Plant Communities

Question 1

Community

Answer 1

populations of 1 or more plant species coexisting in space and time

Question 2

Community scales

Answer 2

local scale
local landscape scale

Question 3

local scale

Answer 3

individual plant neighborhood

Question 4

Community structure

Answer 4

the features that distinguish a community

Question 5

key variables of community structure

Answer 5

species richness
species’ relative abundances (evenness)
dominant life-forms
physiognomy (physical structure)
species composition
productivity
spatial and temporal patterns

Question 6

alpha

Answer 6

local diversity. # of species in sample plot area

Question 7

beta

Answer 7

species turnover. Rate of species change along environmental gradients

Question 8

Gamma

Answer 8

regional species pool. # of species in a habitat/geographic area

Question 9

evenness

Answer 9

relative abundance of a species (shows if a site is dominated by 1 species or multiple co dominant species)

Question 10

Lower and higher values of evenness

Answer 10

lower values = a dominant species
higher values = co-dominant species

Question 11

diversity indices

Answer 11

incorporate species richness and evenness into a single value

Question 12

Community Assembly

Answer 12

predictable assemblages of species based on grazing, mycorrhizas, temp, competitive interactions, landscape, etc.