Glossary of Ecology - F

F

• fall overturn - the mixing (or "turning over") of water that takes place in autumn that reoxygenates the water.
• feedback
• fire ecology - which looks at the role of fire in the environment of plants and animals and its effect on ecological communities
• fixed action pattern - is a behavior that is independent when changes in the environment occur
• flagship species - is a species chosen to represent an environmental cause, such as an ecosystem in need of conservation.
• food chain - a group of organisms interrelated by the fact that each member of the group feeds upon on the one below it.
• food web - a set of interconnected food chains by which energy and materials circulate within an ecosystem
• forest ecology
• foundation species - is a species of dominant primary producer in an ecosystem both in terms of abundance and influence.
• founder effect - the accumulation of random genetic changes in an isolated population
• functional ecology - the study of the roles, or functions, that certain species (or groups thereof) play in an ecosystem