Chapter 55 Flashcards
(22 cards)
What is a community in ecology?
Species that occur at any particular locality.
What characterizes a community?
Species richness and primary productivity.
What is species richness?
Number of species present.
What is primary productivity?
Amount of energy produced.
Ecological/Fundamental Niche
Entire niche that a species is capable of using, based on
physiological tolerance limits and resource needs
Realized niche
Actual niche in which the species can establish a stable
population.
Niche restriction
Predator absence or presence.
Absence of pollinators.
Competitive Exclusion
if two species share the same niche, one
will eventually drive the other to extinction.
Character displacement
Differences in morphology between sympatric species.
* May lead to speciation
Predator–Prey
Predation
* Consuming of one
organism by another
symbiosis
Ongoing interactions between different organisms
Mutualism
Coevolution: flowering plants
and insects.
* Pollination
Parasitism
- Parasitoids: insects that lay eggs on living hosts.
- Ectoparasites: feed on exterior surface of an organism.
- Endoparasites: live inside the host
Keystone Species
Effects on composition of communities much greater than one might expect based on their abundance
primary Succession
occurs on bare, lifeless substrate.
* Rocks.
* Organisms gradually move into an area and change its nature.
Secondary Succession
occurs after a disturbance
* Field left uncultivated
* Forest after a fire
Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis
Communities experiencing moderate amounts of disturbance will have higher levels of species richness and biodiversity.
Often required for healthy ecosystem
Niche
the total of all the ways an organism uses the resources of its environment
Commensalism
One species benefits and the other neither benefits nor is harmed
Mutualism
Both species benefits
Parasitism
One species benefits at the expense of another.
