Ch 54 B Flashcards
(38 cards)
_______ are those that are most abundant or have the highest biomass
Dominant species
_______, typically introduced to a new environment by humans, may become dominant because they lack natural predators or parasites
Invasive species
_______ exert strong control on a community by their ecological roles, or niches (not dominant)
Keystone species
How do dominant species and keystone species differentiate
keystone is less abundant
_______ (or “foundation species”) cause physical changes in the environment that affect community structure
Ecosystem engineers
What are the two models regarding trophic influence
1) bottom-up model
2) top-down model
What is another name for the top- down model?
green world hypothesis
Explain mesopredator release
Where absence of top predator (wolf) leads to mesopredator abundance (coyote)
Deliberate alteration of an ecosystem by adding or removing species, especially predators.
biomanipulation
F. E. Clements, argued that plant communities had only one state of equilibrium, a _______, controlled by climate
climax community
A. G. Tansley argued that _______ in abiotic conditions created many _______ stable communities within a region
variation; possible
H.A. Gleason viewed communities as _______ assemblages of species with similar abiotic requirements
chance
A _______ is an event that changes a community, removes organisms from it, and alters resource availability
disturbance
The _______ describes communities as constantly changing after disturbance
nonequilibrium model
What are the 3 types of disturbances and what do they result in?
1) low level: allow dominant species
2) intermediate: greatest diversity
3) high level: exclude slow-growing species
_______ is the sequence of changes in community composition following a disturbance
Ecological succession
What are the 2 types of ecological successions?
1) primary succession
2) secondary succession
_______ occurs where no soil exists when succession begins
Primary succession
On the glacial moraines, _______ species facilitate later arrivals by increasing soil nitrogen content
pioneer plant
describe seral stages and facilitation
seral stage -> facilitation -> seral stage
_______ begins in an area where soil remains after a disturbance
Secondary succession
_______ and _______ are two key biogeographic factors that affect the species diversity of biological communities
Latitude and area
Species richness is especially great in the _______ and generally _______ in a gradient toward the poles
1) tropics
2) declines
Two main climatic factors correlated with biodiversity in terrestrial communities are _______ and _______
sunlight and precipitation