LO13 Flashcards
What are interspecific interactions?
Interspecific interactions are relationships between species in a community.
what is an interspecific competition?
Interspecific competition is when species compete for a resource in short supply.
What is intraspecific competition?
Competition within a species
What is the competitive exclusion principle?
The competitive exclusion principle states that two species competing for the same limited resource cannot coexist in the same space.
What is an ecological niche?
An ecological niche is the sum of a species ‘ use of biotic and abiotic resources.
What is resource partitioning?
Resource partitioning is the differentiation of ecological niches, enabling similar species to coexist in a community.
What is a fundamental niche?
A fundamental niche is a niche potentially occupied by the species.
What is a realized niche?
A realized niche is the niche actually occupied by that species.
What is character displacement?
Character displacement is a tendency for characteristics to be more divergent in sympatric populations of two species than in allopatric populations of the same two species.
What is disturbance?
A disturbance is an event that changes a community, removes organisms from it, and alters the resource availability. Disturbances vary in frequency and severity.
What are some examples of disturbance?
Natural: storms, fire, flooding
Humans: deforestation, light-noise-chemical pollution
What is the various hypothesis related to disturbance?
1) old: climax community
2) New: non-equilibrium model
3) Intermediate disturbance hypothesis
what is a non-equilibrium model?
Describes communities as constantly changing after disturbances.
what is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis?
Highest species diversity with moderate level of disturbance.
What is ecological succession?
Ecological succession is the sequence of community changes after a disturbance.
