Community Ecology Flashcards
Biological community
A group of populations of different species that live close enough to interact
Interspecific interactions
Interactions between different species (competition, predation, mutualism)
Interspecific competition
-/- interacting where different species compete for resources
Competitive exclusion
When interspecific competition leads to one species being eliminated
Resource partitioning
The difference in niches that enables similar species to coexist
Character displacement
Evolution so similar species don’t inhabit the same ecological niche
Exploitation
General term for any +/- interaction
Animal warning coloration
Aposematic colouration
Camouflage
Cryptic colouration
A harmless species mimics a harmful one
Batesian mimicry
Two or more harmful species resemble each other
Müllerian mimicry
Two types of defenses from Predators
Mechanical defense (spines)
Chemical defense
Mutualism
A +/+ interaction between different species
Commensalism
A +/0 interaction between species
Why is commensalism rare?
One species rarely doesn’t affect the other, they usually do even if just a little bit.
Trophic structure
The feeding relationships between organisms
Food web
Food chains linked together
Energetic hypothesis
The length of the fold chain is limited by the inefficiency of the energy transfer. Only about 10% goes up.
The decompsers are also called…
The detritivores
Why are detritivores important
Help recycle chemicals back to the primary producers
Production efficiency
The percent of energy stored in assimilated food that is not used for respiration
Trophic efficiency
The percentage of production transfered from one trophic level to the next
