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Abiotic factors

Nonliving factor (ex temp, pH)

Adaptation

A trait that improves an individual's fitness.

Aerobic respiration

The process by which cells convert glucose and oxygen into energy, carbon dioxide, and water.

Aphotic zone

The deeper layer of ocean water that lacks sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis.

Aquatic biome

An aquatic region characterized by a particular combination of salinity, depth, and water flow.

artificial selection

The process in which humans determine which individuals breed, typically with a preconceived set of traits in mind.

Benthic zone

The muddy bottom of a lake, pond, or ocean.

Biomass

The total mass of all living matter in a specific area.

Bottleneck effect

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

Climax community

Historically described as the final stage of succession.

Commensalism

A relationship between species in which one species benefits and the other species is neither harmed nor helped.

Community

All of the populations of organisms within a given area.

Competition

The struggle of individuals to obtain a shared limiting resource. Can occur between species (interspecific) and within species (intraspecific).

Competitive exclusion principle

The principle stating that two species competing for the same limiting resource cannot coexist.

Consumer

An organism that is incapable of photosynthesis and must obtain its energy by consuming other organisms. (Also known as 'heterotroph.')

Coral bleaching

A phenomenon in which algae inside corals die, causing the corals to turn white.

Coral reef

The most diverse marine biome on Earth, found in warm, shallow waters beyond the shoreline.

Decomposers

Fungi and bacteria that convert organic matter into small elements and molecules that can be recycled back into the ecosystem.

Detritivore

An organism that specializes in breaking down dead tissues and waste products into smaller particles.

Ecological efficiency

The proportion of consumed energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another. Also known as: The 10% Rule.

Ecological succession

The predictable replacement of one group of species by another group of species over time.

Ecosystem engineer

A keystone species that creates or maintains habitat for other species.

Estuary

An area along the coast where the fresh water of rivers mixes with salt water from the ocean.

Eutrophic

Describes a lake with a high level of productivity.

Evolution

A change in the genetic composition (gene frequency) of a population over time.

Food chain

The sequence of consumption from producers through tertiary consumers.

Food web

A complex model of how energy and matter move between trophic levels.

Founder effect

A change in the genetic composition of a population as a result of descending from a small number of colonizing individuals.

Fundamental niche

The suite of abiotic conditions under which a species can survive, grow, and reproduce.

Gene Flow

The process by which individuals move from one population to another and thereby alter the genetic composition of both populations. (Migration)

Genetic diversity

A measure of the genetic variation among individuals in a population.

Gross primary productivity (GPP)

The total amount of solar energy that producers in an ecosystem capture via photosynthesis over a given amount of time.

Habitat

An area where a particular species lives in nature.

Herbivore

A consumer that eats producers. (Also known as 'primary consumer.')

Inbreeding depression

When individuals with similar genotypes—typically relatives—breed with each other and produce offspring that have an impaired ability to survive and reproduce.

Keystone species

A species that that is not very abundant but has large effects on an ecological community.

Limnetic zone

A zone of open water in lakes and ponds.

Littoral zone

The shallow zone of soil and water in lakes and ponds where most algae and emergent plants grow.

Mesotrophic

Describes a lake with a moderate level of productivity.

Mutation

A random change in the genetic code produced by a mistake in the copying process.

Mutualism

An interaction between two species that increases the chances of survival or reproduction for both species.

Natural selection

The process in which the environment determines which individuals survive and reproduce. Differential reproductive and survival fitness.

Negative feedback loop

A feedback loop in which a system responds to a change by returning to its original state, or by decreasing the rate at which the change is occurring.

Net primary productivity (NPP)

The energy captured by producers in an ecosystem minus the energy producers respire.

Niche generalist

A species that can live under a wide range of abiotic or biotic conditions.

Niche specialist

A species that is specialized to live in a specific habitat or to feed on a small group of species.

Oligotrophic

Describes a lake with a low level of productivity.

Open ocean

Deep ocean water, located away from the shoreline where sunlight can no longer reach the ocean bottom.

Parasitism

An interaction in which one organism lives on or in another organism.

Parasitoid

A specialized type of predator that lays eggs inside other organisms—referred to as its host.

Permafrost

An impermeable, permanently frozen layer of soil.

Photic zone

The upper layer of ocean water in the ocean that receives enough sunlight for photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis

The process by which producers use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose.

Phytoplankton

Photosynthetic algae (producer).

Pioneer species

A species that can colonize new areas rapidly and grow well in full sunshine.

Population

The individuals that belong to the same species and live in a given area at a particular time.

Positive feedback loop

A feedback loop in which change in a system is amplified. Moves farther away from starting point.

Predation

An interaction in which one animal typically kills and consumes another animal.

Primary succession

Ecological succession occurring on surfaces that are initially devoid of soil.

Producer

An organism that uses the energy of the Sun to produce usable forms of energy. (Also known as 'autotroph.')

Profundal zone

A region of water where sunlight does not reach, below the limnetic zone in very deep lakes.

Range of tolerance

The limits to the abiotic conditions that a species can tolerate.

Realized niche

The range of abiotic and biotic conditions under which a species actually lives.

Recombination

The genetic process by which one chromosome breaks off and attaches to another chromosome during reproductive cell division. Genetic reshuffling during meiosis.

Reproductive isolation

The result of two populations within a species evolving separately to the point that they can no longer interbreed and produce viable offspring.

Resilience

The rate at which an ecosystem returns to its original state after a disturbance.

Resource partitioning

When two species divide a resource based on differences in their behavior or morphology.

Secondary succession

The succession of plant life that occurs in areas that have been disturbed but have not lost their soil.

Shannon Index

Calculation to measure the species diversity (species richness and evenness) in a community.

Species diversity

A measure of the number of species, and their abundance, in a region or in a particular ecosystem.

Species evenness

The relative proportion of individuals within the different species in a given area.

Species richness

The number of species in a given area.

Symbiotic relationship

The relationship between two species that live in close association with each other.

Terrestrial biome

A geographic region categorized by a particular combination of average annual temperature, annual precipitation, and distinctive plant growth forms on land.

Theory of island biogeography

A theory that demonstrates the dual importance of habitat size and distance in determining species richness.

Trophic levels

The successive levels of organisms consuming one another.

Trophic pyramid

A representation of the distribution of biomass, numbers, or energy among trophic levels.