Ecology: Ecology is a science that studies the relationship between biology and environment.
Environment: refers to the space outside a specific organism or group of organisms, and the sum of all things that directly or indirectly affect the survival of the organism or group of organisms.
Ecological factors: refers to environmental factors that have a direct or indirect impact on the growth, development, reproduction, behavior and distribution of organisms in the environment.
Survival factors: among ecological factors, all external environmental factors are indispensable to the life and development of living things.
Ecological environment: the sum of all factors that directly or indirectly affect the survival and development of the organism or biological group in the space outside the studied organism or biological group.
Habitat: Ecological bodies or groups with specific ecological characteristics always exist and develop in a specific environment, which is called habitat.
Population: the combination of the same organism in a certain time and space.
Community: a collection of different people in a certain time and space.
System: A collection of two or more interacting factors.
Justus von Liebig's law of minimum factor: the growth of plants depends on the least amount of nutrients.
Law of Tolerance: Any deficiency or surplus of ecological factors in quantity or quality will make organisms decline or unable to survive.
Principle of limiting factors: the survival and prosperity of an organism or a group of organisms depend on comprehensive environmental conditions, and any situation that approaches or exceeds the tolerance limit can be said to be a limiting situation or a limiting factor.
Circadian rhythm: The circadian rhythm of animals in nature is determined not only by the circadian rhythm cycle of external factors, but also by the inherent spontaneity and self-transport, because this endogenous rhythm of leaving the outside world is not 24 hours, but nearly 24 hours, which is called circadian rhythm.
Ashoff's Law: For Nocturnal Animals, under the condition of continuous darkness, the day-night cycle is shortened, while for Nocturnal Animals, under the condition of continuous illumination, the day-night cycle is prolonged, and the longer this extension is, the more obvious it is. For sunrise animals, their diurnal cycle is prolonged under the condition of constant darkness, while for sunrise animals, their diurnal cycle is shortened under the condition of constant light, and this shortening is more obvious with the increase of light intensity.
Biological clock: It is the animal's own timing mechanism.
Critical temperature: organisms will be damaged when they are below or above a certain temperature, which is called critical temperature.
Cold damage: damage to warm-loving organisms at temperatures above 0℃.
Freezing injury: The injury to living things below freezing point is called freezing injury.
Frost damage: The damage suffered at 0℃ is called frost damage.
Ultra-cold: pure water begins to freeze after MINUS 40℃, which is called ultra-cold.
Adaptive hypothermia: it is a phenomenon of regulatory hypothermia, in which the body temperature is adjusted very low, close to the level of ambient temperature, and the physiological functions such as heart rate are reduced accordingly, and it can be restored to the original normal state spontaneously or artificially at any time.
Bergman's Law: In colder climates, animals with higher body temperature are larger, while in warmer climates, their bodies are smaller.
Allen's Law: The protruding part of the body of an animal with temperature in its body tends to become smaller in cold regions.
Jordan's Law: The number of fish spines is more in cold water than in warm water.
Biological zero: the starting temperature of biological growth and development.
Effective accumulated temperature: the total heat required by an organism to complete a certain development stage.
Dew point temperature: The temperature at which water vapor in the air reaches saturation is called dew point temperature.
Relative temperature: the difference between the actual vapor pressure and the maximum vapor pressure in the atmosphere.
Saturation deficit: the difference between the maximum water vapor pressure and the actual water vapor pressure.
Water storage capacity: the amount of water required to produce dry matter per unit weight.
Soil texture: different percentage of mechanical components.
Genotype: the genetic combination of each individual.
Allele: the combination of two or more genes that determine a trait.
Gene bank: the gene combination of all individuals in a population.
Gene frequency: In a gene pool, the proportion of different genes is called gene frequency.
Genotype frequency: The ratio of different genotypes in the gene pool is called genotype frequency.
Havin's Law: In an infinite group, each individual has equal mating opportunities with other individuals in the group, and there are no other interference factors (mutation, drift, natural selection, etc. ). The gene frequency of each generation is unchanged, regardless of its genotype frequency and gene frequency, and only one generation is experienced, that is, genetic balance is achieved.
Genetic drift: It usually occurs in small groups, because in large groups, if there is no mutation, according to Havin's law, the frequencies of different genotypes will remain balanced, but in small groups, even if there is no adaptive mutation, the frequencies of genes in the population will change, that is, the errors caused by isolation, insufficient random mating and incomplete separation and free combination of genes in the population, which is a neutral or unfavorable trait.
