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ECO3A: Individs, Popns, Commun > Community Ecology (W10) > Flashcards

Community Ecology (W10) Flashcards

1
Q

Ecology?

A

= science concerned with the inter-relationship of organisms & their environment.

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2
Q

Community?

A

= an interacting group of species found in the same area.

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3
Q

Community ecology?

A

= an assemblage of populations of plants, animals, bacteria & fungi that live in an environment & interact with one another, forming together a distinctive living system with its own composition, structure, environmental relations, development & function.

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4
Q

Hierarchy of community Ecology? (5)

A

Organism
|
Population
|
Community
|
Ecosystem
|
Biome

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5
Q

Organism attributes? (2)

A

• Biotic.
• Living individual organism.

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6
Q

Population attribute?

A

Biotic.

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7
Q

Community attributes? (3)

A

• Biotic.
• Some influences of abiotic factors occur.
• Many individuals form different species interacting with one another.

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8
Q

Ecosystem attributes? (2)

A

• Abiotic.
• Biotic.

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9
Q

Biome attributes? (2)

A

• Biotic.
• Abiotic.

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10
Q

Thing to note when defining community ecology?

A

Definitions different depending on the background of who is defining it.

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11
Q

Characteristics of communities? (6)

A

• Trophic structure/organisation.
• Growth forms.
• Self reliance.
• Species diversity.
• Species richness.
• Relative abundance.

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12
Q

Trophic structure/organisation?

A

= involves patterns of feeding relationships, energy flow & chemical cycling.

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13
Q

Trophic organisation/structure attributes?

A

• see notes.

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14
Q

Foundational species?

A

= a species important for ecological function but doesn’t necessarily lead to the collapse of the community.

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15
Q

Foundational species attributes?

A

• Affects the overall structure of the community.

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16
Q

Eg of foundational species?

A

Elephants.

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17
Q

Why are elephants an eg of foundational species?

A

It’s because they don’t lead to the total collapse of the community.

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18
Q

Keystone species?

A

= species that if removed from a community will lead to the total collapse of that community.

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19
Q

Keystone species attributes?

A

• Affects the function of the community.

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20
Q

Eg of Keystone species?

A

Termites.

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21
Q

Why are termites an eg of Keystone species? (2)

A

It’s because they:

• are important for soil aeration.
• form part of the food chain.

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22
Q

Foundational species vs Keystone species?

A

● Foundational species
= affects the structure of a community.

● Keystone species
= affects the function of a community.

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23
Q

Growth forms attributes? (2)

A

• Exist differently in a community.

• If you only have one kind of growth form, you can use other community characteristics to define our community (you don’t have to rely solely on it to define your community).

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24
Q

What happens/What to do if you only have one growth form in your community?

A

You can use other community characteristics to define our community (you don’t have to rely solely on it to define your community).

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25
Q

Eg of Growth forms?

A

Klipriviersberg where you have grasses & forbs.

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26
Q

Self reliance?

A

= defined by the species richness & relative abundance.

27
Q

What 2 components is Self reliance defined by?

A

• Species richness.
• Rekative abundance.

28
Q

Kinds of species diversity indices? (3)

A

• α diversity.
• β diversity.
• γ diversity.

29
Q

α diversity?

A

= number of species at a local scale.

30
Q

β diversity?

A

= measure of the difference in species composition or species turnover between two or more habitats in a region.

31
Q

γ diversity?

A

= a measure of species richness in a region.

32
Q

Thing to note on the species diversity indices?

A

You can decide which one to use depending on your research question.

33
Q

γ diversity equation?

A

γ = α + β

34
Q

α diversity attribute?

A

Uses Shannon & Sampson indices.

35
Q

Indices under α diversity? (2)

A

• Shannon index.
• Sampson index.

36
Q

Indices under Shannon? (2)

A

• Shannon index of diversity.
• Shannon equitability index (Eh).

37
Q

Shannon index of diversity attribute?

