Term
|
Definition
| The part of the earth and its atmosphere which is inhabited by living organisms |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A relatively self-contained, interacting community of organisms |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Physial and chemical aspects of an ecosystem |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Factors determined by organisms - predation and competition |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The place where the organisms live; the non-living part of an ecosystem |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Area of distinct conditions within a habitat; eg the underside of a stone in a pond |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The living part of an ecosystem; all the plants and animals that live in a habitat, ie all the populations |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A group of individuals of the same species living in a particular habitat |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A group of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations that produce fertile offspring and that is reproductively isolated from other such groups. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The functional position of an organism in its environment, comprising its habitat and the resources it obtains there, and the periods of time that it is active |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The variability among living organisms from all sources; it includes diversity within species, between species, and within and between ecosystems |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Use of the same resource by two or more species, when the resource is present in insufficient supply for the combined needs of the species. |
|
|
Term
| Intraspecific competition |
|
Definition
| Within members of the same species |
|
|
Term
| Interspecific competition |
|
Definition
| Between members of different species |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Factors connected with the soil structure, texture, pH, mineral content |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Relationships in which both partners benefit |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The distribution of plants and animals into different geographic zones |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Ecological succession is the observed process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An organism that can survive extreme conditions and the first organism to colonise a newly formed habitat or a habitat that has been cleared of vegetation |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Trees that shed their leaves in the autumn |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The stable community that make up the final stage of ecological succession. The nature of the climax community will depend on ecological conditions such as the climate. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Succession from an area which has not previously sustained a community, such as bare rock. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Succession where an previous community has been cleared, e.g. land cleared for building or cleared by fire |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A stable pre-climax community which is maintained only by human activity, e.g. grazing results in deflected succession. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Algal plankton. Plankton refers to algae and animals kept in suspension by water turbulence. Phyto is a botanical prefix. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Organisms that can make their own organic compounds from inorganic compounds |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The metabolic process by which visible light energy is trapped and the energy used to synthesise compounds such as glucose through the fixation of carbon from carbon dioxide |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Organisms that can produce organic compounds using energy released from chemical reactions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The splitting or decomposition of a chemical compound by means of light energy or photons. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The first stage of photosynthesis, the process by which plants capture and store energy from sunlight. In this process, light energy is converted into chemical energy, in the form of the energy-carrying molecules ATP and rNADP |
|
|
Term
| Light-independent reaction |
|
Definition
| Chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide and other compounds into glucose |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tall thin cells found near the upper surface of a leaf. They contain many chloroplasts and are an important site of photosynthesis |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An organelle, bounded by a double membrane, containing a large surface area of membranes with pigments, enzymes and electron carriers required for photosynthesis |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Interconnected, fluid-filled sacs within chloroplasts. Pigments and electron carriers are embeddedin the membrane |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Fluid surrounding the thylakoid membranes with enzymes for the light independent reaction |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A stack of thylakoid membranes, joined together |
|
|
Term
| Inner membrane (chloroplast) |
|
Definition
| A second membrane of a chloroplast containing membrane-bound transport proteins. Regulates the passage of substances in and out of the chloroplast |
|
|
Term
| Outer membrane (chloroplast) |
|
Definition
| Surrounds a chloroplast. Completely permeable to oxygen, water and carbon dioxide. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A series of connected electron carrier molecules embedded in the thylakoid membrane |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The most important energy transfer molecule within cells. When formed, useful energy is stored; when broken down, energy is released to drive other energy requiring (endergonic) reactions. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A coenzyme acting as a hydrogen carrier in photosynthesis. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An organic substance which plays an essential part in an enzyme catalysed reaction, but which are only involved temporarily with the enzyme (compare; prosthetic group) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The light-independent photosynthesis reaction |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The most common enzyme on the planet. It catalyses the fixation of carbon dioxide in the Calvin cyle |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The 5-carbon compoud which combines with carbon dioxide in the Calvin cycle |
|
|
Term
| GP (glycerate 3-phosphate) |
|
Definition
| The first stable 3-carbon molecules produced in the light independent reaction |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| 3-carbon molecules that combine to form glucose and other carbohydrates in the light independent reaction |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Level in a food chain occupied by a particular group of organisms |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An organism that feeds on both plants and animals, therefore feeding at more than one trophic level in a food web |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Organisms that break down dead organisms and excreted materials |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Factors that cause the rate of a reaction such as photosynthesis to plateau even when other factors are increased |
|
|
Term
| Gross Primary Productivity, GPP |
|
Definition
| The rate at which an ecosystem's producers capture and store a given amount of chemical energy as biomass in a given length of time |
|
|
Term
| Net Primary Productivity, NPP |
|
Definition
| the rate at which all the plants in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy. GPP-respiration. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The mass of living material in an organism or at a trophic level |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Enzymes that differ in amino acid sequence but catalyze the same chemical reaction |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The gradual, non-random process by which biological traits become either more or less common in a population through selection pressures |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Intentional breeding for certain traits, or combination of traits |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The study of the genomes of organisms |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The large-scale study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Unzipping and combining two different genomes to compare them and assess similarities |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A technique employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The average rate at which a species' genome accumulates mutations, used to measure their evolutionary divergence and in other calculations |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A forest, ocean, or other natural environment viewed in terms of its ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| When something "feeds back" to increase the action/result. EG an increase in water vapour as a result of increased temperatures leads to an increase in temperatures due to greenhouse gases |
|
|
