AP Biology Vocab Ch 51-56

-action carried out by muscles under control of the nervous system
-an essential part of acquiring nutrients and finding a partner for sexual reproduction
-also contributes to homeostasis, as when honeybees huddle to conserve heat
-influences all of physiological systems
-ex. an animal using its throat muscles to produce a song, releasing a scent to mark its territory, or simply waving a claw

-a sequence of unlearned acts directly linked to a simple stimulus
-essentially unchangeable and, once initiated, usually carried to completion
-ex. the territorial response of male sticklebacks

-an external cue that triggers a fixed action pattern
-ex. red object that prompts the male stickleback's aggressive behavior

-a regular long distance change in location
-many animals pass through environments they haven't previously encountered
-some animals track their position relative to the Sun, even though the Sun's position relative to Earth changes throughout the day

-animals that communicate through odors or tastes emit chemical substances called ______
-especially common among mammals and insects and often relate to reproductive behavior
-basis for the chemical communication in fruit fly courtship
-aren't limited to short-distance signaling
-can also serve as alarm signals
-can be very effective at remarkably low concentrations
-ex. honeybee colony, produced by the queen and her daughters
-ex. queen substance, wide range of effects, attracts workers to the queen, inhibits development of ovaries in workers, and attracts males (drones) to the queen during her mating flights out of the hive
-ex. when a minnow or catfish is injured, a substance released from the fish's skin disperses in the water, inducing a fright response in other fish

-animal behavior that is developmentally fixed and under strong genetic control
-exhibited in virtually the same form by all individuals in a population despite internal and external environmental differences during development and throughout their lifetimes

-the establishment of a long-lasting behavioral response to a particular individual or object
-can take place only during a specific time period in development

-the establishment of a memory that reflects the environment's spatial structure

-can locate nest by learning its position relative to visible landmarks

-ex. female digger wasp (Philanthus triangulum) , which nests in small burrows dug into sand dunes, when a wasp leaves her nest to go hunting, she hides the entrance from potential intruders by covering it with sand, when she returns, however, she flies directly to her hidden nest, despite the presence of hundreds of other burrows in the area

-ability to asosciate one environmental feature (such as color) with another (such as food taste)

-well suited to study in the laboratory

-studies typically involve classical conditioning or operant conditioning

-ex. a blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) that ingests a brightly colored monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), substances that the monarch accumulates from milkweed plants cause the blue jay to vomit almost immediately

-most complex forms of learning involve the process of knowing that involves awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgement

-once argued that only primates and certain marine mammals have high-level thought processes, many other groups of animals, including insects appear to exhibit this in controlled laboratory studies

-ex. experiment using Y-shaped mazes provided evidence for abstract thinking in honeybees

-type of learning through observing others
-many animals learn to solve problems by observing the behavior of other individuals
-ex. young wild chimpanzees, learn how to crack open oil palm nuts with two stones by copying experienced chimpanzees

- food-obtaining behavior, includes not only eating but also any activities an animal uses to search for, recognizes, and capture food items
-ex. fruit fly allows us to examine one way that this behavior might have evolved

natural selection should favor a food-obtaining behavior that minimizes the costs of obtaining food and maximizes the benefits

-mates form a relation of some duration, one male mating with one female
-among these species, males and females often look very similar

-an individual of one sex mating with several of the other

-involve polygyny, a single male and many females

-or polyandry, a single female and multiple males

-among these species, the sex that attracts multiple mating partners is typically showier and larger than the opposite sex

a behavior that reduces an animal's individual fitness but increases the fitness of other individuals in the population

-ex. the Belding's ground squirrel which lives in the western United States and is vulnerable to predators such as coyotes and hawks

-ex. occurs in honeybee societies, the workers are sterile

-ex. observed in naked mole rats (Heterocephalus glaber), highly social rodents that live in underground chambers and tunnels

the total effect of an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing its own offspring and by providing aid that enables other close relative to produce offspring

r, equals the fraction of genes that, on average, are shared

-natural selection favors altruism when the benefit to the recipient multiplied by the coefficient of relatedness exceeds the cost to the altruist

-rB > C

-the process by which natural selection thus favors altruism by enhancing the reproductive success of relatives
-weakens with hereditary distance

-some animals occasionally behave altruistically toward others who are not relatives

-such behavior can be adaptive if the aided individual returns the favor in the feature

-exchange of aid, is commonly invoked to explain altruism that occurs between unrelated humans

