Essential Biology Chapter 20 Vocabulary

Front 1

Species richness

Back 1

The number of species in a
biological community

Front 2

Species abundance

Back 2

The number of individuals relative to other species in a comunity.

Front 3

Community stability

Back 3

How likely a community will recover from a disturbance.

Front 4

Tropic structure (levels)

Back 4

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

Front 5

Interspecific competition

Back 5

Competition for resources
between individuals of two or more
species when resources are in short supply.

Front 6

Intraspecific competition

Back 6

Competition for resources
between individuals within a species when resources are in short supply.

Front 7

Niche

Back 7

role of a species in a community

Front 8

Predator-prey cycle

Back 8

Increase/decrease in the number of prey leads to an increase/decrease in the number of predators.

Front 9

Cryptic coloration

Back 9

Camouflage that makes a
potential prey difficult to spot against its
background.

Front 10

Warning coloration

Back 10

The bright color pattern, often yellow, red, or orange in combination with black, of animals that have effective chemical defenses.

Front 11

Batesian mimickry

Back 11

A type of mimicry in which a harmless species
looks like a species that is poisonous or otherwise
harmful to predators.

Front 12

Mullerian mimickry

Back 12

Reciprocal mimicry by two unpalatable species;two different toxic species look the same.

Front 13

Keystone species

Back 13

A species that is not necessarily
abundant in a community yet exerts strong
control on community structure by the nature
of its ecological role or niche.

Front 14

Symbiosis

Back 14

An ecological relationship between
organisms of two different species that live
together in direct and intimate contact.

Front 15

Parasite

Back 15

An organism that feeds on
the cell contents, tissues, or body fluids of another
species (the host) while in or on the host
organism. Parasites harm but usually do not
kill their host.

Front 16

Mutualism

Back 16

A symbiotic relationship
in which both participants benefit.

Front 17

Primary sucession

Back 17

A type of ecological succession
that occurs in an area where there were
originally no organisms present and where soil
has not yet formed.

Front 18

Secondary sucession

Back 18

A type of succession that
occurs where an existing community has been
cleared by some disturbance that leaves the
soil or substrate intact.

Front 19

Energy flow

Back 19

The passage of energy through the components of an ecosystem

Front 20

Chemical cycling

Back 20

The use and reuse of chemical elements such as carbon within an ecosystem.

Front 21

Food web

Back 21

A network of interconnecting food chains

Front 22

Food chain

Back 22

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

Front 23

Producer

Back 23

An organism that produces organic
compounds from CO2 by harnessing light
energy (in photosynthesis) or by oxidizing
inorganic chemicals (in chemosynthetic
reactions carried out by some prokaryotes).

Front 24

Primary consumer

Back 24

An herbivore; an organism
that eats plants or other autotrophs.

Front 25

Secondary consumers

Back 25

A carnivore that eats
herbivores.

Front 26

Tertiary consumer

Back 26

A carnivore that eats other carnivores.

Front 27

Herbivore

Back 27

An animal that mainly eats plants or algae.

Front 28

Carnivore

Back 28

An animal that mainly eats other
animals.

Front 29

Omnivore

Back 29

An animal that regularly eats animals
as well as plants or algae.

Front 30

Detritivore

Back 30

A consumer that
derives its energy and nutrients from nonliving
organic material such as corpses, fallen
plant material, and the wastes of living organisms;
a decomposer.

Front 31

Decomposer

Back 31

An organism that absorbs nutrients
from nonliving organic material such as
corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes
of living organisms and converts them to
inorganic forms; a detritivore.

Front 32

Biomass

Back 32

The total mass of organic matter comprising
a group of organisms in a particular
habitat.

Front 33

Primary production

Back 33

The amount of light energy
converted to chemical energy (organic
compounds) by the autotrophs in an
ecosystem during a given time period.

Front 34

Energy pyramid

Back 34

A pyrimid that relates the producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers.

Front 35

Carbon cycle

Back 35

The cycle of carbon through the biosphere

Front 36

Nitrogen cycle

Back 36

The natural process by which
nitrogen, either from the atmosphere or from
decomposed organic material, is converted by
soil bacteria to compounds assimilated by
plants. This incorporated nitrogen is then
taken in by other organisms and subsequently
released, acted on by bacteria, and made available
again to the nonliving environment.

Front 37

Phosphorus cycle

Back 37

The cycle of phosphorus through the biosphere.

Front 38

Water cycle

Back 38

The cycle of water through the biosphere.

Front 39

Tropics

Back 39

Latitudes between 23.5° north and south.

Front 40

Temperate zones

Back 40

midlatitude regions