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adaptation
evolutionary process by which organisms become better suited for their enviornment
autotrophs
organism that makes its own food
balance of nature
that nature returns to a self-restoring equilibrium when left alone
biosphere
all the ecosystems of the earth
biodiversity and the principle of being just good enough
difference in living things in the enviornment GM metaphor: how many GM trucks from the 1950's do you see? Not a lot, because they werent FIT enough to make it to the next generation.
biomarker
can help determine the proximate cause of an anomaly
biome
areas on the earth with similar climate, plants, and animals
biosystematics
science through which organisms are discovered, described, and studied
circadian
events occuring within a 24 hour period
coefficient of determination
percentage of varition due to the variable being measured
coefficient of variation
variation of the sample values attained from the statistical model
community
interacting populations usually defined by their nature of interaction of the place in which they live
confidence limits
how confident you are in the data or outcome of the info that was input and gathered from your statistical model
primary consumer
consumer at the lowest level of the food web or (herbivore)
secondary consumer
(carnivore) consumer of primary consumers
tertiary consumer
feeds on secondary consumers also a carnivore
correlation
how to pieces of data move in relation to one another both go up or go down- positive correlation one goes up and the other down- negative correlation
crepuscular
animals that are active primarily during dawn or dusk
cues
stimuli from the enviornment
darwinian fitness
superior adaptations to your enviornment and moving your genes along to the next generation proving your fitness
decomposers
feed on dead materials (or crap)
deductive inference
reasoning from general to specific conclusions observation based testing relies on correlation (need physical evidence to back hypothesis)
demographics
statistical characteristics of a population
deterministic
not subject or accounting for random variation
diurnal
any pattern that reoccurs daily
ecological niche
organisms role or job in the community trophic, temporal, and spatial
ecological study units (ESU)
study of an organism and their role at the various levels of the hierachy
ecology
multidisciplinary scientific study of the patterns of diversity, distribution, dispersion, and adundance of organisms in time and space
ecosystem
assemblage of organisms toether with their physical and chemical environments
ecotoxicology
research on the effects of toxic chemicals on communities, populations, and organisms
ecotype
or subspecies within a species variation of the species to make them distinct enough to make a sub species
emergent properties
properties that come out in organisms due to arrangement of characteristics "Principle of Functional Intergration"
Emigration
leaving ones home geographical area
endemic
belonging or native to a particular geographic area
evolution
change in populations gene pool
exotic species
a foreign species put by man in a different geographical area than it normally occurs
experimental control
a characteristic in an experiment that is constant and can be controlled to ensure the desired outcome
snapshot experiment
100 percent observational
extinction
end of an organism or group of organisms
extirpaiton
local extinction
fundamental niche
full range of enviornmental conditions under which an organism can exist
genotype
genetic makeup
grazing food chain
autotrophs make their food by aid of the sun, primary consumers feed primarily on autotrophs (herbivores), secondary consumers feed only on primary consumers (carnivore), tertiary consumers feed only on secondary consumers
guild
group of organisms that occupy similar niches within the same community
habitat
where an organism lives
heterotrophs
organisms that can't synthesize their own food so must find it already made
home range
where an animal lives and travels
hutchinsonian performance niche "juggler metaphor"
organism must juggle many things and respond accordingly
immigration
moving into a foreign area
iductive inference
reasoning from specific to general conclusions controlled experiment based testing of hypothesis requires relatively small scale ESU's
migration
movement from one area to another due to a cue (ex. climate change, length of day or night)
mutualism
interaction between two species that benefits both
natural or life history
the schedule of an individuals life (age at maturity, number of offspring, life span)
natural law
a law in nature that is universal or that will always take place
natural selection
change in frequency of genetic traits in a population through differential survival and reproduction of individuals bearing those traits
neo darwinian paradigm
revision of adaptation and fitness (adding new material)
niche
range of conditions a specie can tolerate and the ways of life it pursues the functional role of a species in the community or it's job
nocturnal
comes out primarily at night
null hypothesis
that there is no significant difference between specified populations due to sampling or experimental error
pandemic
species found everywhere
paradigm
a model
parameters
a constant that is different in every equation
pattern
opposite of noise
performance curve
hyperbolic (or in a curve) with performance highest at intermediate values
phenotype
outward appearance and behavior of the organism
Phylogeny
evolutionary history of a species
population
individuals of a particular species that inhabit a particular area
principle of functional intergration
properties that comeout in organisms due to arrangement of characteristics
proximate causation
immediate causation (ex. why do birds fly south? environmental cues)
ultimate causation
evolutionary or adaptive significance in terms of relative fitness (ex. why do some birds fly south? they migrate because of the amount of food available) So they gain more food by migrating and thus help their overall fitness
realized niche
range of physical conditions and resources within which individuals of a species can persist in the presence of competitors and consumers
regression
tells us the strength of the raltionship between the independent and dependent variables
restoration
trying to return a degraged ecosystem to it's original state or less degraded state
spatial scale
the area they inhabit
temporal scale
when the organisms are in that area
sentinel species
species that can be studied easily to see the effects of things in their enviornment
standard deviation
index of the degree of variation from the central tendency
statistical population
is the sample population if you sample 15 people out of a class of 23 then the statistical population is 15 if you sample 23 out of 23 in a class then the biological and statistical population are the same
stochastic
resulting from chance events
subspecies
variation of the species that is different enough that it is made a subspecies
symbiosis
close physical association between two species
taxonomy
system of naming all the animals with their own scientific name
territory
any area defended by one or more individuals against intrusion by others of the same or different species
theory
hypothesis that needs to be tested to check its accuracy
trophic pyramid
a pyramid showing the feeding relationship of groups of organisms, and the distribution of energy among different levels in a given ecosystem
trophic level
position in a food web determined by the number of energy transfer steps from primary producers to that level
trophic web
showing the energy lost and the recycling of energy in an ecosystem
type 1 error
rejecting a true hypothesis
type 2 error
accepting a false hypothesis
variance
degree of deviation

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