TERMINOLOGY OF ECOLOGY
Species: A species is a natural biological unit tied together by the sharing of a common gene pool. It can be also defined as a uniform interbreeding population spread over time and space. Vegetation: The collective and continuous growth of plants in space is called vegetation. Thus, vegetation is actually the totality of plant growth, including large or small populations of each species intermixed in a region. In other words we may say that vegetation is the sum total of plant population covering a region.
Flora: Flora is the species content of the region irrespective of the numerical strength of each species.
Population: A population is a group of individual organisms of the same species in a given area.
Community: A community is a group of population of different species in a given
area. It thus includes all the populations in that area- all plants, all animals and microorganisms. Factor: Any external force, substance or condition that affects organisms in any way, is known as factor.
Environment: The sum of all factors constitute environment. It thus becomes indeed a complex of so many factors, better referred to as environmental complex.
Habitat: The place, where an organism lives, or the place where one would go to find the particular organism is known as the habitat of that organism. The habitat of an organism actually represents a particular set of environmental conditions suitable for its successful growth.
Adaptation: Any species puts its efforts to make full use of the available nutrient pool and other environmental conditions prevailing in the area of its growth. It ensures its own protection against adverse conditions of the habitat. This all is accomplished by the development of some characteristics.
ECAD: Some of the species have more than one kind of populations spread over wide range of habitat conditions. An ecad of a plant species is a population of individuals which although belong to the same genetic stock, but differ markedly in vegetative characters such as size, shape, number of leaves, stems, etc. These variations are simply environmentally induced, and thus are temporary or reversible i.e. one type of ecad may change into another with the change in its habitat.
Ecotype: An ecotype is a population of individuals of a species, which are genetically different. Since different ecotypes are inter-fertile, these are kept under the same taxonomic species. Their variations are permanent and irreversible as these are genetically fixed.
Eco-tone: Although plant species grow in association with each other in groups as communities in nature, there is hardly distinguishable a point or sharp line of distinction between the two different communities. There is generally a zone of transition, presenting a situation of special ecological interest between two different types of communities, which is known as an eco-tone.
Life Form: A life form is the sum of the adaptation of the plant to the climate. This view point is considered in the physiognomic method of study of plant communities. Biological Spectrum: The percentage distribution of species among the various life forms of a flora is called the biological spectrum of that place.
Species: A species is a natural biological unit tied together by the sharing of a common gene pool. It can be also defined as a uniform interbreeding population spread over time and space. Vegetation: The collective and continuous growth of plants in space is called vegetation. Thus, vegetation is actually the totality of plant growth, including large or small populations of each species intermixed in a region. In other words we may say that vegetation is the sum total of plant population covering a region.
Flora: Flora is the species content of the region irrespective of the numerical strength of each species.
Population: A population is a group of individual organisms of the same species in a given area.
Community: A community is a group of population of different species in a given
area. It thus includes all the populations in that area- all plants, all animals and microorganisms. Factor: Any external force, substance or condition that affects organisms in any way, is known as factor.
Environment: The sum of all factors constitute environment. It thus becomes indeed a complex of so many factors, better referred to as environmental complex.
Habitat: The place, where an organism lives, or the place where one would go to find the particular organism is known as the habitat of that organism. The habitat of an organism actually represents a particular set of environmental conditions suitable for its successful growth.
Adaptation: Any species puts its efforts to make full use of the available nutrient pool and other environmental conditions prevailing in the area of its growth. It ensures its own protection against adverse conditions of the habitat. This all is accomplished by the development of some characteristics.
ECAD: Some of the species have more than one kind of populations spread over wide range of habitat conditions. An ecad of a plant species is a population of individuals which although belong to the same genetic stock, but differ markedly in vegetative characters such as size, shape, number of leaves, stems, etc. These variations are simply environmentally induced, and thus are temporary or reversible i.e. one type of ecad may change into another with the change in its habitat.
Ecotype: An ecotype is a population of individuals of a species, which are genetically different. Since different ecotypes are inter-fertile, these are kept under the same taxonomic species. Their variations are permanent and irreversible as these are genetically fixed.
Eco-tone: Although plant species grow in association with each other in groups as communities in nature, there is hardly distinguishable a point or sharp line of distinction between the two different communities. There is generally a zone of transition, presenting a situation of special ecological interest between two different types of communities, which is known as an eco-tone.
Life Form: A life form is the sum of the adaptation of the plant to the climate. This view point is considered in the physiognomic method of study of plant communities. Biological Spectrum: The percentage distribution of species among the various life forms of a flora is called the biological spectrum of that place.
