Final Flashcards
What is nutrition mutualisms?
Two species exchange nutrients, or one species is rewarded in some way for improving the nutritional status of another
What are some examples of nutrition mutualisms?
- mycorrhizae and N2 fixing bacteria
- Corals- symbiosis with zooxanthellae
- deep sea tube worms
Mutualism will only arise if
pw(sm) + qw(um) > w(nm)
- w(nm): fitness of individuals in a nonmutualistic population
- p: proportion of successful mutualists (W(sm))
- q: proportion of unsuccessful mutualists (w(um))
The major exploitative interactions include
predation, herbivory, and parasitism
Key predator adaptations affect the ___, ___, and ___ of prey.
detection, capture, consumption
Mutualisms generally evolve to facilitate
reproduction, energy/nutrient acquisition, or protection from exploitative interactions
Mutualisms can be
obligate or facultative; specialized or general
What is an ecological community?
a group of interacting species that co-occur in a particular place
What parameters describe communities?
- composition: what species are present?
- structure: how do those species interact with each other?
What is direct filtering determined by?
environmental tolerances of the species
What is indirect filtering mediated by?
interactions with other species that are subject to filtering
What do neutral models of community composition assume?
- communities are random combos of species physiologically able to live in the same place
- two mechanisms determine species membership in communities- dispersal in ecological time and speciation in evolutionary time
- if communities are altered, they do not necessarily recover the same community structure
What do niche-based models of community composition assume?
- biological interactions (ex: competition) shape (and are shaping) the niches of coexisting species and so determine community composition
- “ghost of competition past” may give the appearance of competition not being important in the current community (i.e. that niches are already well separated or even randomly distributed) via competitive exclusion and character displacement some time in the past
Under a neutral model of community structure
species associate at random
In a neutral model
the niches are arranged at random, so that some niches are very similar, and others very different
In a niche-based model
the niches are over- or hyper-dispersed in niche space
Which is more likely: competitive hierarchy or competitive networks?
competitive networks
Coexistence is possible by ___ the niche
subdividing
Coexistence is also possible is resources are ___ and OVERALL niche overlap is ___
abundant; small
What are some ways to pack species into diverse communities?
- increase overlap: possible if resources (k) are large enough and overlap does not exceed some threshold
- decrease niche breadth: a.k.a. become more specialized
- can happen via character displacement
- extend range along resource axis: a.k.a exploiting resources not used by other species
- can happen via character displacement/directional selection
Environmental filtering and competition have ___ effects on community composition
opposing
If environmental filtering dominates over competition,
phylogenetic clustering is more likely
-closely related groups will have similar traits and so pass through environmental filter together
If competition dominates over environmental filtering,
phylogenetic over- dispersion is more likely
-only phylogenetically and therefore ecologically different species are found within guilds in the community
What is community heritability?
the proportion of the variation in a characteristic of the community (such as herbivore diversity) that is explained by genetic variation in the population of a particular species (e.g. plants)
How does community heritability affect community structure?
via “community genetics”
What is facilitation?
a process in which the presence of one species INCREASES the probability that another occurs in the community, usually by mediating competition
How does mutualism operate like facilitation?
lessens the effects of competitive interactions
What are keystone predators?
eat other competitively dominant predators, thus allowing coexistence of a diverse community
What is apparent competition?
two similar species are negatively impacted by the action of a shared predator or herbivore
-good example of an indirect interaction between two species (one that is mediated via another species)
Any process that increases the resource base or decreases the degree to which a resource is limiting will ___ the impact of competition
reduce
Where is competition most important?
at equilibrium
Disturbances may affect
limiting resources
Disturbances can temporarily ___ the resource base
increase
Disturbance can delay the process of
competitive exclusion
The first determinant of species presence or absence in a community is
whether or not it can survive the physical conditions (environmental filtering)
Neutral models of community structure posit that communities are
random assemblages of species that can tolerate the abiotic conditions
What are key determinants of the community composition in neutral models?
dispersal and environmental filtering
Communities structured by competition are affected by both
competitive exclusion and character displacement
Competition in a community leads to
- increased niche overlap
- decreased niche breadth
- increase in the range of resources used
The effect of competition on community structure can be modified by other interactions, such as
- predation
- facilitation
- apparent competition
If resources are not limiting, the role of competition in structuring the community is
reduced
How does disturbance reduce the effect of competition?
by increasing the levels of important resources
Disturbances initiate changes in community structure via
removal of individuals
What is succession?
the sequence of changes in a community following a disturbance
What is a successional stage called?
a seral stage
What do serial stages form together?
sere
What axes are disturbances characterized along?
- size
- intensity
- frequency
Primary succession follows a disturbance that is
so severe that the new conditions are nearly abiotic
What is an important characteristic of primary succession?
soil is lost or destroyed
When does secondary succession occur?
When the disturbance isn’t as severe as primary succession, such that functional soil (and its seed bank) remains intact)
What are some examples of primary succession?
glaciers, volcanic eruptions
What are some examples of secondary succession?
windthrow, fires
Effect of crown fire
- Variation in impact: high-intense crown fire to cool ground fire
- Delayed mortality: no
- Mode of recovery: dispersal
- Recovery rate: rapid
- Plant species dominance: changes in herbaceous species; not trees
- Regional diversity: increases
- Local diversity: initially decreases
Effect of a hurricane
- Variation in impact: low (within boundaries of storm; higher at distance from eye)
- Delayed mortality: yes
- Mode of recovery: resprouting + seeds
- Recovery rate: very rapid
- Plant species dominance: shifts due to pulse of early successional species
- Regional diversity: increases
- Local diversity: little change
Effect of a volcano
- Variation in impact: highly variable as function of distance from blast zone
- Delayed mortality: no
- Mode of recovery: dispersal
- Recovery rate: slow but variable
- Plant species dominance: shifts with succession
- Regional diversity: increases
- Local diversity: initially decreases
What is resistance?
the degree to which the community withstands disturbance
What is resilience?
the speed with which a community can recover from disturbance
-depends on nature of disturbance and traits of organisms, which interact over evolutionary time
What are two examples of chronosequences?
Hawaii and the Lake Michigan dunes
What is a climax community?
- the final stage of succession
- the community that replaces itself and that cannot be invaded by other species
What does the Clementsian paradigm state?
disturbance is infrequent; stability of the climax is the norm
T or F? It has been shown that disturbance, rather than stability, is the norm
T
What is a disclimax?
a successional stage that persists due to recurrent disturbance
What does a Gleasonian paradigm state?
- instead of a highly regulated, predictable pattern of vegetation, community composition is dependent on chance events
- the random occurrence of disturbance events
- the chance events associated with colonization and individual successional sequences
- communities rarely reach equilibrium
- Rejection of simple, fixed chronosequences and focus on the spatial rather than temporal dynamics of plant communities
- Succession is complex, unpredictable, and site specific
What does patch dynamics describe?
a spatial mosaic of areas at different stages of probabilistic succession
What are some environmental effects of disturbance?
- increased light availability
- loss/gain of nutrients or interruption of nutrient cycles
- succession itself: the biotic community in flux as succession proceeds
When does the facilitation model of succession apply?
if the disturbance produces a physical environment in which colonization and survival are especially difficult
-pioneer species facilitate colonization by later successional species
The inhibition model is driven by
the ability of species to colonize the disturbed site and then resist invasion by other species
The tolerance model states that
species replacement only occurs when new species are more tolerant of the newly changed conditions and replace earlier species