| A | B |
|---|
| alien or exotic species | a non-native organism, often having few natural predators and out-compete native species |
| keystone species | a species that plays a critical ecological role |
| symbiosis | a relationship between two species |
| mutualism | symbiosis where both species benefit from the relationship |
| parasitism | a symbiotic relationship where one benefits and the other is harmed |
| commensalism | symbiosis where one benefits and the other is neither harmed nor recieves a benefit (often scientists just have not figured out the benefit) |
| abiotic interactions | water, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, and other minerals, nutrients, and elements |
| carrying capacity | the number of species or organisms that an ecosystem will support |
| limiting factors | influences the life of any organism, population size (food, water, shelter, space, disease, perdition, climate, hunting...) when exceeds the limit of tolerance can affect populations |
| aquatic limiting factors | amount of sunlight, amount of plant nutrients, temperature, number of insect eggs laid, amount of dissolved oxygen available |
| algal bloom | a rapid burst of algae growth |
| eutrophication | physical, chemical, and biological changes that take place after a body of water receives inputs of plant nutrients, can cause massive fish kills |
| cultural eutrophication | over nourishment of aquatic ecosystems with plant nutirents, usually nitrogen and phosphorus, due to human activities |
| causes of cultural eutrophication | agricultural fertilization, urban fertilization, discharges from sewage treatment plants and industries |
| range of tolerance | the range of chemical and physical conditions that must be maintained for populations of a particular species to stay alive, develop, and grow |
| thermal pollution | increase in water temperature that has a harmful effect on aquatic life |
| thermal shock | sharp change in temperature that can harm or kill aquatic organisms |
| thermal enrichment | beneficial effects in an aquatic ecosystme caused by a rise in water temperature |
| endangered species | endanger of becoming extinct (gone forever!!) |
| threatened species | species at risk of becoming endangered |
| indicator species | animals that provide clues to problems in the environment |
| aquatic species | among the most endangered species in NC |
| plankton | organisms that drift or are weak swimmers and are moved about by currents |
| nekton | animals that swim freely through the water |
| benthos | organisms that live on the bottom of aquatic environments (sessile or move very little along the bottom) |
| agnatha | jawless fish (lampreys or hagfish) |
| chondrichthyes | cartilaginous fish (sharks, rays, skates..600+species) |
| sharks | do not have mucus-covered scales |
| placoid scales | (cartilaginous fish scales) tiny tooth-like structures in their skin |
| osteichthyes | bony fish (most abundant class; 15,000+ species) |
| 95% of all fish | bony fish (osteichthyes) |
| otoliths | fish's internal "ears" are beneath the skin |
| operculum | cover the gill slits |
