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Science Olympiad Eco
Ecology study for Science Olympiad
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Sucession | The replacement of one community by another, developing toward a climax |
Primary | The ecological succession of vegetation that occurs in passing from barren earth or water to a climax community |
Secondary | The development of biotic communities in an area where the natural vegetation has been removed or destroyed but where soil is present |
Extinction | No remaining living organisms; gone forever |
Selection | A process in which environmental or genetic influences determine which types of organism thrive better than others, regarded as a factor in evolution |
Natural Selection | The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. The theory of its action was first fully expounded by Charles Darwin and is now believed to be the main process that brings about evolution. |
Stabilizing Selection | favors the average individuals in a population. This process selects against the extreme phenotypes and instead favors the majority of the population that is well adapted to the environment |
Disruptive Selection | Selects against the average individual in a population. The make up of this type of population would show phenotypes of both extremes, but have very few individuals in the middle. |
Directional | favors one extreme phenotype over the mean or other extreme. This phenomena is usually seen in environments that have changed over time. Changes in weather, climate, or food availability lead to__ |
Artificial | The process in which breeders choose the variants to be used to produce succeeding generations |
Limiting Factors | A factor that limits a population's growth; i.e. resources, shelter, food and disease |
Biodiversity | The number and variety of organisms within one region (biome) |
Mutualism | symbiosis that is beneficial to both organisms involved. |
Tertiary Consumer | A carnivore at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores; an animal that feeds only on secondary consumers. |
Secondary Consumer | herbivores (plant-eaters) |
Primary Consumer | They are carnivores (meat-eaters) and omnivores (animals that eat both animals and plants) |
Decomposer | an organism, especially a soil bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate, that decomposes organic material. |
Primary Producer | Organisms in an ecosystem that produce biomass from inorganic compounds (autotrophs). In almost all cases these are photosynthetically active organisms (plants, cyanobacteria and a number of other unicellular organisms; see article on photosynthesis) |