Chapter 30 - Species Interactions and Community Ecology Flashcards
Is swimmers itch a neutral interaction?
No
What are three outcomes of interactions between species?
Benefit, harms, or be neutral?
What are the 6 types of interactions?
Predation Parasitism Herbivory Competition Commensalism Mutualism
Describe: Predation
+/-
Predators get nutrients and energy
Prey dies or is injured
Describe: Parasitism
+/-
Parasite gets nurtients and energy
Hosts are injured or die
Describe: Herbivory
+/-
Herbivores gain nutrients and energy
Plants are injured or die
Describe: Competition
-/-
Everyone loses access to resources
Describe: Commensalism
+/0
One thing benefits the other is unaffected
Describe: Mutualism
+/+
Everyone benefits
What is optimal foraging theory?
Eating as much as you can without getting
eaten
What do diverse adaptations allow organisms to do?
Select, locate, captures, and ingest the right food
Define: Time minimization
Minimizing time eating to stay safer because you can’t win and don’t have many offspring
Define: Energy maximization
Eat more for lots of offspring, but still be wary of exposure
What does the density of food influence?
It influences what and how much and organism can consume
What type of feeder are most animals?
Type 2
What are the defenses against attack? (fuckton)
Being too big to tackle Being alert all the time Freezing to avoid detection Taking evasive action Flying away Armoring Chemical defenses Mimicry
What are the three kinds of armoring?
Spines
Thorns
Horns
What are some chemical defenses? (2)
Bad taste
Toxicity
What are the two kinds of mimicry?
Batesian
Mullerian
What is Batesian mimicry?
When a harmless organism mimics a harmful organism (false advertising)
What is Mullerian mimicry?
Unrelated species both display similar warnings (true advertising)
What is mimicry?
False advertising as a form of defense
What is interspecific competition?
When two or more populations compete for the same limiting resource
What is interference competition?
When a species directly harms another species
What is exploitative competition?
When two or more populations use the same limiting resource
What happens when species compete for the same resources?
They reduce the amount of resource availability for other groups
What is intraspecific competition?
Competition between two members of one species for a resource
What is commensalism?
When one species benifits from another species but the other species is unaffected
Example of interspecific competition?
Paramecium experiments
What happened in the Paramecium experiments?
Alone the species thrived, when mixed both only did OK.
What kind of situation is the paramecium experiment showing?
Competitive exclusion
What is an example of commensalism?
Elephants disturbing insects as it walks, egrets eat insects
What is mutualism?
Two species benefiting from one another
Two examples of mutualism?
Yucca and moth
Cod and cleaner wrasse
What is resource partitioning?
A way around direct competition by adjusting the location they inhabit
What is an example of resource partitioning?
Barnacles
Fudamental and realized niches are often the same.
True or False
False
What is paracitism?
When a species (parasite) harms another (host)
Define: Endoparasites
Parasites that live within a host
Define: Ectoparasites
A parasite that lives on the exterio of a host
Define: Parasitoids
Parasites that are both parasites and predators
Define: Primary Producers
Autotroph that capture sunlight and convert it to chemical energy
Define: Primary Consumer
Heterotrophs, herbivores
Define: Secondary and Tertiary Consumers
Heterotrophs, omnivores or carnivores
Define: Detrivores
Scavangers (animals)
Define: Decomposers
Bacteria and fungi, eat dead and decaying organic matter
Ecologists use ... illustrate the ...structure of a community
food
chains and
webs to
trophic
Is it better to have bigger or smaller food webs and why?
Bigger because that means the food web is species rich and more stable
What is a benefit of a stable food web?
The disappearance of one or two species has no major impact on the community structure
What group may increase species richness?
a) Herbivores
b) Ominovers
c) Decomposers
d) Predators
d) Predators
How do predators increase species richness?
They regulate population sizes of the most successful prey
What are keystone species?
Species which have the greatest effect on a community structure
What are two examples of a keystone species?
Predatory sea stars that eat mussels
Sea otters that prey on urchins
What happens if there are no sea otters to feed on urchins?
Urchins become populous and eat all kelp
Define: Primary succession
A habitat developing, starting without soil
Define: Secondary succession
A habitat developing in a place that already has soil
When do secondary successions occur?
After fires or other natural disasters
What are climax communities?
Stable and established ecosystems that are not disturbed
What is succession?
Somewhat predictable change in species composition over time
