Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Eco Glossary
A glossary of palaeoecology words that may be of use in study
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| holometaboly | A life cycle of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, imago |
| holometabolous | Having a cycle of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, imago |
| holometabolism | A cycle of four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and imago |
| hemimetabolism | A cycle of three life stages: egg, nymph, and imago |
| hemimetabolous | Having a cycle of three life stage: egg, nymph, and imago |
| hemimetaboly | A life cycle of three stages: egg, nymph, and imago |
| ametabolism | A type of growth or life cycle in insects in which there is slight or no metamorphosis, only a gradual increase in size |
| univoltine | insects producing one brood in a season |
| bivoltine | insects producing two broods in a season |
| trivoltine | insects producing thre broods in a season |
| apolysis | separation of cuticle from epidermis in moulting |
| ecdysis | emergence of animal during moulting. occurs after apolysis |
| pharate adult | an adult that has completed metamorphosis from pupa but is still within pupal skin |
| eclosion | the act of an insect coming out of a pupal case or out of an egg |
| vagility | the ability of an organism to move about freely and migrate |
| Nearctic | biogeographic realm comprising N America and Greenland |
| Neotropical | biogeographic realm of tropical terrestrial America and entire South America |
| Palearctic | Eurasia, the Mediterranean, North Africa, russia and south to the foothills of the himalayas |
| Boreal | continental climate with long cold winters and short, warm to cool summers, generally away from coastal influence |
| Subarctic | same as boreal |
| Holarctic | comprises the Nearctic and the Palearctic realms |
| temperate | latitudes 23.5 to 66.5 north and south. wider temperature ranges and distinct seasons. Extends from tropical line to the (ant)arctic circle |
| dystrophic | A lake having brown acidic water that is low in oxygen and supports little life, owing to high levels of dissolved humus |
| eutrophic | A lake rich in nutrients and so supporting a dense plant population, the decomposition of which kills animal life by depriving it of oxygen. |
| oligotrophic | A lake characterized by a low accumulation of dissolved nutrient salts, supporting but a sparse growth of algae and other organisms, and having a high oxygen content owing to the low organic content |
| amphimixis | sexual reproduction involving the fusion of two different gametes to form a zygote |
| autogamy | self-fertilization, especially the self pollination of a flower |
| apomixis | asexual seed formation - the result of a plant gaining the ability to bypass the most fundamental aspects of sexual reproduction: meiosis and fertilization |
| thelytoky | from the Greek thēlys "female" and tokos "birth" - a type of parthenogenesis, the absence of mating and subsequent production of all female diploid offspring as for example in aphids |
| karyogamy | the final step in the process of fusing together two haploid eukaryotic cells, specifically the fusion of the two nuclei. Before karyogamy, each haploid cell has one complete copy of the organism's genome |
| autecology | the ecological study of a particular species |
| functional ecology | Functional ecology is a branch of ecology that focuses on the roles, or functions, that species play in the community or ecosystem in which they occur |
| mixotrophic | deriving nourishment from both autotrophic and heterotrophic mechanisms —used especially of symbionts and partial parasites. |
| autotrophic | relating to a living thing that can make its own food from simple chemical substances such as carbon dioxide: autotrophic nutrition. Photosynthetic green plants are autotrophic organisms |
| heterotrophic | requiring complex organic compounds of nitrogen and carbon (such as that obtained from plant or animal matter) for metabolic synthesis |
| proteinaceous | consisting of or containing protein |
| agglutinated | firmly stuck together to form a mass. |
| idiosome | A structure produced by the organism, as opposed to a xenosome or foreign body. Used to refer to the elements which make up or adhere to the test of some amoebae. |
| mesotrophic | Intermediate levels of nutrients, fairly productive in terms of aquatic animal and plant life and showing emerging signs of water quality problems |
| meromictic | a lake which has layers of water that do not intermix. In ordinary, holomictic lakes, at least once each year, there is a physical mixing of the surface and the deep waters. |
| eurytopic | able to tolerate a wide range of environments |
| xerophilic | Capable of growing and reproducing in conditions with a low availability of water. |
| allochthonous | introduced from a different environment, habitat, or geographical area |
| autochthonous | Originating or formed in the place where found; indigenous. |
| biotope | the habitat together with its recurring associated community of species, operating together at a particular scale |
| ecotone | a transition area between two biological communities, where two communities meet and integrate |
| ecotope | Ecological habitat on the scale of individual organisms sharing space. The smallest ecologically distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system |
| biotone | A biogeographical region characterized not by distinctive biota but rather by a distinctive transition from one set of biota to another |
| profundal | The profundal zone is a deep zone of an inland body of freestanding water, such as a lake or pond, located below the range of effective light penetration. |
| pseudostome | A false opening that resembles a stoma but without any true aperture |
| dystrophic | (of a lake) having brown acidic water that is low in oxygen and supports little life, owing to high levels of dissolved humus. |
| metalimnion | The middle layer of a thermally stratified lake or reservoir, between the epilimnion (above) and the hypolimnion (below), in which temperature decreases rapidly with depth. Also known as thermocline. |
| photic zone | Plants are found only in the photic zone—the upper portion of the lake where photosynthesis occurs, also called the trophogenic zone. |
| trophogenic zone | n this zone the production of biochemical energy through photosynthesis is greater than its consumption through respiration and decomposition |
| sapropel | Sapropeel, also sapropel, sapropelium. A dark-coloured sediments consisting of organic material. The material consists of at least 2% organic carbon. Rotting sludge. The word is a portmanteau of the Greek words sapros ("rot away") and pelos ("mud"). |
| ruderal | a plant growing on waste ground or among rubbish |
| Rao quadratic entropy | a measure of diversity of ecological communities and is based on the proportion of the abundance of species present in a community and some measure of dissimilarity among them. |
| phagotrophic | The process by which a cell uses its plasma membrane to engulf a large particle (≥ 0.5 μm), giving rise to an internal compartment called the phagosome. It is one type of endocytosis. A cell that performs phagocytosis is called a phagocyte. |
| phototrophs | organisms that carry out photon capture to produce complex organic compounds (e.g. carbohydrates) and acquire energy |
| autotroph | produces complex organic compounds (such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) using carbon from simple substances such as carbon dioxide, generally using energy from light (photosynthesis) or inorganic chemical reactions (chemosynthesis). |
| heterotrophic | a mode of nutrition in which organisms depend upon other organisms for food to survive. |
| accrotelm | peat containing living plants. The boundary between the accrotelm and the catotelm typically coincides with the lowest level of the water table. |
| catotelm | peat containing dead plant material |
| ontogeny | the process of individual development from a single cell, an egg cell or a zygote, to an adult organism |
Created by:
landroverman
Popular Ecology sets