Pre-AP Biology: Ecology Vocab Part 2: ECO 3, 4, 5

a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.

• Invasive species

• trophic cascade

• Keystone species

• Pioneer species

the amount of different organisms in an area kept up by preserving the stability of a food web and the environment

• niche partitioning

• habitat loss

• Biodiversity

• Global warming

biome in which there is dry, hot summers and cold winters

• secondary succession

• Tropical rainforest

• Temperate grassland

• interspecific competition

area of earth divided by the amount of precipitation and temperature in that area

• Biodiversity

• Biome

• Taiga

• Pioneer species

Natural progression over decades which can be slowed down by natural occurrences and disasters. Faster process if the soil is intact and has all the nutrients it needs.

• Ozone layer depletion

• secondary succession

• Eutrophication of lakes

• Ecological succession

Largest terrestrial biome with shortest growing season.

• Savannas

• Taiga

• Biome

• intraspecific competition

The process by which competing species use the environment differently in a way that helps them to coexist.

• niche partitioning

• Global warming

• Ozone layer depletion

• Biodiversity

Involves the gradual establishment of biotic communities in lifeless areas where there is no soil in a terrestrial ecosystem or no bottom sediment in an aquatic one. Ex.: on a newly formed island.

• Primary ecological succession

• trophic cascade

• Ecological succession

• Invasive species

relationship in which one organism is benefiting from the interaction but the other organism does not benefit or get harmed

• Commensalism

• Mutualism

• Parasitism

• Biodiversity

species that enter new ecosystems and multiply, harming native species and their habitats

• Pioneer species

• Keystone species

• secondary succession

• Invasive species