Environmental Biology Flashcards

Fill-in-the-blank flashcards based on lecture notes for exam preparation.

__ is the study of the relationships of living organisms to each other and their surroundings.

Ecology

The __ is the place where a species lives within an ecosystem.

habitat

A group of organisms of the same species occupying a defined area at a given time is a __.

population

A __ is any group of organisms belonging to a number of different species that coexist in the same habitat and interact.

community

A community of organisms and their physical environment interacting as an ecological unit is an __.

ecosystem

The __ forms when different ecosystems unite and includes all the living organisms and the physical environment with which they interact.

biosphere

A species restricted to a particular area is an __ species.

endemic

An __ species does not form part of the original biodiversity of a region and is usually introduced by humans.

exotic

An alien species that reproduces and spreads into areas where it is not wanted is an __ species.

invader

A __ species has an important role and a disproportionately large effect on its ecosystem relative to its abundance.

keystone

__ is the number of young produced per female per unit time.

Birth rate

In ecology, __ refers to the process by which individuals of a species reach sexual maturity and become part of the reproductive population.

recruitment

The __ is the rate at which a population increases when no limits are placed on its rate of growth.

biotic potential

Population explosion is the result of unchecked __ growth.

exponential

The __ is the maximum population that an environment can sustain over a long period of time.

carrying capacity

__ variables are factors that affect population growth in relation to the population's size or density.

Density-dependent

__ variables are factors that affect population growth irrespective of the population's size or density.

Density-independent

__ includes all those factors which are going to limit population growth usually by causing an increase in the death rate.

Environmental resistance

Species that reproduce rapidly are called __.

r-species

__ maintain a population at or near carrying capacity (K).

K-species

__ competition is an interaction whereby members of the same species compete for limited resources.

Intraspecific

__ is a form of environmental resistance density-dependent factor where organisms exhibit behaviour such as aggression that serves to exclude other members of the same species from a fixed area.

Territoriality

__ techniques are used to determine the size of a population by counting the number of organisms in small sections and extrapolating for the total area.

Sampling

__ sampling is used to determine the population of organisms in a homogeneous area.

Random

__ sampling is used when the sampling area is not homogeneous and includes an environmental gradient.

Systematic

The __ can be used estimate animal population size.

capture-mark-recapture method

The population size estimation done via capture-mark-recapture method is called the __.

Lincoln index

__ is an interaction in which one organism, the predator, eats all or part of the body of another organism, the prey.

Predation

__ are organisms that feed on decaying organic matter.

Detritivores

Symbiosis is any form of close relationship between 2 different living organisms, it contains processes such as __ ,commensalism, parasitism,ammensalism, and competition.

mutualism

__ is a relationship between two organisms which is beneficial to both of them.

Mutualism

__ is a relationship between two organisms where one of them benefits from the other and the orther is neither harmed nor benefited.

Commensalism

A __ lives within or on another living organism called the host, from which it obtains food and generally shelter.

parasite

__ is a form of symbiotic interaction between 2 species where one species is inhibited and the other is unaffected.

Amensalism

__ occurs whenever individuals of different species compete for the same resource in an ecosystem.

Interspecific competition

The __ of an organism is the role it plays in its community, including its habitat and its interactions with other organisms.

ecological niche

Species with a broad niche are __.

generalists

Species with a narrow niche are __.

specialists

__ principle of competitive exclusion states that when two species compete for the same resources they cannot coexist indefinitely.

Gaussian

__ niche is the range of environmental conditions in which a species is technically capable of living.

Fundamental

__ niche is the range of environmental conditions (space) where the species actually lives.

Realised

__ succession occurs on newly formed habitats that have not previously supported a community.

Primary

__ succession occurs on sites that have previously supported a community.

Secondary

__ species are the first species that establishes itself on previously uncolonized substrates

Pioneer

__ community is the community that establishes itself following a successional series of communities.

Climax

__ is an ecological sequence of different species in a given area over a period of time. This change will continue until a climax community is reached.

Succession

__ describes the number of different species present in an area

Species richness

__describes the relative abundance of the different species in an area

Species evenness

The __ (also known as Simpson Diversity Index) can be used to measure the relative biodiversity of a given community.

Simpson's reciprocal index

__hypothesis (H0): This hypothesis states that there is no significant relationship or pattern within our data.

Null

__hypothesis (H1): This hypothesis states that there is a significant relationship or pattern within our data.

Alternative

In order to decide whether the difference between two sets of data is important, or significant, we use the __.

t-test