1.1-1.2 Vocab

• population


  group of individuals of the same species
• community 


  all living organisms in an area
• ecosystem


  all living and nonliving things in an area (botic and abiotic factors)
• competition

  organisms fighting over a limited resources (food, shelter); limits population
• mutualism


  relationship that benefits both organisms
• commensalism


  relationship that benefits one organism and doesn't impact the other (bird nest in trees)
• predation(+/-)


  one organism using another as a food source

  • herbivores: eat plants for energy (giraffe & tree)
  • true predators: carnivores (leopard & giraffe)
  • parasites: use a host organism for energy, often without killing the host & often living inside the host (mosquitos, tapeworms, sea lamprey)
  • parasitoids: lay eggs inside a host organism; eggs hatch and larvae eats host for energy (parasite wasps)
• symbiosis


  any close and long-term interaction between 2 organisms of different species

  • resource partitioning: different species using the same resource in different ways to reduce competition
  • temporal partitioning: using a resource at different times to reduce competition
  • spatial partitioning: using different areas of a shared habitat
  • morphological partitioning: using different resources based on different evolved features
• competitive exclusion principle

  two species competing for the same limiting resource cannot coexist
• keystone species


  a species that plays a far more important role in its community that is relative abundance might suggest
• ecosystem engineer


  a subcategory of keystone species that creates or maintains habitat for other species
• biome


  an area that shares a combination of average yearly temp and precipitation (climate)

  • the community of organisms in a biome are uniquely adapted to live in the biome (camels and cacti have water retaining properties)
• altitude and longitude determines temperature and precipitation which is why biomes exist in predictable patterns on earth
• biomes shift in location on earth as climate changes