Ecology useful terms

allopatric and sympatric speciation, pyramids,siblings, synecology , ecesis.reaction(community change cause), competition, nudation, succession types,evolution, pyramids,mortality rate, fecundity(viability), demography, interactions among organisms, niche and niche overlap.

1. ECOLOGY TERMS

2. ALLOPATRIC SPECIATION Allopatric speciation (from Ancient Greek, allos , meaning "other", and patris , "fatherland"), also referred to as geographic speciation , vicariant speciation, or its earlier name, the dumbbell model, It is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from each other to an extent that prevents or interferes with gene flow.

3. SYMPATRIC Sympatric speciation - is the  evolution of a new species from a surviving ancestral species  while both continue to inhabit the same geographic region. In evolutionary biology and biogeography, sympatric and sympatry are terms referring to organisms whose ranges overlap so that they occur together at least in some places.

4. SIBLINGS S ibling species are pairs or groups of genetically closely related species which are often morphologically indistinguishable, but are reproductively isolated, meaning that while they may interbreed, the offspring cannot reproduce.

5. SYNECOLOGY Synecology, also referred to as community ecology, is the  study of a group of organism populations in the same area and their various interactions . This can include many different things, including distribution, structure, demography and interactions that occur between organisms in a same area.

6. ECESIS T he establishment of a plant or animal in a new habitat. The ability of some migrating plant species , having arrived at a new site, to germinate, grow, and reproduce successfully, while others fail to become established in the new environment. It represents the third in a series of six phases in plant succession.

7. REACTION In ecology and genetics, a reaction norm, also called a  norm of reaction, describes the pattern of phenotypic expression of a single genotype across a range of environments . One use of reaction norms is in describing how different species—especially related species—respond to varying environments.

8. COMPETITION

9. Plants seek the rewards of nutrients, water, sunlight, and territory necessary for survival. One type of competition is comparing the performance with other plants. The "winner" grows the best. Another type of plant competition is head-to-head against other plants. In this case, the winner squeezes out the others to get the most sunlight or such .

10. Others like the blue tit and great tit compete with other members of their own species and as well as others for different insects. Because food is so vital, many animals will fight for it. Animals within a species also compete for mates. This is essential so they can pass on their genes to their offspring.

11. NUDATION The  initiation of a new plant succession by a major environmental disturbance  (e.g. a volcanic eruption). Source for information on nudation : A Dictionary of Ecology dictionary. The process of succession begins with the formation of a bare area or nudation by several reasons, such as oleanic eruption, landslide, flooding, erosion, deposition, fire, disease, or other catastrophic agency. New lifeless bare areas are also created by man, for example, walls, stone quarrying, burning, digging, flooding large land areas under reservoirs, etc.

12. SUCCESSION TYPES Primary succession is the type of ecological succession in which organisms colonize an essentially lifeless area. It occurs in regions where the substrate lacks soil. Examples include areas where lava recently flowed, a glacier retreated, or a  sand dune formed .

13. S econdary succession Fire is one of the most common causes of secondary succession and is an important component for the renewal and vitality of many types of ecosystem. Harvesting, Logging and Abandonment of Crop Land. The abandonment of land previously utilized for crops is a common cause of human-induced secondary succession .

14. EVOLUTION Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes that are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Different characteristics tend to exist within any given population as a result of mutation, genetic recombination and other sources of genetic variation.

15. PYRAMID OF BIOMASS The pyramid of biomass may be " inverted ". For example, in a pond ecosystem, the standing cropof phytoplankton, the major producers, at any given point will be lower than the mass of the heterotrophs, such as fish and insects. This is explained as the phytoplankton reproducevery quickly, but have much shorter individual lives.

16. Upright Pyramid of Biomass Ecosystems found on land mostly have  pyramids of biomass with large base of primary producers with smaller trophic level perched on top , hence the upright pyramid of biomass. The biomass of autotrophs or producers is at the maximum. The biomass of next trophic level, i.e. primary consumers is less than the producers.

17. MORTALITY RATE Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time.

18. FECUNDITY In human demography and population biology, fecundity is the potential for reproduction of an organism or population, measured by the number of gametes (eggs), seed set, or asexual propagules. Fecundity is similar to fertility, the natural capability to produce offspring.

19. DEMOGRAPHY statistical study of human populations, especially with reference to size and density, distribution, and  vital statistics  (births, marriages, deaths, etc.). Contemporary  demographic  concerns include the “population explosion,” the interplay between population and economic development, the effects of  birth control , urban congestion, illegal immigration, and  labour force  statistics. 

20. MUTUALISM Mutualisms are defined as interactions between organisms of two different species, in which each organism benefits from the interaction in Mutualisms are defined as interactions between organisms of two different species, in which each organism benefits from the interaction in some way.

21. COMMENSALISM  a relation between two kinds of organisms in which one obtains food or other benefits from the other without damaging or benefiting it.

22. NICHE The niche that an organism occupies is the opening in the environment that the organism fills to make a living. A species' niche is its place in an ecosystem relative to the other organisms present.

23. Each of the various species that constitute a community occupies its own ecological niche. Informally, a niche is considered the “job” or “role” that a species performs within nature. niche Two lichen species flourishing on separate areas on a rock face. Each survives within its own ecological niche.  It describes how an organism or population responds to the distribution of resources and competitors (for example, by growing when resources are abundant, and when predators, parasites and pathogens are scarce) and how it in turn alters those same factors (for example, limiting access to resources by other organisms, acting as a food source for predators and a consumer of prey).

24. NICHE OVERLAP Niche overlap refers to the  partial or complete sharing of resources or other ecological factors (predators, foraging space, soil type, and so on) by two or more species . For example, warblers in a woodlot might all feed on insects and thus overlap in their diets, or plants in a meadow might all overlap in their need for light.

25. NICHE OVERLAP

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