Term
| Actual evapotranspiration (AET) |
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Definition
| The amount of water lost from an ecosystem to the atmosphere due to a combination of evaporation and transpiration by plants. |
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Term
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Definition
| describes the condition in which populations or species have non overlapping geographic ranges |
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Term
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Definition
| a process of speciation initiated by hybridization of two different species. |
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Term
| arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) |
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Definition
| mycorrhizae in which the mycorrhizal fungus produces arbuscles (sites of exchange between plant and fungus), hyphae (fungal filaments), and vesicles (fungal energy storage organs within root cortex cells). |
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Term
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Definition
| a bush-shaped organ on an endomycorrhizal fungus that acts as a site of material exchange between the fungus and it host plant. |
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Term
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Definition
| cell growth in which all cell constituents, such as nitrogen, carbon, and DNA, increase at approximately the same rate. |
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Term
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Definition
| Control of a community or ecosystem by physical or chemical factors such as temperature or nutrient availability |
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Term
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Definition
| changes in the physical chatacteristics of a species' population as a consequence of natural selection for reduced interspecific competition |
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Term
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Definition
| a series of communities or ecosystems representing a range of ages or times since disturbance |
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Term
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Definition
| a community that occurs late in succession whose populations remain stable until disrupted by disturbance |
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Term
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Definition
| the combined effect of functional and numerical responses by consumers on prey populations; determined by multiplying the number of prey eaten per predator times the number of predators per unit area, giving the number of prey eaten unit area. It is generally expressed as a percentage of the total number of prey |
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Term
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Definition
| an association of interacting species living in a particular area; also often defined as all of the organisms living in a particular area |
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Term
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Definition
| attributes of a community such as the number of species or the distribution of individuals among species within the community |
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Term
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Definition
| a coefficient expressing the magnitude of the negative effect of individuals of one species on individuals of a second species |
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Term
| Competitive exclusion principle |
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Definition
| the principle hat two species with identical niches cannot coexist indefinitely. |
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Term
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Definition
| a range of values within which the true population mean occurs with a particular probability called the level of confidence |
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Term
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Definition
| the breakdown of organic matter accompanied by the release of carbon dioxide and other inorganic compounds; a key process in nutrient cycling |
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Term
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Definition
| organisms, such as abundant, forest tree species or reef coral species, that substantially influence community structure as a consequence of their abundance |
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Term
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Definition
| an organism that causes changes in the physical environment sufficient to influence the structure of landscapes, ecosystems, or communities |
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Term
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Definition
| an association between a fungus and plant roots in which the fungus forms a mantle around roots and a netlike structure around root cells |
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Term
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Definition
| a large-scale coupled oceanic-atmospheric system that has major effects on climate worldwide. During one of these, the sea surface temperature in the eastern Pacific Ocean is higher than average and barometric pressure is lower. |
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Term
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Definition
| a state of balance in a system in which opposing factors cancel each other. |
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Term
| equilibrium model of island biogeography |
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Definition
| a model proposing that the number of species on islands is the result of dynamic balance between rates of immigration and extinction. |
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Term
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Definition
| an interaction between species that enhance the fitness of the exploiting individual- the predator, the pathogen, etc.- while reducing the fitness of the exploited individual- the prey, host, etc. |
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Term
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Definition
| nectar-secreting glands found on structures other than flowers, such as leaves. |
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Term
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Definition
| according to this, pioneer species modify the environment in such ways that it becomes less suitable fo themselves and more suitable for species characteristic at later successional stages. |
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Term
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Definition
| a mutualistic relationship between two species that is not required for the survival of the two species |
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Term
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Definition
| the longest distance over which wind can blow across a body of water; directly related to the maximum size of waves that can be generated by wind |
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Term
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Definition
| a summary of the feeding relationships within an ecological community |
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Term
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Definition
| the physical conditions under which a species might |
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Term
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Definition
| the study of ecological structure and process at large geographic scales; sometimes defined as the study of ecological patterns that can be put on a map |
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Term
| geographic information system |
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Definition
| a computer-based system that stores, analyzes, and displays geographic information, generally in the form of maps |
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Term
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Definition
| an animal that feeds chiefly on seeds |
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Term
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Definition
| warming of the earth's atmosphere and surface as a result of heat trapped near the earth's surface by gases in the atmosphere, especially water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons |
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Term
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Definition
| the total amount of energy fixed by all autotrophs in an ecosystem |
