Chapter 16: Community Structure

Question 1

A group of interacting plants and animals inhabiting a given area

Answer 1

community

Question 2

Number of species in a given area

Answer 2

species richness

Question 3

A component of species diversity index;

A measure of the distribution of individuals among total species occupying a given area

Answer 3

species evenness

Question 4

Proportional representation of a species in a community or sample of a community

Answer 4

relative abundance

Question 5

Population possessing ecological dominance in a given community and thereby governing type and abundance of other species in the community

Answer 5

dominant

Question 6

A species whose activities have a significant role in determining community structure

Answer 6

keystone species

Question 7

Movement of energy and nutrients from one feeding group of organisms to another in a series that begins with plants and end with carnivores, detrital feeders, and decomposers

Answer 7

food chain

Question 8

Interlocking pattern formed by a series of interconnecting food chains

Answer 8

food web

Question 9

Species that feed on no other species but are fed upon by others

Answer 9

basal species

Question 10

Species that feed on other species, and they themselves are prey of other species

Answer 10

intermediate species

Question 11

Species not subjected to predators;

They prey on intermediate and basal species

Answer 11

top predator (also called apex predator)

Question 12

connectance

Answer 12

check the book

Question 13

A measure of the average number of links per species in the food web

Answer 13

linkage density

Question 14

A group of populations that utilize a gradient of resources in a similar way

Answer 14

guild

Question 15

A collection of species that exploit the same array of resources or perform similar functions within the community

Answer 15

functional group

Question 16

Functional classification of organisms in an ecosystem according to feeding relationships, ranging from first-level autotrophs through succeeding levels of herbivores and carnivores

Answer 16

trophic level

Question 17

Uppermost layer of vegetation formed by trees;

Also the uppermost layer of vegetation in shrub communities or in any terrestrial plant community where the upper layer forms a distinct habitat

Answer 17

canopy

Question 18

Growth of medium-height and small trees beneath the canopy of a forest;

Sometimes includes a shrub layer as well

Answer 18

understory

Question 19

Lighted water column of a lake or ocean, inhabited by plankton

Answer 19

photic zone

Question 20

A deepwater area of marine ecosystems below the depth of effective light penetration

Answer 20

aphotic zone

Question 21

The area of the sea or lake bottom

Answer 21

benthic zone

Question 22

Changes in the physical and biological structures of communities as one moves across the landscape;

Spatial changes in community structure

Answer 22

zonation

Question 23

Idea that species, especially plant species, are integrated into an internally interdependent unit;

Upon maturity and death of the community, another identical plant community replaces it

Answer 23

organismic concept of community

Question 24

Clements

Answer 24

check the book

Question 25

The view, first proposed by H. A. Gleason, that vegetation is a continuous variable in a continuously changing environment;

Therefore, no two vegetational communities are identical, and associations of species arise only from similarities in requirements

Answer 25

individualistic or continuum concept of communities

Question 26

Gleason

Answer 26

check the book

Question 27

Applying principles of ecosystem development and function to the restoration and management of disturbed lands

Answer 27

restoration ecology