Community Ecology Flashcards
What is a community?
A group of populations of different species interacting with one another in the same environment.
What is a niche?
What a species does in its community, every interaction a species has with its community members.
What is a habitat?
Where the species lives in its community.
What is biodiversity?
The number of different species in a community.
Having more niches and habitats in a community leads to more species living there, which leads to a higher what?
Biodiversity
Why is biodiversity important?
Increases ecosystem productivity as each species has an important role to play, greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms, and keeps Earth’s natural systems operating.
Over time, nature evolves what?
Relationships
Do organisms or populations live in isolation from other individuals or the environment?
No, they do not live in isolation.
What are the six types of species interactions?
Commensalism, mutualism, parasitism, predatory, competitive, and amensalism
What is a symbiotic relationship?
Two species that physically touch one another for a relationship to occur (live together)
Which two relationships are almost always symbiotic?
Mutualism and parasitism
Which relationship is always symbiotic?
Commensalism
Which relationship is usually symbiotic?
Amensalism
What is a commensalistic relationship?
One species benefits and the other does not harm nor benefit. (+,0)
What are examples of commensalism?
Egrets among livestock, birds and army ants, leeches, and barnacles attached to the back of whales or shells of horseshoe crabs
What is a mutualistic relationship?
Both species benefit (+,+)