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Term
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Definition
| a group of organisms that make their living in a similar way; for example, the seed-eating animals in a desert, the fruit-eating birds in a tropical rain forest, or the filter-feeding invertebrates in a stream |
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Term
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Definition
| a model of succession that proposes that early occupants of an area modify the environment in a way that makes the area less suitable for both early and late successional species. |
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Term
| interdisciplinary research |
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Definition
| investigations that involve researchers from multiple disciplines working closely to produce an understanding that integrates across disciplines; may include several scientific disciplines or extend beyond the boundaries of the natural sciences into the social sciences and humanities |
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Term
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Definition
| form of competition involving direct antagonistic interactions between individuals |
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Term
| intermediate disturbance hypothesis |
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Definition
| a proposal that high diversity in maintained by changing environmental conditions and that highest levels of diversity will occur at intermediate levels of disturbance |
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Term
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Definition
| a range of measurements which includes the middle 50% of the measurements or observations in a smaple, bounded by the lowest value of the highest 25% of the measurements and the highest value of the lowest 25% of the measurements |
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Term
| interspecific competition |
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Definition
| competition between individuals of different species |
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Term
| intraspecific competition |
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Definition
| competition between individuals of the same species |
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Term
| isoclines of zero population growth |
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Definition
| lines, in a graphical representations of Lotka-Volterra competition is zero |
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Term
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Definition
| species that, despite low biomass, exert strong effects on the structure of the communities they inhabit |
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Term
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Definition
| the opposite of an El Niño. During this one, the sea surface temperature in the eastern Pacific Ocean is lower than average and barometric pressure is higher |
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Term
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Definition
| any distinctive feature of the earth's surface |
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Term
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Definition
| a heterogeneous area consisting of distinctive patches, or landscape elements, organized into a mosaic-like pattern. |
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Term
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Definition
| the study of the relationship between spatial pattern and ecological processes over a range of scales |
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Term
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Definition
| the ecosystems in a landscape, which generally form a mosaic of visually distinctive patches |
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Term
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Definition
| the exchange of materials, energy, or organisms among the patches, or elements, that make up a landscape |
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Term
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Definition
| the size, shape, composition, number, and position of different patches, or landscape elements, within a landscape |
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Term
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Definition
| one minus the significance level, alpha, which is generally .05, for example, level of confidence = 1 - .05= .95 |
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Term
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Definition
| the life form of a plant is a combination of its structure and its growth dynamics. Plant life-forms include trees, vines, annual plants, sclerophyllous vegetation, grasses, and forbs |
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Term
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Definition
| a distribution of relative abundance of species produced by plotting the abundance of species as a frequency distribution in which each abundance interval is twice the preceding one, 1,2,4,8; the result follows an approximately normal distribution |
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Term
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Definition
| the synchronous production of large quantities of fruits by trees, such as oaks and breech |
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Term
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Definition
| the landscape element within a landscape mosaic that is that most continuous spatially, for example, the forest that surrounds small isolated patches of meadows |
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Term
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Definition
| tissue made up of the actively dividing cells responsible for plant growth |
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Term
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Definition
| a layer in the earth's atmosphere, extending from 64 to 80 km above the earth's surface; temperatures drop steeply wit altitude in this atmospheric layer. |
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Term
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Definition
| the breakdown of organic matter from organic to inorganic from during decomposition |
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Term
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Definition
| interactions between individuals of different species that benefit both partners |
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Term
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Definition
| movement of an organism away fromlight |
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Term
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Definition
| the amount of energy left over after autotrophs have met their own energetic needs; the amount of energy available to the consumers in an ecosystem |
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Term
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Definition
| the environmental factors that influence the growth, survival, and reproduction of a species |
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Term
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Definition
| a bell-shaped distribution, proportioned so that predictable proportions of observations or measurements fall within one, two, or three standard deviations of the mean. |
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Term
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Definition
| the use, transformation, movement, and reuse of nutrients in ecosystems |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency of an ecosystem to retain nutrients |
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Term
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Definition
| a representation of nutrient dynamics in streams, which, because of downstream displacement of organisms and materials, are better represented by a spiral than a cycle |
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Term
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Definition
| a mutualistic relationship in which species are so dependent upon the relationship that they cannot live in its absence |
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Term
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Definition
| an organism that lives in or on another organism, called the host, deriving benefits from it; typically reduce the fitness of the host , but do not generally kill it. |
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Term
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Definition
| an insect whose larva consumes its host and kills it in the process; functionally equivalent to predators |
