lecture 21

Question 1

What are feeding relationships and what do they describe

Answer 1

how species interact in the process of acquiring food/energy to describe biological structure of communities

Question 2

Food chain

Answer 2

pathway of food/energy transfer between species

Question 3

Food chain diagram

Answer 3

diagram of feeding relationships where circle=species and an arrow= flow of energy from resource to consumer

Question 4

food web

Answer 4

numerous food chains interconnected to form a complex web emphasizing numerous trophic connections among species within a community

Question 5

the more species in the community=more complex food web. how do you simplify the web?

Answer 5

grouping organisms into categories called trophic levels

Question 6

trophic level

Answer 6

groups of species that derive food energy from a similar source

Question 7

guilds

Answer 7

groups of species within each trophic level that exploit a common resource in a similar manner

Question 8

basal species

Answer 8

feed on no other species but are fed upon by others

Question 9

primary producer

Answer 9

plant

Question 10

intermediate species

Answer 10

feed on other species and are prey for other species

Question 11

primary consumers

Answer 11

herbivores

Question 12

secondary consumers

Answer 12

carnivores

Question 13

top predator

Answer 13

feeds on other species but are not prey for others

Question 14

omnivores

Answer 14

feed on more than one trophic level

Question 15

cannibal

Answer 15

feed on itself

Question 16

functional group

Answer 16

groups of species that perform same role in a community (decomposers, top predators ect)

Question 17

indirect (diffuse) interactions

Answer 17

species dont directly interact but influence each other through a direct interaction with another species

Question 18

food webs illustrate what types of interactions

Answer 18

direct and indirect (diffuse) interactions

Question 19

interaction strength

Answer 19

number of reophic connections of a species

Question 20

weak interactors

Answer 20

funcitonally not significant, low relative influence on bio. structure

Question 21

strong interactors

Answer 21

functionally dominant, influences the bio. structure of a community more relative to other species

Question 22

Dominant/foundation species

Answer 22

species that has a dominant number or mass of individuals relative to other species

Question 23

keystone species

Answer 23

species that influence the biological structure of a community disproportionately to their numerical abundance

Question 24

ecosystem engineers

Answer 24

species that create/eliminate habitat

Question 25

are weak interactors or strong interactors generally in higher abundance

Answer 25

many more weak interactors

Question 26

removing a keystone species 2 possible affects

Answer 26

initiates changes in community structure and often results in loss of diversity create/eliminate habitats or influence species interactions

Question 27

how is a beaver an ecosystem engineer

Answer 27

increase habitat diversity, differrent dam building offers habitats for a large number of other species (ex. formation of ex-bows)

Question 28

Bottom-up effect

Answer 28

reduced abundance of basal species causes decreased abundance of species at higher trophic levels

Question 29

Top-down effect

Answer 29

reduced abundance of top predators caused increased abundance at next lower trophic level, lower at the level below that and higher at the level below that