NRES 211 Exam #1

resource conservation ethics

-Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world, its fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity -Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its forests, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity -Pinchot

cryptic species

-Cryptic speciation is a biological process that results in a group of species (which, by definition, cannot interbreed) that contain individuals that are morpholigically identical to each other but belong to different species. -one of two or more morphologically indistinguishable biological groups that are incapable of interbreeding

evolutionary-ecological land ethic

-Leopold offers an ecologically-based land ethic that rejects strictly human-centered views of the environment and focuses on the preservation of healthy, self-renewing ecosystems -A land ethic is a philosophy or theoretical framework about how, ethically, humans should regard the land -Leopold proposes that the next step in the evolution of ethics is the expansion of ethics to include nonhuman members of the biotic community, collectively referred to as "the land."

evenness in biodiversity

-Species evenness refers to how close in numbers each species in an environment is. Mathematically it is defined as a diversity index, a measure of biodiversity which quantifies how equal the community is numerically -The uniformity of abundance between species in a community.

Public Trust doctrine

-The principle that certain natural and cultural resources are preserved for public use, and that the government owns and must protect and maintain these resources for the public's use

intrinsic isolating mechanisms

-The reproductive characteristics which prevent species from fusing -two populations live virtually on each others doorstep but never mate -incompatibility of reproductive organs, different courting rituals, mating at different times of the year, hybrid offspring that are sterile

heterozygosity

-Zygosity is the degree of similarity of the alleles for a trait in an organism -when its cells contain two different alleles of a gene -different -having dissimilar pairs of genes for any hereditary characteristic -high means a lot of genetic variability

biomarkers

-a measurable substance in an organism whose presence is indicative of some phenomenon such as disease, infection, or environmental exposure -sometimes used to refer to a substance whose detection indicates the presence of a living organism -stress factors on a species?

ecological species

-a species is a set of organisms adapted to a particular set of resources, called a niche, in the environment. According to this concept, populations form the discrete phenetic clusters that we recognize as species because the ecological and evolutionary processes controlling how resources are divided up tend to produce those clusters. -A definition of species as a set of organisms that is adapted to a particular set of resources (niche) in the environment, which explains differences in form and behaviour between species as adaptations to resource availability

chromosomes

-a threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes. -caries hereditary information in the form of genes -DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism

abiotic environment

-abiotic components or factors are non-living chemical or physical parts of the environment -which influence living organisms -such as soil, water, atmosphere

extrinsic isolating mechanisms

-actual barriers to interbreeding are outside of the extrinsic organisms in question (geographic separation) -mountains, rivers, canyon, desert -external means

biological community

-an interacting group of various species in a common location -living members of an ecosystem -all the populations living and interacting within a particular geographic area

decomposers

-an organism, especially a soil bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate, that decomposes organic material

consumers

-an organism, usually an animal, that feeds on plants or other animals.

inbreeding

-breed from closely related people or animals, especially over many generations. -the mating of closely related individuals, as cousins, sire-daughter, brother-sister, or self-fertilized plants, which tends to increase the number of individuals that are homozygous for a trait and therefore increases the appearance of recessive traits

limiting resource

-common limiting factor resources are environmental conditions that limit the growth, abundance, or distribution of an organism or a population of organisms in an ecosystem -Ex. sunlight in the rainforest -limiting factors also cause competition between species (space is a limiting factor)

keystone resources

-critical resource in an environment or ecological community

delta diversity

-defined as the change in species composition and abundance between areas of gamma diversity, which occur within an area of epsilon diversity. It represents differentiation diversity over wide geographic areas.

biological species concept

-defines a species as members of populations that actually or potentially interbreed in nature -reproductively isolated from other groups -explains why members of a species resemble one another -When two organisms breed within a species, their genes pass into their combined offspring. As this process is repeated, the genes of different organisms are constantly shuffled around the species gene pool. The shared gene pool gives the species its identity. By contrast, genes are not (by definition) transferred to other species, and different species therefore take on a different appearance.