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Term
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Definition
| a relatively homogeneous area in a landscape that differs from its surroundings, for example, an area of forested surrounded by agricultural fields |
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Term
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Definition
| any organism that induces disease, a debilitating condition, in their host; common pathogens include viruses, bacteria, and protozoans |
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Term
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Definition
| movement of an organism toward light |
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Term
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Definition
| a heterotrophic organism that kills and eats other organisms for food; usually an animal that hunts and kills other animals for food |
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Term
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Definition
| a defensive tactic in which prey reduce their individual probability of being eaten by occurring at very high densities; predators can only capture and eat so many |
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Term
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Definition
| the fixation of energy by autotrophs in an ecosystem |
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Term
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Definition
| succession on newly exposed geological substrates, not significantly modified by organisms |
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Term
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Definition
| a curve that portrays the number of species in a community an their relative abundance; constructed by plotting the relative abundance of species against their rank in abundance |
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Term
| rate of primary production |
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Definition
| the amount of energy fixed by the atotrophs in an ecosystem over some interval of time |
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Term
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Definition
| the actual niche of a species whose distribution is restricted by biotic interactions such as competition, predation, disease, and parasitism |
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Term
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Definition
| gathering information about an object without direct contact with it, mainly by gathering and processing electromagnetic radiation emitted or reflected by the object; such measurements are typically made from remote sensing satellites |
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Term
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Definition
| the capacity to recover structure and function after disturbance; |
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Term
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Definition
| the capacity of a community or ecosystem to maintain structure and/or function in the face of potential disturbance |
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Term
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Definition
| intraspecific or interspecific competition for limited resources, generally not involving direct antagonistic interactions between individuals. |
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Term
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Definition
| limitation of population growth by resource availability |
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Term
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Definition
| succession where disturbance has destroyed a community without destroying the soil |
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Term
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Definition
| the relative selection costs or benefits associated with a particular biological trait |
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Term
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Definition
| reduction in population density as a stand of plant increases in biomass, due to intraspecific competition |
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Term
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Definition
| an oscillation in atmospheric pressure that extends across the Pacific Ocean |
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Term
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Definition
| a measure of diversity that increases with species evenness and species richness |
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Term
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Definition
| the relative abundance of species in a community or collection |
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Term
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Definition
| the number of species in a community or collection |
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Term
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Definition
| changes in species composition on islandsresulting from some species becoming extinct and others immigrating |
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Term
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Definition
| the length of stream required for an atom of a nutrient to complete a cycle from release into the water column to reentry in the benthic ecosystem |
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Term
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Definition
| the persistence of a community or ecosystem in the face of disturbance, usually as a consequence of a combination of resistance and resilience |
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Term
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Definition
| an estimate of variation among means of samples drawn from a population |
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Term
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Definition
| a layer of the earth's atmosphere that extends from about 16 km to 50 km |
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Term
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Definition
| feeding activities of a few species that have a dominant influence on community structure |
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Term
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Definition
| the gradual change in plant and animal communities in an area following disturbance or the creation of new substrate |
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Term
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Definition
| describes the condition in which populations or species have overlapping geographic ranges |
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Term
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Definition
| the outer layer of the earth's atmosphere beginning approximately 80km above the earth's surface |
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Term
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Definition
| a model of succession in which initial stages of colonization are not limites to a few pioneer species, juveniles of species dominating at climax can be present from the earliest stages of succession, and species colonizing early in succession do not facilitate colonization by species characteristics of later successional stages. later successional species are simply those tolerant of environmental conditions early in succession |
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Term
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Definition
| the control or influence of consumers on ecosystem process |
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Term
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Definition
| effects of predators on prey that alter abundance, biomass, or productivity of a population, community, or trophic level across more than one link in the food chain |
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Term
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Definition
| the transfer of energy from one part of an ecosystem to another |
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Term
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Definition
| trophic position in an ecosystem |
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Term
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Definition
| a layer of the atmosphere extending from the earth's surface to an altitude of 9km to 16km |
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Term
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Definition
| a large-scale atmospheric circulation system that moves in the plane of the equator |
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