Community (Diversity, Structure, Disturbance) Flashcards
Disturbance
an event of intense environmental stress occurring over a relatively short period of time and causing large changes in the affected ecosystem
Intermediate disturbance hypothesis
Species diversity will be highest in communities that experience intermediate levels of disturbance
Community
an association of interacting species inhabiting some defined area
Community structure
Based on the INTERACTIONS of all species in a community.
How abiotic & biotic factors influence the number of species, relative abundance of species, and the types of species in an area
Guild
One type of organism that make their living the same way
How abundant are most species?
Moderately abundant.
Species richness
Number of species in a community
Species evenness
Relative abundance of species
What are metrics we can use to describe community diversity?
(1) Species richness
(2) Species evenness
(3) Shannon-Wiener index (H’)
(4) Simpson Index (y)
(5) Rank-Abundance Curve
Shannon-Wiener Index
H’ increases with increasing richness and evenness
H’ = - Σplnp
Simpson Index
y is the probability that any two individuals drawn from a community will be of the same species. (0 = high diversity)
y = Σp^2
D = 1 –Σn(n-1)/N/(N-1)
Rank-abundance curve
Plots proportional abundance (y) relative to abundance rank (x). Lower slope = greater evennes.
What are factors that influence community diversity?
(1) Environmental complexity
(2) Species interactions
(3) Disturbances
What can increase community diversity?
(1) Increasing environmental complexity (heterogeneity=more niches)
(2) Predation and competition (greater partitioning of resources/space)
(3) Intermediate disturbance
Compare community diversity with community structure
Community diversity = # different species in a community.
Community structure = interactions of all species in a community
Primary producers
Chemo/photoautotrophs
Primary consumers
Herbivores that eat primary producers
Secondary consumers
Carnivores that eat primary producers
Tertiary consumers
Carnivores that eat other carnivores
Food web
Diagram showing feeding relationships among organisms within an ecosystem
What is the relationship between the number of feeding interaction between species with the overall diversity of the community?
feeding interactions is INDEPENDENT of the overall diversity of the community.
What is the relationship between the number of trophic levels between species with the overall diversity of the community?
trophic levels increases with species richness. So higher community diversity is associated with increased food web complexity.
How are food webs and community diversity related?
Diversity is independent from the # of feeding interactions, but the #trophic levels (food web complexity) tends to increase with community diversity.