Question 1

What is biodiversity?

Accepted Answer

The variety of of life within a habitat or ecosystem

Question 2

What is genetic diversity?

Accepted Answer

The variation of genes within individual species

Question 3

What is species diversity?

Accepted Answer

The number of different species in an ecosystem and the relative abundance of those species

(species richness and species evenness)

Question 4

What is habitat diversity? (ecosystem diversity)

Accepted Answer

The variability of habitats within a given geographic area

Question 5

What is species richness?

Accepted Answer

The total number of species in an area

Question 6

What is species evenness?

Accepted Answer

How evenly distributed the species in a given area are

Question 7

What is genetic drift?

Accepted Answer

The change of a population's genetic composition over time as a result of random mating

Question 8

What are mutations?

Accepted Answer

Random changes in genetic code that occur due to errors in the copying process

Question 9

What is gene flow?

Accepted Answer

The process of individuals moving from one population to another and altering the genetic composition of both populations as a result

Question 10

What is the bottleneck effect?

Accepted Answer

A reduction in a population's genetic diversity caused by a reduction of its size

(occurs when only a few individuals survive a catastrophe)

Question 11

What is the founder effect?

Accepted Answer

When only a few individuals from an old population colonize a new, isolated habitat

(the new habitat has much lower genetic diversity)

Question 12

What are ecosystem services?

Accepted Answer

Various benefits to humans that healthy natural ecosystems provide

Question 13

What are supporting ecosystem services?

Accepted Answer

Providing living spaces for plants or animals and maintaining biodiversity

(ocean fish reproduce in estuaries, decaying leaves help form soil, etc.)

Question 14

What are provisioning ecosystem services?

Accepted Answer

Material benefits from ecosystems

(timber, medicine, honey, sand, etc.)

Question 15

What are regulating ecosystem services?

Accepted Answer

The benefit that ecosystems provide to moderate natural phenomena

(carbon storage, pollination, flood control, air purification, etc.)

Question 16

What are cultural ecosystem services?

Accepted Answer

Non-material benefits from ecosystems, including aesthetic inspiration, cultural identity, and sense of home

(scenic parks, religious importance, etc.)

Question 17

What is island biogeography?

Accepted Answer

The study of factors that affect species richness and composition on islands

Question 18

What determines the richness (number) of species found on an island?

Accepted Answer

The rate at which new species immigrate to the island

The rate at which existing species go extinct

Question 19

What is the Equilibrium Theory of island biogeography?

Accepted Answer

Describes the relationship between the rate of immigration and extinction of a species on an island

Islands closer to the mainland have higher rates of immigration

Large islands can support more species and have lower rates of extinction

Question 20

What is the equilibrium number (of species on an island)?

Accepted Answer

The balance between the immigration of new species and the extinction of existing species

(as more species come to the island, the probability of extinction increases)

Question 21

What is an ecological niche?

Accepted Answer

The specific environmental conditions that match a species

(giraffes have the niche of eating high-up leaves)

Question 22

What are specialist species?

Accepted Answer

Species of animals that require very special conditions to survive

(pandas, koalas, etc.; opposite of generalist species)

Question 23

What are generalist species?

Accepted Answer

Species that can live in many different places and don't have any specific requirements

(flies, cockroaches, raccoons, etc.; opposite of specialist species)

Question 24

What are endemic species?

Accepted Answer

Species found in a specific area and found nowhere else in the world

(usually a type of specialist species)

Question 25

What are invasive species?

Accepted Answer

Species that have few natural predators and are able to fill a broad niche

(usually generalists; often damages endemic species)

Question 26

What is ecological tolerance?

Accepted Answer

The range of conditions (temperature, salinity, flow rate, sunlight) that an organism can endure before becoming injured or dying

Question 27

What are the zones of ecological tolerance?