A

• Involves both S and RA bit weighs them differently.

38
Q

Shannon equitability index attribute?

A

• Involves evenness in the species richness.

39
Q

Shannon index of diversity equation?

A

H = –Σ pi ln (pi)

40
Q

Symbols of Shannon index of diversity? (4)

A

• H = Shannon index of diversity.

• Σ = sum.

• ln = natural log.

• pi = proportion of the entire community made up of species i.

41
Q

Shannon equitability index equation?

A

EH = H / ln (S)

42
Q

Symbols of Shannon equitability index? (4)

A

• EH = Shannon equitability index.

• H = Shannon index of diversity.

• ln = natural log.

• S = species richness.

43
Q

Range of EH?

A

0–1.

0 = no evenness.
1 = complete evenness.

44
Q

Simpson index equation?

A

D = Σn (n–1) / N (N–1)

45
Q

Symbols of Simpson index? (4)

A

• D = Simpson index.

• Σ = sum.

• n = number of organisms that belong to species.

• N = total number of organisms.

46
Q

Calculating Shannon index?

A
47
Q

Calculating Simpson index?

A
48
Q

Species richness attributes? (3)

A

• Represented by S.

• There’s a drive to only focus on S as indices are problematic.

• Trend is explained using the Mid-Domain effect.

49
Q

Relative abundance (RA) attributes? (3)

A

• Represented by stacked graphs.

• Different levels of RA in species within a community.

• Some species are highly abundant than others.

50
Q

Hypotheses used to explain spatial distribution/species distribution? (3)

A

• Mid-Domain effect hypothesis.

• Time-integrated area hypothesis.

• Tropical niche conservatism hypothesis.

51
Q

Mid-Domain effect hypothesis?

A

= states that randomly distributed species overlap near the middle of the domain than at the edge.

52
Q

Mid-Domain effect hypothesis attributes? (2)

A

• Possibly explains why we have general trends.

• Pattern is expected in the absence of a particular mechanism.

53
Q

Challenges of the Mid-Domain effect hypothesis? (3)

A

● Assumes that distribution of species are random (which are affected by temperature, rainfall, etc).

● Doesn’t take into account evolutionary relationships that might have occurred (like continental drift).

● Simple explanation of global patterns of diversity (not good as it’s too simple).

54
Q

What is the species richness trend? (2)

A

● Species are rich around the tropics & is correlated to temperature.

● Areas that have had time to “evolve”/for evolution to happen, have high species richness (S).

55
Q

Time-integrated area hypothesis attributes? (2)

A

● The tropics have accumulated species over a longer period than temperate regions.

● The net diversification rate follows a trend consistent with the latitudinal diversity gradient: the net diversification rate is higher in the tropics.

56
Q

Tropical niche conservatism hypothesis attributes? (2)

A

● Niche is defined in terms of species distribution, the function they perform & the resources they consume.

● The relationship is driven by the evolutionarily conserved ancestral tolerances of species to the warm environments in which most clades originated.

57
Q

Niche conservatism?

A

= retention of niche-related ecological traits over time.

58
Q

List of Species richness relationships discussed? (2)

A

● Climate & Species richness.

● Productivity & Species richness.

59
Q

Explain Climate & Species richness? (2)

A

● There’s higher species richness in warm, wet climates (ie., tropics) due to relatively stronger biotic interactions (driven by defined seasons in the tropics).

● Climate can be used to explain species richness/species diversity.

60
Q

Why can climate be used to explain species richness/species diversity?

A

It’s because it’s a driver of species diversity.

61
Q

Explain Productivity & Species richness?

A

Areas with high productivity have high species richness.

62
Q

Net primary productivity?

A

= amount of biomass that can be produced in a given area.

63
Q

Explain species area relationships?

A

The larger the area, the more species you tend to find.

64
Q

Paper on species area relationships?

A

Mittelbach et al, 2007.

ECO3A: Individs, Popns, Commun (11 decks)

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