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| hyphae | a part of the vegetative portion of a fungus that resembles threads |
| mycelium | "a loose network of the delicate filaments hyphae that form the body of a fungus, consisting of the feeding and reproducing hyphae" |
| mutualistic symbiosis | a relationship between two organisms of different species that benefits both and harms neither. Lichens are a fungus and an alga living in mutualism. The fungus provides a protective structure, and the alga produces a carbohydrate as food for the fungus. |
| tetrapod | a vertebrate animal that has four limbs or legs |
| chondrichthyans | A fish whose skeleton consists mainly of cartilage, especially a member of the class Chondrichthyes, such as a shark, skate, or ray. |
| osteichthyans | Any member of the vertebrate class Osteichthyes, including the great majority of living fishes and all the world's sport and commercial fishes. Also called Pisces, the class excludes jawless fishes (hagfishes and lampreys) and cartilaginous fishes (sharks, skates, and rays). |
| amniote | a vertebrate that develops from an embryo within an amnion, e.g. a bird, reptile, or mammal |
| monotreme | a mammal such as the duck-billed platypus or echidna that lays eggs and has a single opening for the discharge of feces and urine. Order: Monotremata |
| marsupial | a mammal, e.g. a kangaroo, wombat, opossum, or koala, having no placenta and bearing immature young that are developed in a pouch on the mother's abdomen. Order: Marsupialia |
| eutherian | a mammal whose young develop within the womb surrounded by a placenta. Subclass: Eutheria |
| paleoanthropology | the study of early human beings and related species through fossil evidence |
| Organismal ecology | a functioning system of interdependent parts that resembles a living thing, Organismal ecology is an attempt to understand how the characteristics of individual organisms impact on the ability of those organisms to interact with their environment |
| Population ecology | the study of the factors which influence the carrying capacity of a given environment, i.e., the number of individuals an environment can stably sustain |
| Community ecology | A community is the assemblage of different species of organisms within a given environment |
| Ecosystem ecology | An ecosystem is the assemblage of the biotic and abiotic components of a given environment |
| biosphere | the thin volume of Earth and its atmosphere that supports life. |
| acclimation | the process or result of acclimating; especially : physiological adjustment by an organism to environmental change be able to recognize an example. |
| anatomical | behavioral responses to environment. Several techniques: trickery, flight, camouflage, Fish form large groups, called schools, sentries. |
| the study of population ecology | the study of organisms from the point of view of the size and structure of their populations |
| population density | Given that a population is defined in terms of some natural or arbitrarily defined geographical range, then population density may be defined as simply the number of individual organisms per unit area |
| population growth rate | the fractional rate at which the number of individuals in a population increases. Specifically, PGR ordinarily refers to the change in population over a unit time period, often expressed as a percentage of the number of individuals in the population at the beginning of that period. This can be written as the formula: |
| density-dependent factor | a factor that limits a population more as population density increases. Another example of a density-dependent factor is a disease that spreads more easily among organisms in a dense population than in a less dense population. |
| density-independent factors | Extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, blizzards, ice storms, and droughts, are examples of density-independent factors. These conditions have the same effect on a population regardless of its size. |
| boom and bust population cycle | is a hypothesis that stress from crowding during the "boom" may affect the lemmings' hormonal balance and reduce the number of offspring produced, causing a "bust." |
| the life history of an organism | the reproductive cycle of animals and plants.[1] However, many biologists strongly prefer the term "life cycle" for such events and reserve the term life history strictly for the study of "life history evolution," the co-evolution of the traits of age-specific survivorship probability, age at first reproduction, clutch/litter size, and reproductive frequency. |
| Life table | is a concise way of showing the probabilities of a member of a particular population living to or dying at a particular age |
| Type I survivorship curves | species that have a high survival rate of the young, live out most of their expected life span and die in old age. Humans are a good example of a species with a Type I survivorship curve. |
| Type II survivorship curves | are for species that have a relatively constant death rate throughout their life span. Death could be due to hunting or diseases. Examples of species exhibiting a Type II survivorship curve are coral, squirrels, honey bees and many reptiles. |
| Type III survivorship curves | are found in species that have many young, most of which die very early in their life. Plants, oysters and sea urchins are examples. |
| equilibrial life history | is based on repeated reproductive episodes that produce smaller numbers of well-endowed offspring likely to survive to adulthood. This is usually found in larger species that mature slowly. The high survival rate of offspring results in more stable population sizes that vary around an equilibrium point. Well-developed mechanisms to maintain homeostasis reduce the influence of environmental variation. Natural selection has emphasised survival of well-endowed offspring rather than production of large numbers. Slow maturation and parental care are typical of these species. Most large terrestrial vertebrates are equilibrial species. |
| opportunistic life history | is based on the production of a large number of offspring during a single reproductive episode. This is usually exhibited by small species that mature rapidly. In this type of life history low numbers of offspring usually survive and population size fluctuate dramatically. In variable environments many individuals reproduce when conditions are good; many die without reproducing when conditions are bad. Natural selection has emphasised the production of large numbers of offspring in these organisms rather than individual survival. Opportunistic species take advantage of environmental opportunities by dispersing to open or disturbed habitats where rapid maturation and reproduction permits them to establish a large population. Desert annuals and garden weeds are opportunistic species. |