phenotype

-description of your actual physical characteristics -the set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment

alpha diversity

-diversity of each site (local species pool) -is the average species diversity in a habitat or specific area -local measure

gamma diversity

-diversity of the entire landscape (region) -Whittaker's idea was that the total species diversity in a landscape (γ) is determined by two different things, the mean species diversity in sites or habitats at a more local scale (α) and the differentiation among those habitats (β). According to this reasoning, alpha diversity and beta diversity constitute independent components of gamma diversity: gamma (y) =alpha (a) X beta (B)

trophic levels

-each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, comprising organisms that share the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy

intra-trophic level

-inside, within -The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food chain -

biotic index

-is a scale for showing the quality of an environment by indicating they types of organisms present in it -developed in an effort to provide a simple measurement of stream pollution and its effects

indicator species

-is any biological species that defines a trait or characteristic of the environment. For an example, a species may delineate an ecoregion or indicate an environmental condition such as a disease outbreak, pollution, species competition or climate change. Indicator species can be among the most sensitive species in a region, and sometimes act as an early warning to monitoring biologists

ecosystem engineers

-is any organism that creates, significantly modifies, maintains or destroys a habitat. These organisms can have a large impact on the species richness and landscape-level heterogeneity of an area -As a result, ecosystem engineers are important for maintaining the health and stability of the environment they are living in (keystone species)

typological species

-is based on morphology/phenotype -The concept of a species as a group whose members share certain characteristics that distinguish them from other species

species

-is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank, as well as a unit of biodiversity -often defined as the largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction

utilitarian philosophy

-is the idea that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall utility in maximizing happiness or pleasure as summed among all people. It is, then, the total utility of individuals which is important here, the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people -useful or beneficial to everyone

conservation biology

-is the management of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions

mutation

-is the permanent alteration of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA or other genetic elements

sympatric species

-is the process through which new species evolve from a single ancestral species while inhabiting the same geographic region

genetic diversity

-is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species -Genetic diversity serves as a way for populations to adapt to changing environments. With more variation, it is more likely that some individuals in a population will possess variations of alleles that are suited for the environment. Those individuals are more likely to survive to produce offspring bearing that allele

gene flow

-is the transfer of alleles or genes from one population to another. Migration into or out of a population may be responsible for a marked change in allele frequencies (the proportion of members carrying a particular variant of a gene)

foundation species

-is used to refer to a species that has a strong role in structuring a community. A foundation species can occupy any trophic level in a food web (i.e., they can be primary producers, herbivores or predators). -

outbreeding depression

-is when progeny resulting from crosses between genetically distant individuals (outcrossing) exhibit lower fitness in the parental environment than either of their parents or than progeny from crosses between individuals that are more closely related -Ex. selection in one population might favor large animals where the environment favors small & different alleles can cause a loss in fitness

temporal isolation

-means 'isolated in time,' so this is a mechanism that prevents species from mating because they breed at different times. These differences can be time of day, season, or even different years.

heterozygous gene

-means that an organism has two different alleles of a gene -carriers are always heterozygous -For example, pea plants can have red flowers and either be homozygous dominant (red-red), or heterozygous (red-white). If they have white flowers, then they are homozygous recessive (white-white).

polymorphic

-occurring in several different forms, in particular with reference to species or genetic variation -occurrence of two or more clearly different morphs or forms, also referred to as alternative phenotypes, in the population of a species -Ex. light morph jaguar & dark morph jaguar

pleiotrophy

-occurs when one gene influences two or more seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits. Therefore, a mutation in a pleiotropic gene may have an effect on several traits simultaneously -can be defined as a phenomenon in which one (usually mutant) allele influences two or more apparently unrelated phenotypic traits

ecological isolation

-of hybrids or their progeny. Populations may occupy the same territory but live in different habitats and so not meet -In ecological isolation, mating is prevented because of the separation of species resulting from the difference in their habitat. This usually occurs when the species are used to different habitat types, or different parts of the same habitat. Even if the geographic range of two species overlaps, the difference in their ecological needs and breeding requirements is enough to isolate them from each other. The slightest difference in their habitat can ensure that they never come together for mating or even come across each other, despite the fact that they live in the same territory.

