Chapter 56 Community Ecology Flashcards
Community
Group of several species living in a given area
Niche
Area and resources used
Job/habitat
Fundamental niche
Theoretical could live anywhere
Realized niche
Competition where it does live
Gause’s principle of competitive exclusion
No 2 species can occupy the same niche for an extended period of time because of competition
Someone eventually wins
Invasive normally beats natural
Resource partitioning
Allocation of resources so there is little or no niche overlap
Dividing a niche so everyone is happy
Character displacement
Greater differences in morphology
Physically change/adapt to niche so everyone is happy
Interspecific interactions
Predation: coyote benefits, rabbit doesn’t
Commensalism: robin benefits, doesn’t benefit or hurt the tree
Mutualism: anemone and clownfish benefit each other
Parasitism: tapeworm benefits while the dog doesn’t
Competition: bee and butterfly compete for nectar
Predation adaptations
Chemical defenses: skunk anal gland
Defensive coloration: camo
Prey to predator or predator to prey
Mimicry: looks like something bad
Direct vs indirect effects
Predator to prey is direct
Indirect is when something impacts another component like a rodent and seeds
Keystone species
Have a strong influence on the composition of a community
Both direct and indirect
Impacts entire community
Succession
Change in species over time
Primary succession
Starts from nothing
Secondary succession
Recovery after a disturbance
Causes of succession
Tolerance: weedy, r selected species moves in
Pioneer species move in
Facilitation: change habitat to make it more favorable for other species to them move in
As pioneers move in and die they alter the habitat to make it more suitable for others
Inhibition: newer species start to inhibit the growth of the original colonizers and they die out/are replaced
Original pioneers are pushed out by subsequent sp
