Ecology Terms and Definitions, Quizzes of Botany and Agronomy

Download Ecology Terms and Definitions and more Quizzes Botany and Agronomy in PDF only on Docsity! TERM 1 Ecology DEFINITION 1 study of interactions among organisms and their environment *consists of biotic and abiotic interactions TERM 2 Biotic Interactions DEFINITION 2 interactions among living things TERM 3 Abiotic Interactions DEFINITION 3 interactions between organisms and their nonliving environment TERM 4 Environmental Science DEFINITION 4 application of ecology to real world problems TERM 5 Physiological Ecology DEFINITION 5 *Sub-discipline of Organismal ecology. *investigates how organisms are physiologically adapted to their environment *studies physiological changes in animals when adapting to different environments and situations. Answers questions such as how bobolinks are physically able to migrate all the way to Argentina TERM 6 Behavioral Ecology DEFINITION 6 *sub-discipline of organismal ecology *studies how the behaviors of an individual organism contribute to survival and reproductive success. Answers questions such as how bobolinks know how to get to Argentina and back TERM 7 Population Ecology DEFINITION 7 *Focuses on groups of interbreeding individuals (populations) *Goal: to understand factors affecting population growth, density and size *Includes studies of species interactions Predation, competition, and parasitism TERM 8 Community Ecology DEFINITION 8 *studies how populations of species interact and form functional communities. *Focuses on why some areas are species rich while others are species poor *Also studies succession TERM 9 Succession DEFINITION 9 *how species composition and community structure change over time, particularly after disturbance *Abiotic factors such as soil moisture and temperature are changed when plants grow and shade soil from the sun. This change in abiotic factors allow different species of plants to grow and the anticipation succession of communities occurs TERM 10 Ecosystems Ecology DEFINITION 10 *studies the flow of energy and cycling of nutrients among organisms within a community and between organisms and the environment Concerned with both biotic and abiotic components Levels in food chains called trophic levels Food chains may interconnect forming food Has huge implications on population (how will we feed species/people who change from a grain diet to a meat diet?) TERM 21 Decomposers DEFINITION 21 break down organic matter, eventually rendering some or all nutrients to inorganic form *Microbes TERM 22 Reservoirs DEFINITION 22 store nutrients in large mass, in organic or inorganic forms *soil, rock, water bodies, atmosphere, microbes, plants TERM 23 Carbon DEFINITION 23 Found in practically all of life's molecules Structure (lipids, proteins) Energy (carbohydrates) Information (DNA, RNA) TERM 24 Microbes DEFINITION 24 Can perform all roles (decomposition, reservoir, producer, and consumer) because of the small scale it lives at (it performs each role within itself) and it has been around the longest and can reproduce quickly TERM 25 Allopatric Speciation DEFINITION 25 subspecies separated by geography TERM 26 Sympatric Speciation DEFINITION 26 subspecies in the same area TERM 27 Greenhouse Effect DEFINITION 27 the atmospheric ability to trap and hold heat; essential for life when taken only to a certain extent. Majority of the heat radiated from earth is redirected back to earth (Sunlight comes through atmosphere and is trapped in) TERM 28 How are currents formed? DEFINITION 28 formed when water is warmed from the sun on the equator and the warm water floats to the top and cold water from further north goes below to replace the water that floated up (ongoing cycle) Global warming will slow down currents if the water up north is warming and the temperature is becoming closer to the temperature of water at the equator