Ecology Terms and Definitions, Quizzes of Ecology and Environment

Download Ecology Terms and Definitions and more Quizzes Ecology and Environment in PDF only on Docsity! TERM 1 ecology DEFINITION 1 oikos, meaning housescience by which we study how organisms interact in and with the natural world TERM 2 organism DEFINITION 2 most fundamental unit of ecologybounded by a membrane or other covering which it exchanges energy TERM 3 ecosystem DEFINITION 3 organisms together with their physical and chemical elements TERM 4 population DEFINITION 4 many organisms of the same kind living together TERM 5 Ecological heirachy DEFINITION 5 organism<population<community<ecosystem<biosphere TERM 6 community DEFINITION 6 many populations of different kinds livin gin the same place TERM 7 organism approach DEFINITION 7 the way in which an individuals form, physiology, and behavior help it to survive in its environmentadaptions TERM 8 population approach DEFINITION 8 variation in the numbers of individuals, sex ratio, the relative sizes of age classes, and genetic makeup of a population through time. TERM 9 community approach DEFINITION 9 understanding the diversity and relative abundances of different kinds of organisms living together in the same place TERM 10 ecosystem approach DEFINITION 10 organisms and amounts of energy and chemical elements TERM 21 adaptions DEFINITION 21 attributes of structure and function that suit an organism to the convditions of its environment TERM 22 hypothesis DEFINITION 22 explanations TERM 23 proximate factors DEFINITION 23 physiological processes; "how" part of the hypothesis TERM 24 ultimate factors DEFINITION 24 "why" part of hypothesis; costs and benefits of the behavior TERM 25 natural experiment DEFINITION 25 relies on natural variation in the environment to create reasonably controlled experimental treatments TERM 26 microcosm DEFINITION 26 replicate the essential features of an ecological syste in a simplified lab or field setting TERM 27 mathematical models DEFINITION 27 to explore the beahvior of complex systems TERM 28 mesic DEFINITION 28 habitiat with a well balanced supply of moisture TERM 29 xeric DEFINITION 29 very dry TERM 30 transpiration DEFINITION 30 moisture goes to small pores under leaf and evaporates into the atmosphere TERM 31 evaportranspiration DEFINITION 31 water is transferred from land to atmosphere by evaporation