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| the study of the impact of humans on the environment |
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| the study of of how living and nonliving things interact in the environment |
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| interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both. |
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| a type of symbiotic relationship where all the species involved benefit from their interactions. |
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| A relationship between two species of plants or animals in which one benefits at the expense of the other, sometimes without killing the host organism. |
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| A relationship between individuals of two species in which one species obtains food or other benefits from the other without either harming or benefiting the latter. |
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| An organism that primarily obtains food by the killing and consuming of other organisms. |
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| Organisms that predators kill for food. |
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| The total number of one type of species in a given area. |
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| This determines how many organisms live in an ecosystem. Space, food, oxygen, and water are examples of limiting factors. Temperature and precipitation determine the climate of an ecosystem, which impacts the organisms that can live in an ecosystem. |
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| Density-dependent factors |
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| These include disease, competition, and predation. Density-dependent factors can have either a positive or a negative correlation to population size. With a positive relationship, these limiting factors increase with the size of the population and limit growth as population size increases. |
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| Density-independent factors |
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| These include amount of available food or nutrient limitation, pollutants in the environment, and climate extremes, including seasonal cycles such as monsoons. In addition, catastrophic factors can also impact population growth, such as fires and hurricanes. |
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| A species' average population size in a particular habitat. The species population size is limited by environmental factors like enough food, shelter, water, and mates. If these needs are not met, the population will decrease until the resource rebounds. |
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| This is driven by the presence or absence of the producers in the ecosystem. Changes in their population will affect the population of all the species in the food web, and thus, the ecosystem. |
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| The populations of the organisms lower trophic levels (bottom of the pyramid) are controlled by the organisms at the top. |
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| These are powerful indirect interactions that can control entire ecosystems. Trophic cascades occur when predators limit the density and/or behavior of their prey and thereby enhance survival of the next lower trophic level. |
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| This is an infectious disease that infects hoofed animals. |
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