14 Flashcards
Ecosystem?
All of the biotic and abiotic components in a given area and their interactions.
Ecosystem functions? 3•
•Productivity
•Energy flows
•Material cycles
Ecosystem functions?
Properties of the ecosystem.
Ecosystem services?
Properties of ecosystem that directly benefit humans.
Primary productivity generally increase with?
Increase in biodiversity (plant species richness).
Less biodiversity have more/less effect in ecosystem function if small change in biodiversity?
More
What must be true if greater species richness in communities lead to greater function? 6•
•Facilitation are more common
•Resistance extreme conditions
•Different niches
•trophic
•Different resource use.
•Species can coexist
•Filling more roles within the ecosystem
•Diverse communities use nutrients more effectively (recycling)
Polyculture?
Many species
Monoculture?
One species
Complementarity?
Recourse partitioning which can result in more different types of resources being used to increase productivity.
Facilitation?
A positive interaction in which one species helps another persist in the environment. This increases productivity
Effect of facilitation requires?
The presence of particular species responsible for facilitation.
Sampling effect?
Randomly sample some communities. The probability of randomly selecting a highly productive monoculture is lower than selecting a highly productive polyculture. This is assuming that species found in a given area can be randomly selected with low bias, and that some species are more productive than others. This ensures that polyculture communities = best monoculture. Additionally, more diverse species are more likely to contain the most productive species.
Biodiversity can increase/decrease stability of function?
Increase
To ensure stability at a community level, if one extreme factor occur, then?
Another species should perform better.
Portfolio effect?
Variability in function over time should be lower in diverse communities since there is a greater chance that a species may resist a change in abiotic conditions (species vary in different ways over time).
Is high diversity always better?
It depends on the community and what recourses are available, and the quantity. For greater diversity to be beneficial, the cycle of recourses must reach an equilibrium, and it depends on the environment and interactions. If this claim was correct, then we would see a high diversity throughout the globe.
