Download AP Environmental Science Biodiversity Key Terms

AP Environmental Science
Biodiversity
Key Terms
Aesthetic value: the beauty or appreciation of nature as in its artistic quality, or beauty as
a value or aspect of worth.
Amensalism: an association between organisms of two different species in which one is
inhibited or destroyed and the other is unaffected. There are two basic modes:
competition, in which a larger or stronger organism excludes a smaller or weaker one
from living space or deprives it of food, and antibiosis, in which one organism is
unaffected but the other is damaged or killed by a chemical secretion.
Biogeographical area: An entire self-contained natural ecosystem and its associated
land, water, air, and wildlife resources.
Boreal forest: also called taiga, vegetation composed primarily of cone-bearing, needleleaved, or scale-leaved evergreen trees, found in regions that have long winters and
moderate to high annual precipitation.The boreal (meaning northern) forest region
occupies about 17 percent of the Earth’s land surface area in a circumpolar belt of the far
Northern Hemisphere.
Chaparral: a biome with a Mediterranean climate (mile, moist winters and hot, dry
summers). Chaparral vegetation is characterized by small-leaved evergreen shrubs and
small trees.
CITES legislation: (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to
ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten
their survival. CITES was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting
of members of IUCN (The World Conservation Union). The text of the Convention was
finally agreed at a meeting of representatives of 80 countries in Washington DC., United
States of America, on 3 March 1973, and on 1 July 1975 CITES entered in force.
Clear-cutting: A forest management technique that involves the removal of all trees
from an area at a single time.
Climate diagrams (climatographs): A climate graph, also called a climograph and
adhering to the most common definition, is a single graph that often depicts the overall
weather for a specified location. Data included in the depiction usually shows annual
precipitation and temperatures graphed on a scale.
Commensalism: A type of symbiosis in which one organism benefits and the other one is
neither harmed nor helped
Competition: The interaction among organisms that view for the same resources in an
ecosystem (such as food, living space, or other resources).
Conservation: The sensible and careful management of natural resources
Desert: A fragile ecosystem in which lack of precipitation limits plant growth. Arid lands
are found in both temperate and tropical regions
Ecotones: The transitional zone where two ecosystems or biomes intergrades
Ecological restoration: The field of science in which the principles of ecology are used
to help return a degraded environment as close as possible to its former, undisturbed state
Endangered Species Act: U.S. federal law passed in 1973 that obligates federal and
state governments to protect all species threatened with extinction that fall within the
borders of the United States and its outlying territories. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS) of the Department of the Interior and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the Department of Commerce are responsible
for the conservation and management of fish and wildlife resources and their habitats,
including endangered species.
Existence value: The importance we place on just knowing that a particular species or a
specific organism exists
Extirpate: To destroy totally: extinction caused by direct human action, such as hunting,
trapping, etc.
Fundamental niche: The potential ecological niche that an organisms could have if
there was no competition from other species.
Habitat corridor: A protected zone that connects unlogged or undeveloped areas;
wildlife corridors are though to provide escape routes and allow animals to disperse so
they can interbreed.
Invasive species: Foreign species whose introduction causes economic or environmental
harm
Keystone species: A species that is crucial in determining the nature and structure of the
entire ecosystem in which it lives; other species of a community depend on or are greatly
affected by the keystone species, whose influence is much greater than would be
expected by its relative abundance.
Mutualism: A symbiotic relationship in which both partners benefit from the association
Parasitism: A symbiotic relationship in which one member (the parasite) benefits and the
other (the host) is adversely affected.
Pioneer community: The first organisms (such as lichens or mosses) to colonize an area
and begin the first state of ecological succession.
Predation: The consumption of one species (the prey) by another (the predator; includes
both animals eating other animals and animals eating plants.
Primary succession: An ecological succession that occurs on land that has not
previously been inhabited by plants; not soil is present initially.
Realized niche: The lifestyle that an organism actually pursues, including the resources
that it actually uses. An organism’s realized niche is narrower than its fundamental niche
because of competition from other species.
Restoration ecology: The field of science in which the principle of ecology are used to
help return a degraded environment as close as possible to its former, undisturbed state.
Riparian area: The thin patch of vegetation along the bank of a stream or river that
interfaces between terrestrial and aquatic habitats; protects the habitat of salmon, trout,
and other aquatic species from sedimentation caused by soil erosion.
Savannas: A tropical grassland with widely scattered trees or clumps of trees; found in
areas of low rainfall with prolonged dry periods.
Secondary succession: An ecological succession that takes place after some disturbance
destroys the existing vegetation; soil is already present
Succession: The sequence of changes in a plant community over time
Symbiosis: An intimate relationship between two or more organisms of different species
Temperate deciduous forest: A forest biome that occurs in temperate areas where
annual precipitation ranges from about 7.5 cm to 125 cm.
Temperate grasslands: A grassland characterized by hot summers, cold winters, and
less rainfall than is found in a temperate deciduous forest biome
Temperate rain forest: A coniferous biome characterized by cool weather, dense fog,
and high precipitation
Trophic level: Each level in a food chain. All producers belong to the first tropic level;
all herbivores belong to the second tropic level, and so on.
Tropical dry forest: A tropical forest where enough precipitation falls to support trees
but not enough to support the lush vegetation of a tropical rain forest. Many tropical dry
forests occur in areas with pronounced raining and dry seasons.
Tropical rain forest: A lush, species-rich forest biome that occurs in tropical areas
where the climate is moist throughout the years. Tropical rain forests tend to be
characterized by old, infertile soils.
Tundra: The treeless biome in the far north that consists of boggy plains covered by
lichens and small plants such as mosses. The tundra is characterized by harsh, cold
winters and extremely short summers
US Wilderness Act of 1964: signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson . It
created a way for Congress to protect pristine wild lands by designating them as protected
wilderness. It created the National Wilderness Preservation System, which manages the
nation’s protected wilderness areas and it immediately put 9.1 million acres of wild
American lands into the National Wilderness preservation System, protecting them as
designated wilderness.