Biology 1 Honors Unit 6

Environmental stability

when an ecosystem drifts very little from average state despite changes in environmental conditions.

characteristics of ecosystem stability

resilience and biodiversity

Keystone species

species that has unequal effect on stability of the ecosystem and, if lost, will cause the ecosystem to rapidly change or collapse.

Food web

Model which shows how energy is being transferred throughout species in an ecosystem

Biomagnification

Refers to how chemicals move up a food chain. Concentration of chemicals increases as you go up the food chain

Greenhouse gases

gases which produce a warming/greenhouse effect on the atmosphere

Greenhouse effect

natural process by which heat is retained within atmosphere by greenhouse gases trapping heat that would normally radiate back into space

Positive feedback

increases departures from the mean

Negative feedback

stabilizes system around mean

Climate

statistics of weather conditions at a certain location over a long period of time

Rate of change over time formula

rise/run