Natural Systems Key Terms

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  • Created by: jgnotts23
  • Created on: 02-05-16 12:31
Adaptive radiation
The process by which a single ancestral species gives rise through speciation to an array of new species in response to a range of environments or resources
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Anthropocene
A term proposed to describe the most recent phase of geological history in which modern humans have become a dominant driver of ecosystem and geological processes
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Basal group
The earliest diverging group within a clade; for instance, to hypothesise that sponges are basal animals is to suggest that the lineage(s) leading to sponges diverged from the lineage that have rise to all other animals.
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Biogeographical realm
Large spatial regions within which ecosystems share a broadly similar biological evolutionary history. Eight terrestrial biogeographical realms are typically recognised, corresponding roughly to continents.
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Biomass
The total mass of live organic material in a system.
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Biome
A large geographical region dominated by a particular habitat type, general climate and set of dominant organisms
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Biosphere
The whole earth system
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Centre of origin
A geographical area where a group of organisms, either domesticated or wild, first developed its distinctive properties. Centres of origin are also considered centres of diversity
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Climate envelope
The range of environmental conditions within which a species is able to persist, projected onto a map to predict its potential distribution
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Community
A collection of species present in a given location and consistent through time which are linked by interactions (e.g. feeding relationships, mutualisms)
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Competition
An interaction between organisms or species in which the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of another. Limited supply of at least one resource used by both can be a factor.
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Connectance
A statistical measure of networks which describes the ratio between actual and potential links among nodes.
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Biological (dispersal) corridor
The designation for a continuous geographic extent of habitat linking ecosystems, either spatially or functionally; such a link restores or conserves the connection between habitats that are fragmented by natural causes or human development.
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Disharmony
The difference in composition and relative abundance of species on islands (or other isolated areas) relative to the mainland.
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Disjunction
The presence of a species in two or more geographical locations separated by uninhabitable regions.
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Dispersal (active vs. passive)
The movement of individual organisms apart in space; distinct from migration. Active dispersal is when organisms move from one location to another without assistance. Passive dispersal is when an organism needs assistance moving from place to place.
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Dispersal barrier
An area of unfavourable habitat that separates two areas of favourable habitat, e.g. oceans in the case of terrestrial organisms, or a cereal monoculture in the case of woodland oranisms.
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Disturbance
Disruption to a community causing the death of individual organisms.
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Diversity (alpha, beta and gamma) - R.H. Whittaker
Alpha diversity is just the diversity of each site (local species pool). Beta diversity represents the differences in species composition among sites. Gamma diversity is the diversity of the entire landscape (regional species pool).
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Ecological dominance
The degree to which a taxon is more numerous than its competitors in an ecological community, or makes up more of the biomass. Many ecological communities are defined by their dominant species
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Ecoregion
A geographical region with a broadly consistent set of species, habitats and climatic conditions.
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Ecosystem
A linked set of biotic and abiotic components in a given location
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Ecosystem engineer
A species whose activities create or modify the environment they require to survive.
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Ecosystem function
A movement or transformation of abiotic material mediated by a biological system
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Ecosystem service
A process generated by an ecosystem which has a measurable role in supporting or sustaining human life an well being.
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Endemic
A species whose entire range falls within a specified area, often a country, ecoregion, island or habitat patch.
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Epoch
A particular period of time marked by distinctive features, events, etc.
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Era
A long and distinct period of history
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Evenness
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.
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Facilitation
Species interactions that benefit at least one of the participants and cause harm to neither. Facilitations can be categorised as mutualisms, in which both species benefit, or commensalisms, in which one species benefits and the other is unaffected.
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Food chain
A succession of organisms in an ecological community that are linked to each other through the transfer of energy and nutrients, beginning with autotrophic organisms such as a plant and continuing with each organism being consumed by one higher up.
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Food web
A system of interlocking and interdependent food chains
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Functional group
A set of species sharing a similar role within a community or ecosystem, e.g. primary producers, pollinators
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Invasive
A species that has naturalised and spread widely within a region outside its normal range. The term is most often used to refer to species which cause ecological and economic damage.
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Island types
Volcanic, continental, shelf and atolls.
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Jump dispersal
Long distances over inhospitable habitat (e.g. oceanic islands)
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Keystone species
