NATRS 300 Final

Stress

a factor that reduces the growth or reproduction of individuals and creates opportunities for other individuals

Successional Stage

developmental community within distinctive character and composition within the successional sequence

Cultural services

non-material benefits like' cultural diversity, spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, aesthetic experience, natural heritage

Successional Sequence

sequential, directional pattern of replacement involving colonization of species and development of new communities

Trophic cascade

A change in the rate of consumption at one trophic level that results in a series of changes in species abundance or composition at lowrr trophic levels

Trophic level

A group of species that obtain energy in similar ways, classified by the number of feeding steps by which the group is removed from primary producers.

Commodity

A natural resource when it exists naturally and the primary activities associate with it are extraction and purification

Predation

A predator organism kills and feed on another living organism known as prey

Interaction web

A representation of all interactions that ovcur between and among species within a community

Biota

All living organisms

Ecosystem services (human concept)

All natural processes that operate within Earth's ecosystems and the products of those processes that benefit humans.

Biotic

All organisms including animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms.

Landscape

An area composed of multiple ecosystems organized in a distinct pattern

Phenomenon

An event, process, result, or effect that can have impact on the relationships between organisms and their environment.

Amensalism

Any relationship between organisms of different species in which one organidm is inhibited or destroyed while the other organism remains unaffected

Perpetual resource

Available forever in 'human terms' to varying degrees constancy; generally considered renewable.

Direct interaction

Between two species

Non-renewable resource

Cannot be replaced once harvested

Resilience

Capability to maintain integrity, return to stable condition when disturbed

Physical environment

The external, surrounding, tangible physical conditions in which an organism occurs. Including water in all forms, temperature, and light.

Integrity

Well being, a sound or unimpaired condition; the state of being complete and entire; having everything that is needed; operating normally

Gross Primary Production

(GPP) Total amount of carbon fixed by autotrophs. It depends on photosynthetic rate

Net Primary Production

(NPP)=GPP-Respiration

Food chain

Directional linear network of links showing the feeding relationships between organisms; reflects only direct interactions

The four requirements for natural selection to occur

1. Mutation creates heritable traits. 2. Favorable heritable adaptive traits persist. 3. Restrictive ecological environment. 4. Competitive environment.

Primary Production

Chemical energy generated by autotrophs during photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. Source of energy for ALL organisms.

Continental climate

Climate of the interior of a continent, distant from an ocean body

Weather

Combination of temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind, cloudiness, pressure and other atmospheric conditions occurring at a specific place and time.

Consumptive

Competitive use of food

Consumerism

Consume the neighbors

Herbivory

Consumption of plant tissue by animals

Territorial

Defense or territory -breeding and feeding areas

Biome

Ecosystems and landscapes characterized by distinctive climate and biota that is adapted to the environmental conditions of the region

Ecological temporal scale

Frequency of occurrence, duration of occurrence and periodicity of occurrence of ecological phenomena

Secondary Production

Generated through the consumption of organic matter by heterotrophs

Mega scale

Global

Ecological phenomena

Having impact (affect) on the relationships between organisms and their ecological environment

Ecosystem Function

How the ecological processes create the appearance, and character, and operation of an ecosystem

Species composition

Identity and charcter if the species in the community

Intraspecific interactions

Interaction between individuals of the same species within populations

Interspecific interactions

Interaction between species within and between communities

Commensalism

Interaction between two species in which individuals of one species benefit while individuals of the other do nit but are not harmed

Biophysical interactions

Interactions of organisms with elements of their physical environments

Ecosystem engineers

Keystone species that create, modify, or maintain physical habitat for themselves and other species

Micro scale

Local

Climate

Long-term description of weather based on averages and variations measured over decades.

Provisioning services

Material products obtained from ecosystems like; food, fuel, water, fiber, medicine.

Species diversity

Measure of species richness and species dominance

Food web

Multiple linked food chains

Abiotic

Non-living environment of the biota (landform, climate, soil, water, bedrock)

Species richness

Number of species

Organism

Organ systems functioning together with great precision to create a stable complex multicellular whole

Heterotroph

Organism that cannot make organic compounds from inorganic sources, must use organic carbon source to fix carbon molecules by consuming other organisms

Autotroph

Organism that makes organic compounds from inorganic sources

Convergent evolution

Organisms not closely related independently evolve similar traits as a result to adapting to similar environments.

