Lecture 4- Community Ecology Flashcards
Carrying Capacity (K)
The maximum population size that a particular environment can sustain
Logistic growth curve description
Approaches carrying capacity and growth rate slows
Why does the logistic growth curve flatten out?
growth rate slows due to crowding and competition for resources
Density-dependent limitation of population growth
presence of other individuals limits the growth of the population
do density-depend or density-independent factors affect population growth
both can limit population growth
Diversity
how many different types of organisms are in a given area
Species Richness
total number of species living in a community
Relative abundance
How common one species is relative to the other
When measuring species richness, is abundance considered?
NO
Shannon diversity index
a way to measure diversity that considered the abundance of species
Simpson diversity index
measures diversity while considering the abundance of species the most
Higher values of the Shannon diversity index and Simpson diversity index indicate
more diverse communities
Competition
any interaction between organisms in which both require a resource
Predation/ Herbivory
any interaction in which one organism consumes all or part of another organism
Mutualism
any interaction between organisms in which both species benefit
