Bio 123 Final Exam

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Hypothesis

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a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.

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Theory

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A well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that is acquired through the scientific method and repeatedly tested and confirmed through observation and experimentation.

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Taxonomy

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The branch of science concerned with classification, especially of organisms; systematics.

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Heritability

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A statistic used in breeding and genetics works that estimates how much variation in a phenotypic trait in a population is due to genetic variation among individuals in that population.

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Microevolution

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The change in allele frequencies that occur over time within a population. This change is due to four different processes: mutation, selection (natural and artificial), gene flow, and genetic drift.

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Macroevolution

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Evolution on a scale of separated gene pools. It focuses on change that occurs at or above the level of species, in contrast with microevolution, which refers to smaller evolutionary changes (typically described as changes in allele frequencies) within a species or population.

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Phylogenetics

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The branch of life science concerned with the analysis of molecular sequencing data to study evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms.

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Radiometric Dating

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A technique used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were selectively incorporated when they formed.

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Unstable Isotope

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An isotope that undergoes radioactive decay meaning it loses energy over time while emitting radiation.

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Half-Life

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The amount of time required for the amount of something to fall to half its initial value. The term is very commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay, but it is also used more generally for discussing any type of exponential decay.

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Carbon Dating

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A method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon (14. C), a radioactive isotope of carbon.

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Punctuated Equilibrium

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A theory in evolutionary biology which proposes that once species appear in the fossil record they will become stable, showing little net evolutionary change for most of their geological history. This state is called stasis.

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Population

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A group of individuals of the same species inhabiting the same area.

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Anadromous

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A fish, born in fresh water, that spends most of its life in the sea and returns to fresh water to spawn. Salmon, smelt, shad, striped bass, and sturgeon are common examples.

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Potamodramous

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A migratory fish that migrates within fresh water only

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Amphidromous

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A migratory fish that travels between fresh and salt water, but not to breed

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Semelparous

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A species that is characterized by a single reproductive episode before death

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Iteroparous

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A species that is characterized by multiple reproductive cycles over the course of its lifetime.

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Island Biogeography

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The study of the species composition and species richness on islands, aimed at establishing and explaining the factors that affect species diversity of a specific community.

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Community

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A group of actually or potentially interacting species living in the same place, bound together by the network of influences that species have on one another.

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Predator/hypercarnivore

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An organism that preys upon other organisms/ an animal which has a diet that is more than 70% meat, with the balance consisting of non-animal foods such as fungi, fruits or other plant material

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Omnivore/hypocarnivore

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An animal that includes both plants and animals in its normal diet/ an animal that consumes less than 30% meat for its diet, the majority of which consists of non-vertebratefoods that may include fungi, fruits, and other plant material.

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Producer

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An organism, as a plant, that is able to produce its own food from inorganic substances.

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Consumer

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An organism of an ecological food chain that receives energy by consuming other organisms. These organisms are formally referred to as heterotrophs, which include animals, bacteria and fungi.

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Competition

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An interaction between organisms or species in which the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of another. Limited supply of at least one resource (such as food, water, and territory) used by both can be a factor.

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Richness

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The number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region. It is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the abundances of the species or their relative abundance distributions.

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Evenness

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Refers to how close in numbers each species in an environment is. Mathematically it is defined as a diversity index, a measure of biodiversity which quantifies how equal the community is numerically.

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Keystone Predator

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A plant or animal that plays a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions. Without these, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. Ex- Wolf

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Cascading Effect

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A series of secondary extinctions that is triggered by the primary extinction of a key species in an ecosystem.

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Ecosystem

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A community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system.

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Primary Productivity

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The rate at which energy is converted by photosynthetic and chemosynthetic autotrophs to organic substances.

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Decomposer

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Organisms such as bacteria and fungi that break down the organic matter in the dead bodies of plants and animals. As they feed from the dead animals, they break down the organic compounds into simple nutrients.

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Niche

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The role and position a species has in its environment; how it meets its needs for food and shelter, how it survives, and how it reproduces. Includes all of its interactions with the biotic and abiotic factors of its environment.

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Generalist

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A species that is able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and can make use of a variety of different resources (for example, a heterotroph with a varied diet).

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Specialist

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A species that can only thrive in a narrow range of environmental conditions or has a limited diet.

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Biome/Ecoregion

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Regions of the world with similar climate (weather, temperature) animals and plants. They can be terrestrial (land) and aquatic, both freshwater and marine

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Temperature

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an objective comparative measure of hot or cold

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Precipitation

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The process by which atmospheric moisture falls onto a land or water surface as rain, snow, hail, or other forms of moisture

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Seasonality

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A characteristic of a time series in which the data experiences regular and predictable changes which recur every calendar year. Any predictable change or pattern in a time series that recurs or repeats over a one-year period

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Stable Isotopes

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Isotopes that are not radioactive and so do not spontaneously undergo radioactive decay.

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Carbon Dioxide

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A colorless, odorless gas produced by burning carbon and organic compounds and by respiration. It is naturally present in air (about 0.03 percent) and is absorbed by plants in photosynthesis.

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Methane

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A colorless, odorless flammable gas that is the main constituent of natural gas.

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Photosynthesis

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The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. In plants it generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct.

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Respiration

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A process in living organisms involving the production of energy, typically with the intake of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide from the oxidation of complex organic substances.

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Aerosol

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A substance enclosed under pressure and able to be released as a fine spray, typically by means of a propellant gas.

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Insolation/Irradiation

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The amount of solar radiation reaching a given area

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Eccentricity

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The shape of Earth’s orbit varies betweena circle and an ellipse over the course of ~1,000 years

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Obliquity

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Every 41,000 years, angle of axis shiftsfrom 22.1° to 24.5°

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Precession

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Earth wobbles on its axis over a periodof 26,000 years

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Milankovitch Cycle

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Refers to long term variations in the orbit of the Earth which result in changes in climate over periods hundred of thousands of years and are related to ice age cycles

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Albedo

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The ability of a surface to reflect solarenergy

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Accumulation

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When snow, ice, water, etc. gather or collect.

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Ablation

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Refers to all processes that remove snow, ice, or water from a glacier or snowfield. Refers to the melting of snow or ice that runs off the glacier, evaporation, sublimation, calving, or erosive removal of snow by wind. Air temperature is typically the dominant control of ablation, with precipitation exercising secondary control.

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ENSO - El Niño Southern Oscillation

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An irregularly periodical climate change caused by variations in sea surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean.

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PDO - Pacific Decadal Oscillation

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A robust, recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered over the mid-latitude Pacific basin. Detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, north of 20° N.

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Algae Bloom

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A rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae (typically microscopic) in a water system. May occur in freshwateras well as marine environments.

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Salinity

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The saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water

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Bergmann's Rule

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An ecogeographic principle that states that populations and species of larger size are found in colder environments, and species of smaller size are found in warmer regions.

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Latitudinal Gradient

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The increase in species richness or biodiversity that occurs from the poles to the tropics. One of the most widely recognized patterns in ecology. Localities at lower places generally have more species than localities at higher places.

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Ecological Niche Model

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the process of using computer algorithms to predict the distribution of species in geographic space on the basis of a mathematical representation of their known distribution in environmental space. The environment is in most cases represented by climate data (such as temperature, and precipitation), but other variables such as soil type, water depth, and land cover can also be used.