Environmental carrying capacity: for a population, it is assumed that the maximum population value allowed by an environmental condition is represented by K, and when the population reaches the value of K, it will no longer grow, so the value of K is the environmental carrying capacity.
Life table: a statistical tool used to describe the survival and death of a population.
Dynamic life table: Life table is compiled according to the data obtained by observing the dynamic process of death or survival of a group of organisms born at the same time.
Static life table: a life table compiled according to the age structure survey and its results at a specific time.
Spatial heterogeneity: refers to the heterogeneity and complexity of ecological processes and patterns in spatial distribution.
Edge effect: refers to the phenomenon that the edge part of the patch shows different ecological characteristics from the central part of the patch due to external influences.
Biodiversity: the diversity and variability of organisms and their ecological complexes.
Sustainable development: it is a development that not only meets the needs of contemporary people, but also does not damage the ability of future generations to meet needs.
Intrinsic growth rate: under the condition that there are no environmental factors (food, territory and other organisms), the stable maximum multiplication rate determined by the internal factors of the population is called the intrinsic growth rate of the population, and it is recorded as rm.
Dynamic life table: a life table compiled according to the data obtained by observing the dynamic process of death or survival of a group of organisms born at the same time.
Static life table: a life table compiled according to the age structure survey and its results at a specific time.
Proximity effect: the interaction between adjacent individuals when the population density increases.
-3/2 self-thinning rule: If the planting density of a plant exceeds a certain value, the competition for resources within a species will not only affect the growth and development speed of the plant, but also affect the survival rate of the plant. This phenomenon is called self-thinning.
Domain: refers to the space occupied by individuals, families or other community units, and actively defends it from being violated by other similar members.
Territorial behavior: the behavior of organisms to drive away intruders through threats or direct attacks.
Territorial: the characteristics of biological behavior in the field are called territoriality.
Cluster: animals gather together and are called clusters.
Ali's Law: The animal population has an optimal population density, so it is unfavorable to have too many populations and too low or too dense or too sparse populations, which may have an inhibitory effect on the population.
Social class: in the animal group of the same species, the status of each individual has a certain order or class, and its basis is the master-slave relationship. This order is called social class.
Interspecific competition: the mutual exclusion of two or more organisms using the same resources.
Basic niche: The theoretical maximum space occupied by species is called basic niche.
Actual niche: The actual niche occupied by species is called actual niche.
Niche: the part that can be actually and potentially occupied, utilized or adapted by ecological factors within the scope of ecological factors, which is called the niche of ecological factors.
Ecological elements: Biological organizations at all levels, from genes to biosphere, are units with certain ecological structure and functions, which are called ecological elements.
Existential niche: the niche that an ecological element exists and can be occupied by within a certain time and range of ecological factors.
Non-existent niche: an niche that does not exist and cannot be occupied by an ecological factor within a certain period of time and within the scope of ecological factors.
Niche width: the range of all kinds of resources that can be used by an ecological factor in the existing resource spectrum.
Niche overlap: refers to the degree of overlap between niches of different ecological elements.
Principle of competitive exclusion: two species with similar demands on environmental resources cannot live in the same area. If you live in the same area, there are often differences in habitat, eating habits and activity time. If the niches of two species completely overlap, one species will inevitably die. If two species coexist, the niche will be different and differentiated.
Zero growth line: the boundary line where organisms can survive and proliferate when using an essential nutrient.
Parasitism: one organism obtains nutrients from the body fluids, tissues or digestive substances of another organism and causes harm to the host. This phenomenon is called parasitism.
Population balance: refers to the long-term maintenance of the population at almost the same level, which is called population balance.
Population explosion: the population of a certain organism rises sharply in a short period of time, which often causes adverse effects.
Ecological invasion: refers to the phenomenon that human beings consciously or unconsciously bring a certain organism into an area suitable for habitat and reproduction, and the population continues to expand and the distribution area gradually expands steadily.
Coevolution among populations: refers to the reflection of the evolution of one species' traits into another species' traits; This feature of the latter species itself is a reflection of the characteristics of the former species.
Gradual group: the constant change of selection pressure in geographical space leads to the gradual change of gene frequency or phenotype, forming a group with variation gradient.