-rare in other animals; it is limited largely to species (such as chimpanzees) with social groups stable enough that individuals have many chances to exchange aid

-generally thought to occur when individuals are likely to meet again and when there would be negative consequences associated with not returning favors to individuals who had been helpful in the past, a pattern of behavior that behavioral ecologists refer to as "cheating"

-ex. a baboon may help an unrelated companion in a fight, or a wolf may offer food to another wolf even though they share no kinship

-a discipline in which human behavior and culture are related to evolutionary theory
-main premise is that certain behavioral characteristics exist because they are expressions of genes that have been perpetuated by natural selection

the modification of behavior as a result of specific experiences

the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and the environment

global ecosystem-the sum of all the planet's ecosystems and landscapes

-a mosaic of connected ecosystems
-an area containing several different ecosystems linked by exchanges of energy, materials, and organisms

the community of organisms in an area and the physical factors with which those organisms interact

examines how species interactions, such as predation and competition, affect community structure and organization

-regions that lie between 23.5 degrees north latitude and 23.5 degrees south latitude
-sunlight strikes most directly, more heat and light per unit of surface area are delivered there

patterns on the global, regional, and landscape level

very fine, localized patterns, such as those encountered by the community of organisms that live in the microhabitat beneath a fallen log

non-living, factors that influence the distribution and abundance of organisms
-temperature, light, water, and nutrients

living, factors-the other organisms that are part of an individual's environment-similarly influence the distribution and abundance of life on Earth

major life zones are characterized by vegetation type in terrestial, or by the physical environment (aquatic)

-a way to highlight the importance of climate on the distribution of biomes
-construct a plot of the annual mean temperature and precipitation in a particular region

-area of intergradation, may be wide or narrow
-the transition from one type of habitat or ecosystem to another, such as the transition from a forest to grassland

an event such as a storm, fire, or human activity that changes a community, removing organisms from it and altering resource availability

top layer of an ocean or lake where there is sufficient light for photosynthesis

the part of an ocean or lake beneath the photic zone, where light does not penetrate sufficiently for photosynthesis to occur

deep in the aphotic zone, the part of the ocean 2,000-6,000 m below the surface

the bottom of all aquatic zones, deep or shallow

-in the ocean and in most lakes, a narrow layer of abrupt temperature change separates the more uniformly warm upper layer from more uniformly cold deeper waters
-a narrow stratum of abrupt temperature change in the ocean and in many temperature-zone lakes

-the mixing of waters as a result of changing water-temperature profiles in a lake
-sends oxygenated water from a lake's surface to the bottom and brings nutrient-rich water from the bottom to the surface in both spring and autumn

-nutrient rich and often depleted of oxygen in the deepest zone in summer and if covered with ice in winter
-a lake that has a high rate of biological productivity supported by a high rate of nutrient cycling

-a transition area between river and sea
-the area where a freshwater stream or river merges with the ocean

the movement of individuals or gametes away from their area of origin or from centers of high population density

-used by ecologists to estimate the size of wildlife populations
-sampling technique used to estimate the size of animal populations

the influx of new individuals into a population from other areas

the movement of individuals out of a population and into other locations

-the defense of a bounded physical space against encroachment by other individuals
-a behavior in which an animal defends a bounded physical space against encroachment by other individuals, usually of its own species

-the study of the vital statistics of populations and how they change over time
-especially birth rates and death rates

a group of individuals of the same age in a population

-a plot of the proportion or numbers in a cohort still alive at each age
-one way to represent age-specific mortality

-occurs when the per capita birth and death rates are equal (r = 0)
-birth and deaths still occur in such a population, of course, but they balance each other exactly

-occurs when r(inst) is greater than zero and is constant at each instant in time
-growth of a population in an ideal, unlimited environment, represented by a J-shaped curve when population size is plotted over time

-symbolized by K, as the maximum population size that a particular environment can sustain
-varies over space and time with the abundance of limiting resources

-the per capita rate of increase approaches zero as the population size nears the carrying capacity
-population growth that levels off as population size approaches carrying capacity

-the traits that affect an organism's schedule of reproduction and survival
-evolutionary outcomes reflected in its development, physiology, and behavior

-reproduction in which an organism produces all of its offspring in a single event; also called
big-bang reproduction
-ex. coho salmon, undergo a "one-shot" pattern of big-bang reproduction

-reproduction in which adults produce offspring over many years; also called repeated reproduction
-ex. a female loggerhead turtle produces four clutches totaling approximately 300 eggs in a year

