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42 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Community |
An assemblage of species living close enough together for potential interactions. |
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Interspecific Interactions |
Relationships between the species of a community, linked by competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism. |
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Interspecific competition |
Limited resources that are in short supply that two species will compete for. |
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Competitive exclusion principle |
Two species with similar needs for same limiting resources cannot coexist in the same place. |
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Ecological niche |
The sum of an organism's use of abiotic/ biotic resources in the environment. |
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Niche |
An organism's role in the environment. |
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Resource partitioning |
The differentiation of niches that enables two similar species to coexist in a community. |
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Character displacement |
The tendency for characteristics to be more divergent in sympatric populations of two species that in allopatric populations of the same two species. |
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Predation |
A predator eats prey. |
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Herbivores |
Animals that eat plants. |
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Parasitism |
Predators live on/in a host and depend upon the host for nutrition. |
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Predator adaptations |
Claws, teeth, fangs, poison, heat-sensing organs, speed, and agility. |
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Plant defenses |
Chemical compounds, that are toxic, spines, color warning, etc. |
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Behavioral defenses |
Fleeing, hiding, self-defense (biting, stinging, appearing larger), noises, and mobbing. |
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Faking injury |
Animals that play dead or injured to either deter or distract predators. |
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Camouflage |
Cryptic coloration (blending in), deceptive warning. |
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Mechanical defenses |
Adaptations such as spines. |
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Chemical defenses |
Defenses such as odors and toxins. |
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Aposematic coloration |
Warning colors that indicate other defenses such as toxins. |
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Mimicry |
When non-venomous species resemble other potentially lethal species. |
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Batesian mimicry |
A harmless species mimics a harmful one. |
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Müllerian mimicry |
Two or more unpalatable species resemble each other. |
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Parasite |
An organism that derives nourishment from a host, which is harmed in the process. |
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Endoparasites |
Parasites that live inside the host (tapeworm). |
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Ectoparasites |
Parasites that on the surface of the host (ticks). |
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Parasitoidism |
A type of parasitism that leads to the parasite eventually killing the host. |
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Pathogens |
Parasites that carry diseases, which are considered predators. |
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Mutualism |
Two species that benefit from their interaction (fish/shrimp). |
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Commensalism |
One species that benefits from the interaction, but the other is not affected. |
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Coevolution |
When one species evolves, it exacts selective pressure on the other to evolve to continue the interaction. |
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Food chain |
The transfer of food energy in photosynthetic organisms through herbivores and carnivores. |
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Charles Elton |
Scientist who proposed about the length of food chains in tropic levels, and that food chains are hooked into food webs. |
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Tropic levels |
Levels of a food stage (Primary producer, Primary consumer, Secondary consumer, etc...). |
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Energetic hypothesis |
The length of a food chain is limited by the inefficiency of energy transfer along the chain. |
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Dynamic stability hypothesis |
Longer food chains are less stable than short chains. |
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Dominant species |
The species in a community that has the highest abundance or highest biomass (sum weight). |
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Keystone species |
Species that exert an important regulating effect on other species in a community (prairie dogs). |
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Disturbances |
Events such as fires or severe weather or human activities that can alter communities. |
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Human Disturbances |
Human disturbances are more frequent that natural ones, and reduce species diversity. |
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Ecological succession |
The transition in species composition over ecological time. |
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Primary succession |
The process of biodiversity development through the formation of soil. |
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Secondary succession |
An existing community has been cleared, but the soil remains, causing grasses and other plants to grow first, then trees and other organisms. |