Essay Biology Definitions

Submitted By amccormack
Words: 1782
Pages: 8

Key words Chapter 9 Abiotic | Non-living | Acacia shrub lands | Major vegetation type dominated by mulga, a species of Arcia, occurring in arid inland Australia. | Adaptation | Features that appear to equip an organism for survival in a particular habitat. | Annuals | Plants that germinate, mature and produce seed and then die in one growing season. | Biennials | Plants that live for two growing season, germinating and growing the first and producing seed and dying in the second. | Biotic | living | Chenpod scrublands | Major vegetation type dominated by saltbushes and bluebushes occurring in arid and semi-arid regions of Australia. | Closed forests | Type of forest in which the foliage of the upper storey covers 70 per cent or more of the sky. | Community | Biological unit consisting of all the populations living in a specific area at a specific time. | Competition | Interaction between individuals of the same or different species that use one or more of the same resources in the same ecosystem. | Desiccation | Drying out. | Diapause | A state of inactivity charactered by low metabolism. | Dormancy | Condition of inactivity resulting from extreme lowering of metabolic rate in an organism. | Drought | Period of deficient in rainfall compared with the average. | El nino | Global weather event, occurring every two or seven years, that produces drought conditions in eastern Australia. | Ephemeral | Refers to plant species that germinate, grow and produce seed within a short period of weeks. | Eucalypt woodlands | Major vegetation type dominated by widely dispersed eucalypt trees. | Extreme environments | Describes environmental conditions in so-called hostile habitats. | Filter feeders | Aquatic organisms that obtain their food by filtering small particles of organic matter or small organisms from water that passes across specialised structures that can trap this food. | Habitat | Part of an ecosystem in which an organisms lives, feeds and reproduces. | Hummock | Major vegetation type dominated by spinifex grasses and occurring over one-quarter of Australia. | La Nina | Global weather event, occurring every two to seven years, that produces conditions of higher than average rainfall in eastern Australia. | Leaching | Gradual loss of mineral nutrients from soil when they are dissolved and washed away. | Limiting factor | Environmental condition that restricts the types of organism that can survive in a given habitat. | Micro | Environments-conditions in a small region of a habitat. | Microhabitat | Small region within a habitat that may have environmental conditions that differ from those prevailing in the larger habitat. | Migratory | Refers to a population that moves to a new habitat at a predictable time, either on an annual basis or once in a lifetime. | Niche overlap | situation in an ecosystem in which different species are in competition for the same energy and space resources, in reality, niche overlap in natural ecosystems is typically zero or minimal. | Niches | Ways of life of organisms in an ecosystem; roles of species in a community. | Open forests | Type of forests in which the foliage of the upper storey covers less than 70 per cent of the sky. | Operculum | In fish, the flaps covering the gills; making a watertight compartment for the animal inside. | perennials | Plants that live for several years and produce seeds in two or more different years. | Photic zone | Region of ocean from the surface to the greatest depth to which light can penetrate, typically about 200 metres | Pop-off archival transponding tag | Tag fitted to a marine animal that collects data on environmental conditions and, after a given period, detaches and pops to the ocean surface from where it transmits its stored data to a satellite network population: members of one species living in a specific habitat at a particular time | Qualitative | Refers to a description of an