Overgrowth

Overwhelms competitor by size or number

Parasitism

Parasite lives in or on a host and feeds on the tissue or body fluids of the host

Stability

Persistence as a healthy, natural dynamic system

Encounter

Physical defense of a resource, possibly by aggregation

Biosphere

Portion of the earth in which all known life forms exist.

k Species

Produce few offspring that mature slowly with long life expectancy and colonize stable environments at a slower rate

r Species

Produce many offspring that mature quickly that have short life expectancy and colonize unstable environments rapidly

Chemical

Production of toxic or deterrent chemical to exclude competitors

Species abundance

Quantity of each species in the community

Macro scale

Regional

Regulating services

Regulation of ecosystem processes (for human benefit) like; air quality, water quality, climate, natural hazard, soil development

Indirect interaction

Relationship between 2 species meditated by a 3 species; consequencr of direct interaction when it affects another or more species

Mutualism

Relationship between two species in which bith benefit

Species evenness

Relative abundances compared with other species

Renewable resource

Replenished by natural processes at a rate comparable to its rate of harvest

Ecology

Scientific inquiry and body of derived scientific knowledge about the relationships between organisms and their ecological environments

Cooperation

Sharing some of the effort of securing resources with neighbors

Ecological spatial scale

Size of the area of occurence and influence and the pattern of occurence over the area of ecological phenomena

Ecological Processes

The dynamic connections between living and non-living systems that maintain the character, integrity and stability of ecosystems

Niche Specialization (Segregation)

Species are adapted to a specific range of habitat conditions within which that can compete to the highest degree with other species (interspecific competition) to ultimately exclude less competitive species from the niche.

Character

Species composition, physical and functional structure

Keystone species

Species that has a disproportionate effect on its environment relative to its abundance

Dominant species

Species that predominates in an ecological community, particularly when they are most numerous or form the bulk of the biomass

Phenology

Stages of plant and animal life cycles as influenced by seasonal variations in climate- spring, summer, fall, winter

Landscape ecology

Study of landscape patterns and effects of those patterns on ecological processes.

Meso scale

Sub-regional

Allogenic Agents of Change

Succession initiated by external forces, such as fire, storms, invasive organisms or human activities

Major Categories of Ecological Processes

Succession, Biological Productivity, Energy Flow, Water Cycle, Nutrient Cycling (biogeochemical), Phenology

Autogenic Agents of Change

Successions driven by biotic and abiotic changes brought about by the organisms themselves within the community

Competition

Taking the largest share of resources as possible from neighbors

Habitat

The area that is inhabited by a particular organism and which potentially contains many kinds of physical environments

Species dominance

The degree of influence over other species in the community

Natural resource management

The practices of managing natural ecosystems to protect, conserve, regulate harvest, restore production of ecosystem services to sustain the natural integrity of ecosystems and all properties for provision of ecosystem services.

Biological Production

The quantity of organic matter which is accumulated during a given period of time

Biological Productivity

The rate of production which occur in a given ecosystem over a given time period

Abundance

The relative representation of a species in a particular ecosystem.

Resource Partitioning

The use of limiting resources by different species in a community in different ways; species use different parts of the total reservoir of resources

Biodiversity

The variety of important ecological entities from genes to species to communities

Supporting services (Habitat services)

Those necessary for production of all other services like; photosynthesis, biomass production, nutrient cycling, water balance, habitat provision

Ecological environment

Total environment of organisms that acts on organisms and influences survival, growth, reproduction, and persistence of the organisms within the ecosystem

Succession

a process of replacement of one community by another over time

Sere

a specific sequence of successional stages (communities) following a specific kind of disturbance on a given site.

Disturbance

an event that injures or kills some individuals and creates opportunities for other individuals to grow or reproduce

Primary Succession

involves colonization of habitats that have not previously supported life

Secondary Succession

involves the re-colonization of habitats that previously supported life