Convergent adaptation: Under the same or similar environmental conditions, different kinds of organisms form the same or similar morphological or physiological characteristics, and the same or similar adaptation ways or approaches through mutation and selection. This phenomenon is called convergent adaptation.
Divergent adaptation: when living in the same or similar environmental conditions, organisms of the same species form different morphological or physiological characteristics and different adaptation ways or ways through mutation and selection. This phenomenon is called divergent adaptation.
Life form: Different kinds of plants or animals show similar types in morphology, physiology and adaptation due to convergent adaptation.
Ecotype: the same organism shows different types in morphology, physiology and adaptation due to differences and adaptation.
Life history strategy: various organisms have formed various unique life histories in the process of evolution, which is the survival strategy of organisms in the process of survival.
K game: the number of biological populations reaches or approaches the level of environmental capacity, which is called K game.
Minimum area: it means that there must be at least such a large area and corresponding space to accommodate most of the biological species that make up the community.
Dominant species: the plant species that have obvious control over the structure of the community and the formation of the community environment are called dominant species.
Constructive species: dominant species existing in the main layer of the community.
Subdominant species: plant species that are inferior to dominant species in quantity and function, but still play a certain role in determining community properties and controlling community environment.
Companion species: Common species in the community, coexisting with dominant species, but not playing a major role.
Accidental or rare species: a species that rarely occurs in a community.
Redundancy: the estimation index of the number of individuals between species.
Relative density: the ratio of the number of individuals in a species to the number of individuals in all species.
Projection coverage: refers to the percentage of vertical projection area of aboveground parts of plants to the sample area.
Basement coverage: the coverage area of plant basement.
Frequency: The frequency of occurrence of a species within the investigation scope.
Relative weight: the percentage of the weight of a species in a unit area or volume to the total weight of all species.
Biodiversity: the diversity and variability of organisms and the ecological complexity of species habitats.
Life form spectrum: the percentage of species of each life form in the community to the total species is arranged in series.
Eco-equivalent species: plants with the same or similar environment in different geographical locations and the same lifestyle due to convergent evolution are called eco-equivalent species.
Interlayer plants: In addition to the layers formed by autotrophic and independently supported plants, there are some plants such as vines, parasites, saprophytes, etc., which are not independently layered, but attached to the upright plants of each layer.
Succession: refers to the process in which one biological community is replaced by another in a certain space.
Primary succession: the succession of primary bare land.
Secondary succession: the succession of secondary bare land.
Succession series: from the beginning of biological settlement to the formation of stable communities, such a series of processes is called succession series.
Top-level community: a community whose succession has reached a stable and mature stage.
Companion species: Plant species that are not fixed to a certain flora.
Sorting: Sorting the community sample plots investigated in an area according to similarity, so as to analyze the relationship between the sample plots and their habitats.
Direct classification: a method of classification according to one or more known environmental gradients.
Indirect ranking: according to the nature of the community itself, such as species correlation and community similarity, the ranking of abstract axis or community change direction is deduced.
Vegetation type: refers to the combination of plant communities with the same or similar life style and the same ecological relationship with hydrothermal conditions into a vegetation type within the vegetation type group.
Vegetation type group: all plant communities with similar life forms and similar community appearance are combined into vegetation type group.
Flora: all plant communities with the same species or species are combined into a flora.
Community: any plant community with the same leaf layer structure and the same dominant species or * * * dominant species in each leaf layer.
Food chain: a chain structure formed by the relationship between feeding and being eaten by organisms.
Food web: Different food chains cross each other to form a network structure.
Trophic level: the sum of all living things at every position in the food chain.
Ecosystem: refers to an organic unity with certain structure and function formed by the interaction of biological components and abiotic components within a certain time and space range.
Species groups with the same resources: species groups that use the same resources in the same way.
One-tenth law (energy utilization 10% law): in the food chain structure, the energy conversion efficiency between trophic levels is about one-tenth, and the remaining nine-tenths are consumed due to consumers' selective waste of food intake, breathing and excretion. This is the so-called "one-tenth law", that is, the 10% law of energy utilization.
Dissipative structure: refers to the stable and orderly structure that may appear in an open system under the non-equilibrium state far from the equilibrium state.
Biomass: the amount of organic matter accumulated per unit space.
