Ap Biology Chapter 54

Front 1

definition of "community"

Back 1

a group of populations of different species living close enough to interact

Front 2

what are "interspecific interactions" and what are some examples?

Back 2

an organism's interactions with individuals of other species in the community: competition, predation, herbivory, and symbiosis

Front 3

what is "interspecific competition"?

Back 3

a -/-interaction that occurs when individuals of different species compete for a resource that limits their growth and survival.

Front 4

what is "competitive exclusion"?

Back 4

when two species directly compete for limited resources, the species that uses resources more efficiently or has a slight reproductive advantage will eventually cause the local elimination of the inferior competitor

Front 5

definition of "ecological niche"

Back 5

the sum of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment

Front 6

definition of "resource partitioning"

Back 6

when evolution by natural selection results in the differenation of niches, enabling similar species to coexist in a community

Front 7

what is a species' "fundamental niche" versus its "realised niche"?

Back 7

FN is the niche ptentially occupied by the species, while the RN is the portion of its fundamental niche that it actually occupies in a particular environment, due to competition.

Front 8

what is "character displacement"?

Back 8

the tendency for characteristics to diverge more in sympatric populations of two species than in allopatric populations of the same two species

Front 9

definition of "predation"

Back 9

a +/- interaction between species in which one species kills and eats the other.

Front 10

what is "cryptic coloration"?

Back 10

camouflage, making prey difficult to spot

Front 11

what is "aposematic coloration"?

Back 11

the bright warning coloration often exhibited by animals with effection chemical defenses against predators.

Front 12

definition of "Batesian mimicry"

Back 12

when a palatable or harmless species mimics an unpalatable or harmful species

Front 13

definition of "Mullerian mimicry"

Back 13

when two or more unpalatble species resemble each other and gains advantage because the more unpalatable prety there are, the more quickly and effectively predators adapt

Front 14

definition of "herbivory"

Back 14

a +/- interaction in which an organism eats parts of a plant or alga.

Front 15

definition of "symbiosis"

Back 15

when individuals of two ore more species live in direct and intimage contact with one another - whether harmful, helpful, or neutral, according to this textbook. some biologists define symbiosis as mutualism, where both species benefit.

Front 16

definition of "parasitism"

Back 16

a +/- symbiotic interaction in which one organism, the parasite, derives its nourishment from another organism, its host, which is harmed in the process.

Front 17

what is an "endoparasite"?

Back 17

parasites that live within the body of their hosts

Front 18

what is an "ectoparasite"?

Back 18

a parasite that feeds on the external surface of a host, such as ticks and lice

Front 19

what is "mutualism"?

Back 19

an interspecific interaction that benefits both species: +/+

Front 20

definition of "commensalism"?

Back 20

an interaction between species that benefits one of the species but neitehr harms nor helps the other ( +/0 ) is called commensalism

Front 21

what are the two components of "species diversity"?

Back 21

species richness - the number of different species in the community; and the relative abundance of the species

Front 22

what is the "trophic structure" of a community?

Back 22

the feeding relationships between organisms

Front 23

what does the energetic hypthesis say?

Back 23

that the length of a food chain is limited by the inefficiency of energy transfer along the chain

Front 24

what does the dynamic stability hypthesis say?

Back 24

that long food chains are less stable than short chains

Front 25

definition of "biomass"

Back 25

the total mass of all individuals in a population

Front 26

definition of "keystone species"

Back 26

a species that is not necessarily abundant in a community but exerts strong control on the community structure by a pivotal ecological role, or niche

Front 27

what is a "foundation species"?

Back 27

a species that dramatically alters their physical environment on a large scale

Front 28

what is a "facilitator"?

Back 28

a species that has positive effects on the survival and reproduction of other species in the community