Community Ecology Flashcards
Distinct plant communtiies with little overlap around found where?
- ecotone- environments changes abruptly \
- In areas where extremely different habitats come into contact
An assemblage of many different species living in the same place at the same time constitute a (n)
community
In total of all the ways an organism uses the resources in its environment is called its ecological _______
niche
Realized niches are niches that _______
are actually used by a species
When two species compete for limited resources, which of the following most likely occurs?
competitive exclusion: one species outcompetes the other, leading to the local extinction of the less competitive species in that area
What is a community?
A group of organisms of different species occupying the same area at the same time
Resource partitioning is often observed when two species are _____
sympatric
plant communities across environmental gradient form________________________________
a continuum of plants
The individual ways that an organism confronts the challeneg of survival by resource use is known as____
an organism’s niche
What are factors that may result in realized niches being smaller than fundamental niches?
predation,
competition
interspecific interactions
competitive exclusion is likely due to ____
niche overlap
Interspecific competition is implied when ______
two species share the same limited resources
resource partitioning is most likely the result of _____
natural selection to reduce competition
Distinct plant communities with little overlap are found where
1.
2.
1.areas with extremely different habitats come into contact
2. ecotones
_____ is one organism eating another
predation
The process of reciprocal evolutionary change that occurs among groups of species as they interact with one another is termed _____
coevolution
Animals that lack chemical defenses often display _____ coloration and usually do not live _____
cryptic, in groups
A resemblance of one species to another that functions in predator avoidance is called _____
mimicry
_________ : both species gain from the interaction
mutualism
_______: one species benefits from the interaction and the other is unaffected
commensalism
_______: one species benefits while the other species is harmed
parasitism
often times a superior competitor cannot eliminate other species from the community, because its numbers are constantly reduced by _______
predation
After a field is cleared and abandoned, it may slowly change and develop into a forest, what is this process called?
succession
