L18 Community Ecology

Question 1

define community ecology

Answer 1

study of communities in relation to the environment

Question 2

what is a community

Answer 2

assemblage of all the populations of various species that live and interact within a given area at a given time

Question 3

define niche

Answer 3

a species special ecological role in its community, involving a habitat and allowing a species to practice its way of life with species interactions

Question 4

what are intraspecific interactions and what kind of ecology does it fall under

Answer 4

occurs when 2 or more individuals from the same species (population) interact; population ecology

Question 5

what are interspecific interactions and what kind of ecology does it fall under

Answer 5

occurs when 2 or more different species (populations) interact; community ecology

Question 6

what are antagonistic interactions, and what are the types

Answer 6

focus on interactions in which at least one participant loses more than it gains; competition, predation, herbivory, parasitism

Question 7

define competition

Answer 7

interaction where the use of a mutually needed resource by one species lowers the availability of the resource for another species

Question 8

define the competitive exclusion principle

Answer 8

two species having exactly the same niche and competing directly for the same limiting resources in the same habitat cannot co-exist

Question 9

what is resource partitioning

Answer 9

species divide and share resources in habitat while avoiding direct competition

Question 10

define predation

Answer 10

interaction where one species hunts, kills, and consumes another species as a source of food

Question 11

what is a herbivory interaction

Answer 11

herbivore animals feed on the tissues of plants

Question 12

what is a parasitic interaction

Answer 12

one species exploits the other species, gaining benefits and doing harm

Question 13

what is a mutualistic interaction

Answer 13

both participants gain more than they lose (mutual benefit)

Question 14

define symbiosis

Answer 14

interaction between 2 different organisms living in close physical association

Question 15

what are commensalism-based interactions

Answer 15

one species benefits, and other species remains unaffected

Question 16

define facilitation, give an example

Answer 16

occurs when one species creates and environment that helps another (mutualism or commensalism); plants create shade and leaf litter allowing seedlings from other plants to grow

Question 17

define keystone species

Answer 17

species that exerts strong control of a community despite not being the most abundant species in its community

Question 18

define engineering species

Answer 18

species that can change an ecosystem through its activities

Question 19

define succession

Answer 19

predictable series of changes in a community following a disturbance

Question 20

what is primary succession

Answer 20

occurs after a disturbance that eliminates all vegetation and soil life (ex. glaciers, drying lakes, earthquakes, volcanos)

Question 21

define pioneer species

Answer 21

first species to arrive in a primary succession area

Question 22

define secondary succession

Answer 22

occurs after a disturbance (ex. fires, hurricanes, farming, logging, mining)

Question 23

what is climax community

Answer 23

community resulting from successful succession to a mature community

Question 24

primary succession favours __-selected species; secondary succession favours __-selected species

Answer 24

r ; k