Ch. 19 + Ch. 20 (Speciation + Ecology) Vocab

Individuals capable of interbreeding freely with each other but not with members of another species.

The process of forming new species.

Origin of a new species in populations that overlap geographically.

Origin of a new species in populations that are separated geographically.

Different reasons why individuals would no longer be able to reproduce.

A prezygotic isolating mechanism in which species select different places to live and reproduce.

A prezygotic isolating mechanism in which species differ in mating behaviors such as visual cues or vocalization.

A prezygotic isolating mechanism in which species reproduce during different times so mating periods do not overlap.

A prezygotic isolating mechanism in which the reproductive organs of species are incompatible due to size and shape.

A prezygotic isolating mechanism in which the sperm and egg are incompatible.

Isolating mechanisms in which zygote form but embryo does not survive or survive and are sterile.

Death of all members of a species.

Episode during which large numbers of a species become extinct.

Study of the interactions among organisms and their physical environment.

All the members of one species inhibiting an area.

All the different species interacting in one area.

All the living and nonliving components in one habitat.

One of the world’s major ecoystems.

Part of Earth occupied by living organisms.

Pertaining to living organisms.

Pertaining to non-living.

Organisms that have the ability to make their own food.

Organisms that cannot make their own food and therefore must depend on an outside source for nutrients.

Organisms that change energy into food.

Organisms that eat producers or other consumers.

Organisms absorb nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes of living organisms, and convert them into organic molecules.

Ecological interactions that involve two different species that live together in direct contact.

A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits but the other is neither helped nor harmed.

A symbiotic relationship in which both participants benefit.

A symbiotic relationship in which the symbiont benefits at the expense of the host.

Pathway along which food is transmitted from trophic level to trophic level, beginning with producers

Elaborate and interconnected food chains.

Any of the several levels of a food chain, whose species are based on their main nutritional source.

The weight of a living organism.

The weight of an organism without water.

A rule that states only about ten percent of usable energy stored in a trophic level is passed from one level to the next.

Measure of energy.

A type of food web that begin with producers.

A type of food web that begin with detritus.

A consumer that only eats other consumers

A consumer that only eats producers.

A consumer that eats producers and other consumers.

Dead organic material broken down by decomposers.

A model or pyramid that illustrates the loss of usable energy at each trophic level.

An ecosystem that has a constant source of energy, autotrophs, heterotrophs, consumers, producers, and decomposers.

The energy that flows through ecosystems and nutrients cycle.