-selection for life history traits that are sensitive to population density and are favored at high densities; density-dependent selection

selection for life history traits that maximize reproductive success in uncrowded environments (low densities); density-independent selection

-a birth rate or death rate that does not change with population density

-any characteristic that is not affected by population density

-similar to the case of r-selection

-a death rate that increases with population density or a birth rate that falls with rising density

-any characteristic that varies within population density

-similar to K-selection

-immigration and emigration are particularly important when a number of local populations are linked
-a group of spatially separated populations of one species that interact through immigration and emigration

- in a stable population, the movement from high birth and death rates toward low birth and death rates
-tends to accompany industrialization and improved living conditions

the relative number of individuals of each age in a population

-concept that summarizes the aggregate land and water are required by each person, city, or nation to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb all the waste it generates

the sum of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment

-relationships in the life of an organism are its interactions with individuals of other species in the community
-include competition, predation, herbivory, symbiosis (including parasitisim, mutualism, and commnesalism), and facilitation

- (-/-)
-interaction that occurs when individuals of different species compete for a resource that limits their growth and survival
-ex. weeds growing in a garden compete with garden plants for soil nutrients and water

-even a slight reproductive advantage will eventually lead to local elimination of the inferior competitor
-concept that when two populations of two similar species compete for the same limited resources, one population will use the resources more efficiently and have a reproductive advantage that will eventually lead to the elimination of the other population

-the differentiation of niches that enables similar species to coexist in a community
-the division of environmental resources by coexisting species such that the niche of each species differs by one or more significant factors from the niche of all coexisting species

tendency for characteristics to diverge more in sympatric than in allopatric populations for two species
-ex. Galapagos finches

-animals with effective chemical defenses often exhibit bright or warning coloration
-bright warning coloration of many animals with effective physical or chemical differences
-ex. poison dart frogs

camouflage that makes potential prey difficult to spot against its background

-a palatable or harmless species mimics an unpalatable or harmful one
-a type of mimicry in which a harmless species resembles an unpalatable or harmful species to which it is not closely related

-two or more unpalatable species resemble each other
-reciprocal mimicry by two unpalatable species
-ex. cuckoo bee and yellow jacket

A +/- ecological interaction in which an organism eats parts of a plant or alga

when individuals of two or more species live in direct and intimate contact with one another

a +/- symbiotic interaction in which one organism, the parasite, derives its nourishment from another organism, the host, which is harmed in the process

an interspecific interaction that benefits both species (+/+)

an interaction between species that benefits one of the species but neither harms nor helps the other (+/0)

-species can have positive effects (+/+ or 0/+) on the survival and reproduction of other species without necessarily living in the direct and intimate contact of symbiosis
-particularly common in plant ecology

-the variety of different kinds of organisms that make up the community
-the number and relative abundance of species in a biological community

the number of different species in a community

the proportion abundance of different species in a community

-the total mass of all organisms in a habitat
-the total mass of organic matter comprising a group of organisms in a particular habitat
-most diverse plots consistently produced more

-organisms that become established outside their native range
- higher-diversity communities are often more resistant

-the structure and dynamics of a community also depend on the feeding relationships between organisms of the community
-the different feeding relationships in an ecosystem, which determine the route of energy flow and the pattern of chemical cycling

-the pathway along which food energy is transferred from trophic level to trophic level, beginning with producers
-the transfer of food energy up the trophic levels from its source in plants and other autotrophs (primary producers) through herbivores (primary consumers) to carnivores (secondary, tertiary, and quaternary consumers) and eventually to decomposers

-food chains are linked together
-the interconnected feeding relationships in a ecosystem

suggests that the length of a food chain is limited by the inefficiency of energy transfer along the chain

-a species that is not usually abundant in a community
-exerts strong control on community structure by the nature of its ecological role or niche

-species that dramatically alter their environment, also known as "foundation species"
-an organism that influences community structure by causing physical changes in the environment

postulates a unidirectional influence from lower to higher trophic levels

postulates the opposite: predation mainly controls community organization because predators limit herbivores, herbivores limit plants, and plants limit nutrient levels through nutrient uptake

attempts to prevent algal blooms and eutrophication by altering the density of higher-levels consumers instead of using chemical treatments

states that moderate levels of disturbance foster greater species diversity than do high or low levels of disturbance

-a type of ecological succession that occurs in a area where there were originally no organisms present and where soil has not yet formed
-when this process begins in a virtually lifeless area where soil has not yet formed, such as on a new volcanic island or on the rubble (moraine) left by a retreating glacier