Quantity on hand: biomass per unit space in the investigation time.
Yield: The total or partial biomass of an organism.
Primary productivity: the amount of organic matter accumulated by producers in unit time and unit space.
Total primary productivity: the amount of organic matter accumulated in unit time and space, including the organic matter consumed by producers' respiration.
Net primary productivity: the amount of organic matter accumulated by producers in unit time and space after removing the organic matter consumed by respiration.
Net productivity of community: the amount of organic matter accumulated by producers after being consumed by consumers in unit time and space.
Circulation speed: the amount of material moving in unit time, unit area or unit volume.
Biological amplification: also known as food chain concentration, refers to the phenomenon that the residual concentration of toxic substances in organisms increases continuously when they are transmitted along the nutritional level of food chain.
Ecological balance: after a long-term interaction between organisms and the environment in a region, a relatively stable structure and corresponding functions have been established between them, which is called a stable state.
Environmental carrying capacity: for a population, it is assumed that the maximum population value allowed by an environmental condition is represented by K, and when the population reaches the value of K, it will no longer grow, so the value of K is the environmental carrying capacity.
Dormancy: refers to the latent, dormant or inactive state of organisms, which is an effective physiological mechanism to resist adverse environment.
Assimilation efficiency: refers to the proportion of solar energy absorbed by plants fixed by photosynthesis, or the proportion of energy assimilated by animals.
Scale: generally refers to the measurement of a research object or phenomenon in space or time, which are called spatial scale and time scale respectively.
Phenotypic plasticity: The ability to change phenotype is called phenotypic plasticity because of the influence of environment on genotype.
Population: a collection of individuals of the same species occupying a certain space at the same time.
Competition: refers to the interaction between individuals or species that use limited resources.
Ecological succession: refers to the continuous, unidirectional and orderly change process of species composition in a natural community.
Steady state: An organism keeps a relatively constant internal environment in a changeable external environment, which is called steady state.
Community: refers to the collection of many species and populations gathered in the same area at the same time.
Pest: a creature that competes with human beings for food or shelter, spreads pathogens, feeds on human beings or threatens human health, comfort or peace in different ways.
Adaptation: any genetic feature of an organism that contributes to survival and reproduction.
Internal regulation: it is impossible for biological cells to operate in a drastically changing environment. Therefore, organisms should take actions to limit the variability of their internal environment. This process is called internal adjustment.
Negative feedback: the steady-state mechanism of most organisms works in roughly the same way; If the internal level of an element is too high, the mechanism will reduce it; If the level is too low, raise it. This process is called negative feedback.
Ecosystem: refers to a complex composed of biological communities and various physical and chemical factors that describe the physical environment.
Fitness: refers to the index of an individual's ability to produce offspring that can survive and contribute to future generations.
Basic niche: in the absence of competition and predation regulation, the niche space of organisms is called basic niche.
Habitat: refers to the physical environment in which organisms live.
Relative humidity: refers to the water vapor content in the air, expressed by the ratio of saturated water content at a certain temperature.
Domestication: the adaptive response of organisms to changes in experimental environmental conditions.
Climate cycle: the physiological adaptive response of organisms to changes in natural environmental conditions.
Photosynthetic capacity: the photosynthetic rate when the incident radiant energy is saturated, the temperature is appropriate, the relative humidity is high, and the atmospheric CO2 and O2 concentrations are normal.
Biomass: refers to the organic matter accumulated per unit area at a specific investigation time.
Eutrophication: Many lakes dominated by diatoms and green algae are transformed into lakes dominated by cyanobacteria because pollutants are directly discharged into lakes or agricultural fertilizers are imported into lakes with surface runoff. This process is called eutrophication.
Mineralization: the process in which inorganic elements are released from organic substances during the decomposition of ecosystems.
Alienation: The process by which organic matter decomposes under the action of enzymes, from polymer to monomer, and then to mineral composition.
Recycling: Organic substances entering the decomposer subsystem are also transferred through the trophic level, but unused substances, effluents and some secondary products can be reused as inputs of the trophic level.
Autotrophic ecosystem: among the energy sources of the ecosystem, the input of solar energy is greater than that of organic matter, which belongs to autotrophic ecosystem.
Heterotrophic ecosystem: the input of ready-made organic matter constitutes the mainstream of this system energy, and heterotrophic ecosystem is it.