alleles

-one of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome -variant form of a gene

hybrids

-or crossbreed, is the result of combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction -the offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties, such as a mule (a hybrid of a donkey and a horse

sentinel species

-organisms, often animals, used to detect risks to humans by providing advance warning of a danger. The terms primarily apply in the context of environmental hazards rather than those from other sources -Ex. canary used to detect gas in coal mines

preservation ethics

-philosophy that recognizes an inherent worth of all living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs -Muir National parks services

chromatid sister

-refers to the identical copies (chromatids) formed by the replication of a chromosome -also be said to be 'one-half' of the duplicated chromosome -are two identical copies of a single replicated chromosome that are connected by a centromere

anthropocentric view

-regarding humankind as the central or most important element in existence

biotic

-relating to or resulting from living things -living organisms in an environment -include predation, competition, and symbiotic relationships

behavioral isolation

-reproductive barrier based on behavior usually in the form of mating rituals and signals -occurs when two populations are capable of interbreeding, but don't because of differences in their courtship rituals

speciation

-the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution -evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species

genotype

-the genetic constitution of an individual organism -The genotype is the part of the genetic makeup of a cell, and therefore of an organism or individual, which determines one of its characteristics (phenotype)

ecosystem services

-the important benefits for human beings that arise from healthily functioning ecosystems, notably production of oxygen, soil genesis, and water detoxification -Provisioning: production of food -Regulating: control of climate and disease -Supporting: Nutrient cycles and crop pollination -Cultural: spiritual and recreational benefits

gene frequencies

-the ratio of a particular allele to the total of all other alleles of the same gene in a given population -describe the fraction of gene copies that are of a particular allele in a defined population. Let us consider, for example, a population of 100 diploid individuals. Each individual carries two copies of each gene, so there are a total of 200 gene copies in the population of 100 people

founder effects

-the reduced genetic diversity -is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population

biomass

-total mass of an organism in a given are or volume -or organic material that comes from plants and animals, and it is a renewable source of energy

keystone species

Sea otter eats urchin who develops kelp and when kelp grows too much otter can't live there -is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance.[1] Such species are described as playing a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community

intrinsic value

The intrinsic value of an animal refers to the value it possesses in its own right, as an end-in-itself, as opposed to its instrumental value, its value to other animals (including human beings) -actual value of a company or an asset based on an underlying perception of its true value including all aspects of the business, in terms of both tangible and intangible factors

phylogenetic species

Unique features and history— Red Wolf The concept of a species as an irreducible group whose members are descended from a common ancestor and who all possess a combination of certain defining, or derived, traits -Here, species is defined as the smallest group of individuals with a common ancestor, forming a single branch of the "tree of life". This compares numerous characteristics, esp. morphology and molecular sequences, with those of other organisms. The difficulty with this concept is determining the degree of difference necessary to indicate a separate species.

ecosystem

a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment

producers

are organisms that can make their own energy through biochemical processes, which are just processes in living things that involve chemical reactions. Also called autotrophs, the usual way producers make energy is through photosynthesis

K line

carrying capacity

genetic bottleneck

is a sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental events (such as earthquakes, floods, fires, disease, or droughts) or human activities (such as genocide).

citizen scientists

is scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur (or nonprofessional) scientists. Citizen science is sometimes described as "public participation in scientific research", participatory monitoring and participatory action research

allopatric species

occurs when biological populations of the same species become isolated due to geographical changes -such as mountain building or social changes like emigration

carrying capacity

of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water, and other necessities available in the environment.

ecosystem succession

process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time

ecosystem productivity

rate of generation of biomass production

biodiversity

the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem

beta diversity

- -ratio between local (alpha) and regional diversity -diversity of species between two habitats or regions

hotspots

- area with humans and declining biodiversity The term biodiversity hotspot specifically refers to 25 biologically rich areas around the world that have lost at least 70 percent of their original habitat

Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

- principle stating that the genetic variation in a population will remain constant from one generation to the next in the absence of disturbing factors. ... For instance, mutations disrupt the equilibrium of allele frequencies by introducing new alleles into a population

homozygous gene

- refers to having identical alleles for a single trait. An allele represents one particular form of a gene

evolutionary species concept

-An evolutionary species "is a single lineage of ancestor-descendant populations of organisms which maintains its identity from other such lineages [in space and time] and which has its own evolutionary tendencies and historical fate -

morphological species concept

-Characterizes a species by body shape and other structural features and is applied to asexual and sexual organisms and useful when information on gene flow is unknown -Since it is subjective, researcher may disagree on which features to use to distinguish a species.