Chapter #3; Glossary Terms

The number and variety of organisms found in a specific region.

To legally guard from harm a species that is listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern.

A place where there is an exceptionally large number of species in a relativley small area. 

A community is all the populations of the different species that interact in a specific area or ecosystem.

A dominant species is a species that is so abundant that it has the biggest biomass of any community member. In terrestrial ecosystems, primary producers are always the dominant species.

A keystone species is one that can greatly affect population numbers and the health of an ecosystem. Keystone species are not abundant and can be plants or animals.

Captive bredding is when animals are bred in captive, designed so that animals on the brink of extinction can be helped. 

Ecosystems engineers are species that cause such dramatic changes to landscapes that they create a new ecosystem. 

Succession is a series of changes in an ecosystem that occurs over time, following a disturbance. 

Habitat loss occurs when events, due to natural diaster or humn activites, alter a terrestrial or aquatic ecosystem so much that many species can no longer survive there. 

Deforestation occurs when forests are logged or cleared for human use, and are never replaced. 

A species introduced to new parts of the biosphere from other regions. 

An invasive species is an alien species that takes over the habitat of the native species. 

The use or extraction of a resource until it is depend. For example, overfishing of Atlantic cod, overhunting of passenger pigeons. 

The death of all the individuals of a species. It may happen naturally through background exticntion, caused by slow changes in ecosystems that affect species, or though mass extinction, which occurs much more quickly. 

The current accelerated rate of extinctions on Earth.

The renewal of degraded or destroyed ecosystems through actuve human intervention. 

The regrowth of a forest, either through the planting of seeds or trees in an area where a forest was cut down.

The use of a species to control the population growth or spread of an undesirable species.

The use of living organisms to clean up contaminated areas naturally. 

The use of organisms to add essential nutrients to depelted soils.