are met, such as hurricanes and forest fires.

Random Events

Natural environmental disturbance events that occur with no regular pattern or predictability, such as asteroid impacts or volcanic eruptions.

Milankovitch Cycles

Regular variations in Earth's orbit—eccentricity, axial precession, and obliquity—that alter Earth's climate naturally over tens of thousands of years.

Eccentricity

The variation in the shape of the orbital path that Earth takes around the Sun.

Axial Precession

The degree to which Earth wobbles on its rotational axis.

Obliquity

The variation in the tilt of Earth on its axis.

Adaptation

A genetic mutation that increases an organism's likelihood of surviving and reproducing in its environment.

Primary Succession

Ecological succession starting in a bare rock ecosystem where soil is completely absent, initiated by pioneer species like moss and lichen.

Pioneer Species

The early successional organisms—such as moss, lichen, wildflowers, or grasses—that are the first to colonize bare rock or disturbed soil.

Climax Community

A late, stable stage of ecological succession characterized by high species richness and high total biomass, such as a mature oak and maple forest.

Secondary Succession

Ecological succession occurring in an area where an existing vegetation community has been disturbed, but soil remains intact.

Keystone Species

A species so vital to the stability and function of its ecosystem that its removal can cause the entire ecosystem to collapse.

Ecosystem Engineers

Keystone species, such as beavers and mangrove trees, that physically alter or build landscapes to create habitats that could not exist without them.