A species whose influence on a community or ecosystem, measured following removal, exceeds that expected given its abundance or biomass. In practice the definition is hard to apply rigorously
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Land bridge
An actual or hypothetical ***** of land, subject to submergence, that connects adjacent continental landmasses and serves as a route of dispersal for plants and animals.
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Migration
The mass directional movement of an entire population of organisms; distinct from dispersal
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Mutualist
An interacting species with net benefits for both partners in the interaction; e.g. a pollinator.
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Naturalised
A non-native species which has established itself in a site outside its normal range. The use of this term implies that the species has not become invasive, though all invasive species are naturalised.
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Nestedness
A measure of structure in an ecological system, usually applied to species-sites systems, or species-species interaction networks.
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Niche
The joint description of the environmental conditions that allow a local population to persist and the per capita effects on the environment.
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Pangaea
The mesozoic supercontinent which united all the major continental land masses. It formed around 300 Mya and began to separate from 200Mya.
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Parasitism
A non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species, where one species, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host.
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Period (geological)
One of several subdivisions of geological time enabling cross-referencing of rocks and geological events from place to place. These periods form elements of a hierarchy of divisions into which geologists have split the Earth's history.
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Phoresy
An association between two organisms in which one (e.g. a mite) travels on the body of another, without being a parasite.
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Phylogeny
Evolutionary history of a group of species, usually depicted as a tree.
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Pioneer
A species which is the first colonist of empty sites, usually adapted for rapid growth and broad dispersal.
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Population
A group of individuals of the same species in a given location which are linked by reproduction (or other interactions).
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Predation
A biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey.
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Regeneration
The suite of processes which restore the composition of a community to stable state following disturbance.
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Productivity
The rate of generation of biomass in an ecosystem. Usually expressed in units of mass per unit surface per unit time. (e.g. grams per square metre per day).
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Net primary production (NPP)
The rate at which all plants in an ecosystem produce useful chemical energy; it is equal to the difference between the rate plants in an ecosystem produce useful chemical energy (GPP) and the rate at which they use that energy in respiration.
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Refugium
A location of an isolated or relict population of a once more widespread species. This isolation (allopatry) can be due to climatic changes, geography, or human activities.
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Rafting (oceanic dispersal)
Organisms transferring from one land mass to another by way of sea crossing. Often occurs via large rafts of floating vegetation and is sometimes referred to as a 'rafting event'.
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Secular migration
Secular migration is diffusion taking place so slowly that the diffusing species undergoes appreciable evolutionary change during the process. The range of the species expands or shifts over long time intervals (thousands or millions of years).
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Species
Individual organisms linked by commonality of reproduction, appearance or descent.
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Species richness
The number of species in a sample, community, or taxonomic group.
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Stability (ecological)
Refers to types of stability in a continuum ranging from regeneration via resilience, to constancy via persistence.
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Primary succession
Occurring in an environment in which new substrate devoid of vegetation and other organisms, usually lacking in soil, such as a lava flow or area left from a retreated glacier, is deposited.
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Secondary succession
Series of community changes which take place on a previously colonised, but disturbed or damaged habitat (e.g. after a fire).
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Sweepstake dispersal route (G. Simpson, 1940)
A possible route of fauna interchange which is unlikely to be used by most animals, but which will, by chance, be used by some. It requires a major barrier that is occasionally crossed. Which groups cross and when they cross are determined randomly.
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Taxon
A single biological unit within the taxonomic hierarchy (e.g. a family, genus or species).
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Tectonic plate
The two sub-layers of the earth's crust (lithosphere) that move, float, and sometimes fracture and whose interaction causes continental drift, earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains, and oceanic trenches.
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Trait
A genetically-determined, quantifiable property of an organism. Those that describe the ecological roles of a species are known as functional traits.
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Turnover
The change in species composition between locations in space or at a single location over time.
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Card 2

Front

A term proposed to describe the most recent phase of geological history in which modern humans have become a dominant driver of ecosystem and geological processes

Back

Anthropocene

Card 3

Front

The earliest diverging group within a clade; for instance, to hypothesise that sponges are basal animals is to suggest that the lineage(s) leading to sponges diverged from the lineage that have rise to all other animals.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Large spatial regions within which ecosystems share a broadly similar biological evolutionary history. Eight terrestrial biogeographical realms are typically recognised, corresponding roughly to continents.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

The total mass of live organic material in a system.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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