Accepted Answer

Optimal range: organisms survive, grow, and reproduce

Zone of physiological stress: organisms survive, but experience stress (e.g., infertility, lack of growth)

Zone of intolerance: organisms will die

Question 28

How can increased temperatures from global warming relate to ecological tolerance?

Accepted Answer

Increased temperatures from global warming can shift temperatures outside a species' range of tolerance, damaging the species' ability to reproduce

(warm water holds less oxygen leading to suffocation)

Question 29

What are natural disruptions?

Accepted Answer

Natural events that disrupt the structure and/or function of an ecosystem

(tornados, hurricanes, fires, etc.)

Question 30

What are anthropogenic changes?

Accepted Answer

Changes that occur as a result of humans

(anthropogenic climate change vs. natural climate change)

Question 31

How do natural disruptions cause migration?

Accepted Answer

Animals may move to a new habitat as a result of a natural disruption

(birds fly south in the winter to stay at similar temperatures)

Question 32

What is the difference between resistance and resilience in ecosystems?

Accepted Answer

Resistance is how well an ecosystem can withstand a disturbance

Resilience is how well an ecosystem can recover after a disturbance

Question 33

What does the intermediate disturbance hypothesis claim?

Accepted Answer

Species diversity is highest when an ecosystem experiences neither too few nor too many ecological disturbances

Question 34

What are traits?

Accepted Answer

A specific characteristic of an individual

(eye color, height, amount of fur/feathers)

Question 35

What is adaptation?

Accepted Answer

A new trait that increases an organism's ability to survive and reproduce (fitness)

Question 36

How do new traits occur?

Accepted Answer

Random mutations when DNA is being copied

Crossing over parents' chromosomes for new combinations

Question 37

What is natural selection?

Accepted Answer

Organisms that are better adapted to their environment are more likely to reproduce and pass down their genes

(beneficial adaptations become more numerous this way)

Question 38

What is a selective pressure/force?

Accepted Answer

An environmental condition that forces organisms to adapt in order to survive

(a predator can be a selective pressure that forces prey to evolve)

Question 39

What is reproductive isolation?

Accepted Answer

When two populations are no longer able to reproduce with each other

(due to allopatric or sympatric speciation)

Question 40

What is allopatric speciation?

Accepted Answer

A species evolving into separate species due to a physical/geographic barrier

(e.g., existing on an island)

Question 41

What is sympatric speciation?

Accepted Answer

A species evolving into separate species without a physical/geographic barrier

(e.g., due to different mating seasons)

Question 42

What is the difference between sympatric and allopatric speciation?

Accepted Answer

Sympatric: speciation without a physical barrier (mnemonic: same space)

Allopatric: speciation with a physical barrier (mnemonic: all over the place)

Question 43

What is ecological succession?

Accepted Answer

The progressive change in an ecological community's species structure over time

Question 44

What is primary succession?

Accepted Answer

Ecological succession that occurs when a new patch of land is created/exposed for the first time

(e.g., volcanic eruptions creating new land)

Question 45

What is secondary succession?

Accepted Answer

Ecological succession that occurs in an area that previously had wildlife but was disturbed (e.g., due to a forest fire)

Question 46

What are pioneer species?

Accepted Answer

Species that are the first to colonize barren environments in ecological succession

(mosses and lichens pave the way for larger plants)

Question 47

What happens as an ecosystem progresses through ecological succession?

Accepted Answer

Larger and more complex plants begin to grow, increasing total biomass, species richness, and net productivity

(mosses/lichens -> grasses -> shrubs -> small trees -> large trees)

Question 48

What are keystone species?

Accepted Answer

Species whose activities have a particularly significant role in determining the structure of an ecological community

Question 49

What are indicator species?

Accepted Answer

Species that demonstrate that some distinctive aspect of an ecosystem is present

(presence of amphibians means healthy water; decrease in amphibians may signal pollution)

Unit 2 - The Living World: Biodiversity, AP Environmental Science Flashcards