An approach to classification that categorises organisms based on hypotheses about group/individual relatedness and common ancestry. Typically, it is based on shared characteristics.
Cladogram
An evolutionary tree that indicates relationships between individuals – based on shared phenotypes.
Arrange, distribute or order is classes or categories according to shared qualities or characteristics.
Climax Community
A stable community of organisms in the final stage of succession.
Competition
The rivalry between individuals or groups of organisms for resources such as food, shelter, sunlight, and mates. It is an example of a symbiotic relationship.
Competitive Exclusion Principle
Two species cannot occupy the same niche and stably coexist — due to requiring the same resources.
Disease
An abnormal condition (impacting structure or function) that negatively affects the organism.
Ecological Niche
The role and space that an organism fills in an ecosystem, including all its interactions with the biotic and abiotic factors of its environment.
Ecological Succession
The steady and gradual developmental process of ecosystems from bare ground to climax community.
Areas containing ecosystems of similar characteristics. Each ecoregion has geographically distinct collections of communities.
Ecosystem
An area where organisms interact with each other and the physical environment surrounding them, and different biotic and abiotic components are linked through nutrient cycles and energy transfers.
An array of resources, abiotic and biotic factors, present in a given area, that aid the survival of particular species.
Immigration
The movement into a new location.
Interspecific Hybrid
The offspring of parents from two different species.
Keystone Species
A plant or animal that plays a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions.
Lincoln Index
A means of estimating the population size of a given animal species. It works by capturing, marking, releasing and then recapturing individuals from the species of interest.
Linnaean System
A classification system that places organisms into groups depending upon their physical characteristics.
A subsection of a habitat that hosts unique conditions — differing from the surrounding, larger habitat. Microhabitats may be home to specific species that cannot live in the larger habitat.
Nitrogen Fixation
The process in which nitrogen in the air is liberated — converting it into ammonia or another nitrogenous compound (usually to be used by plants).
Percentage Cover
A measure of the influence that a particular plant species has on the ecosystem and how much space it is taking up.
Photosynthesis
The process by which photosynthetic autotrophs use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to generate oxygen and glucose.
The first species to colonise a previously barren environment. Typically, they are hardy species capable of withstanding extreme conditions, able to perform photosynthesis, germinate quickly and fixate nitrogen.
Predation
A biological interaction in which an organism kills and eats another organism.
Primary Succession
The first time an area is being colonised by plants and animals. In this form of succession, the area is void of vegetation and usually lacking soil.
Quadrat
Traditionally a square frame used to study the distribution of organisms within the marked area.
A measure of the composition of organisms in an ecosystem/area that is made up by a particular species.
Secondary Succession
The second time an area is being colonised. This form of succession occurs after some major disturbance removes the primary species present in an area.
Sere
An intermediate stage on the way to a climax community in the process of ecological succession.
A measure of biodiversity that accounts for not only the number of species present in a given area, but also the relative abundance of each of those species.
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Katelyn Smith was a pioneer in the Queensland ATAR system. After graduating in 2020 with an ATAR of 98.40, she now studies a Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) at The University of Queensland — majoring in Physics. Through her studies, she hopes to develop a greater appreciation for how the wonders of the universe work. When she isn’t slaving away behind her unnecessarily large textbooks, she enjoys catching up with friends, scrolling mindlessly through TikTok, and sleeping.