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15 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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ecology
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the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions that determine distribution and abundance
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proximate causation
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the present distribution and abundance of a species based on the "here and now," the environment and what it eats
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ultimate causation
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the present distibution and abundance of a species based on the ecological experience of its ancestors (evolutionary history)
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levels of organization
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the biological hierarchy that deals with individual organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems
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individual organisms
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at this level, ecology deals with how individuals are affected (and how they affect) their environments
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populations
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at this level, ecology deals with the presence or absence of particular species, with abundance or rarity, and with trends and fluctuations in their numbers
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communities
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at this level, ecology deals with the composition or structure of ecological communities (different species in the same habitat)
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ecosystem
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comprises the community together with its physical environment (biotic + abiotic)
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natural field experiment
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experiments that are made without altering the natural environment of a species, in order to make observations
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manipulative field experiment
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unnatural acts in which some aspect of the environment is altered
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scale
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relative magnitude: time scales, spatial scales, and biological scales
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trophic cascade
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the patterns and effects at the ecosystem level caused by different trophic level interactions
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watershed
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the land surface that catches precipitation
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biodiversity
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the variability in number and species within ecosystems
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species richness
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a measure of biodiversity, the number of species in an ecosystem
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