Ap/ib Bio Chapter 54 And 55

Front 1

ecosystem

Back 1

A level of ecological study that includes all the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact; a community and its physical environment.

Front 2

trophic structure

Back 2

The different feeding relationships in an ecosystem that determine the route of energy flow and the pattern of chemical cycling.

Front 3

trophic level

Back 3

The different feeding relationships in an ecosystem that determine the route of energy flow and the pattern of chemical cycling.

Front 4

primary producers

Back 4

An autotroph, which collectively make up the trophic level of an ecosystem that ultimately supports all other levels; usually a photosynthetic organism.

Front 5

primary consumers

Back 5

An herbivore; an organism in the trophic level of an ecosystem that eats plants or algae

Front 6

sedondary consumers

Back 6

A member of the trophic level of an ecosystem consisting of carnivores that eat herbivores.

Front 7

tertiary consumers

Back 7

A member of a trophic level of an ecosystem consisting of carnivores that eat mainly other carnivores.

Front 8

detritivores

Back 8

Organisms that live on dead and discarded organic matter; include large scavengers, smaller animals such as earthworms and some insects, as well as decomposers (fungi and bacteria).

Front 9

detritus

Back 9

Dead organic matter.

Front 10

denitrification

Back 10

The process by which certain bacteria living in poorly aerated soils break down nitrates, using the oxygen for their own respiration and releasing nitrogen back into the atmosphere.

Front 11

food chain

Back 11

The pathway along which food is transferred from trophic level to trophic level, beginning with producers.

Front 12

food web

Back 12

The elaborate, interconnected feeding relationships in an ecosystem.

Front 13

production

Back 13

contributions to the net primary productivity of a community.

Front 14

consumption

Back 14

Taking away from the net primary productivity of a community

Front 15

decomposition

Back 15

Saprotrophic fungi and bacteria absorb nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes of living organisms, and convert them into inorganic forms.

Front 16

primary productivity

Back 16

The rate at which light energy or inorganic chemical energy is converted to the chemical energy of organic compounds by autotrophs in an ecosystem.

Front 17

gross primary productivity

Back 17

The total primary productivity of an ecosystem.

Front 18

net primary productivity

Back 18

The gross primary productivity minus the energy used by the producers for cellular respiration; represents the storage of chemical energy in an ecosystem available to consumers.

Front 19

secondary productivity

Back 19

the rate at which all the heterotrophs in an ecosystem incorporate organic material into new biomass, which can be equated to chemical energy.

Front 20

biomass

Back 20

The dry weight of organic matter comprising a group of organisms in a particular habitat.

Front 21

standing crop

Back 21

is the quantity or total weight or energy content of the organisms which are in a particular location at a particular time

Front 22

limiting nutrient

Back 22

An element that must be added for production to increase in a particular area.

Front 23

ecological efficiency

Back 23

The ratio of net productivity at one trophic level to net productivity at the next lower level.

Front 24

productivity pyramid

Back 24

A pyramid showing the production or turnover of biomass at each trophic leve

Front 25

biomass pyramid

Back 25

An ecological pyramid of biomass shows the relationship between biomass and trophic level by quantifying the amount of biomass present at each trophic level

Front 26

turnover time

Back 26

The time required to replace the standing crop of a population or group of populations (for example, of phytoplankton), calculated as the ratio of standing crop biomass to production

Front 27

pyramid of numbers

Back 27

An ecological pyramid of numbers shows graphically the population of each level in a food chain

Front 28

biogeochemical cycle

Back 28

The various nutrient circuits, which involve both biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems.

Front 29

nitrogen fixation

Back 29

The assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by certain prokaryotes into nitrogenous compounds that can be directly used by plants.

Front 30

ammonification

Back 30

The process by which decomposers break down proteins and amino acids, releasing the excess nitrogen in the form of ammonia (NH3) or ammonium ion (NH4+).

Front 31

long-term ecological research (LTER)

Back 31

The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network is a collaborative effort involving more than 1800 scientists and students investigating ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales.

Front 32

biological magnification

Back 32

A trophic process in which retained substances become more concentrated with each link in the food chain.

Front 33

greenhouse effect

Back 33

The warming of planet Earth due to the atmospheric accumulation of carbon dioxide, which absorbs infrared radiation and slows its escape from the irradiated Earth.

Front 34

conservation biology

Back 34

A goal-oriented science that seeks to counter the biodiversity crisis, the current rapid decrease in Earth's variety of life.

Front 35

biodiversity

Back 35

is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth

Front 36

biodiversity crisis

Back 36

The loss of different variations of life forms

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source habitat

Back 37

A habitat where reproduction exceeds mortality and from which excess individuals disperse.

Front 38

sink habitat

Back 38

A habitat where mortality exceeds reproduction.

Front 39

biodiverrsity hot spot

Back 39

A relatively small area with an exceptional concentration of species.

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endemic species

Back 40

Species that are confined to a specific, relatively small geographic area.

Front 41

endangered species

Back 41

A species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Front 42

threatened species

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Species that are likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of their range.

Front 43

metapopulation

Back 43

A subdivided population of a single species.

Front 44

propulation viability analysis

Back 44

A method of predicting whether or not a population will persist.

Front 45

minimum viable population size

Back 45

The smallest number of individuals needed to perpetuate a population.

Front 46

minimum dynamic area

Back 46

The amount of suitable habitat needed to sustain a viable population.

Front 47

effective population size

Back 47

An estimate of the size of a population based on the numbers of females and males that successfully breed; generally smaller than the total population.

Front 48

landscape ecology

Back 48

The study of past, present, and future patterns of landscape use, as well as ecosystem management and the biodiversity of interacting ecosystems.

Front 49

Movement corridor

Back 49

A series of small clumps or a narrow strip of quality habitat (usable by organisms) that connects otherwise isolated patches of quality habitat.

Front 50

zoned reserve

Back 50

Habitat areas that are protected from human alteration and surrounded by lands that are used and more extensively altered by human activity.

Front 51

systems restoration ecology

Back 51

is the study of renewing a degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystem through active human intervention

Front 52

bioremediation

Back 52

The use of living organisms to detoxify and restore polluted and degraded ecosystems.

Front 53

sustainable development

Back 53

The long-term prosperity of human societies and the ecosystems that support them.

Front 54

Sustainable Biosphere Initiative

Back 54

An ecological research agenda