Species and Community Interactions

Question 1

What is a community?

Answer 1

group of different species living in the same area

Question 2

What are some ways we can characterize a community?

Answer 2

1. species richness
2. species diversity
3. primary productivity

Question 3

What is species richness?

Answer 3

how many species are there

Question 4

What is species diversity?

Answer 4

how many species and how evenly distributed are they

Question 5

What is primary productivity?

Answer 5

rate at which biomass is produced by organisms that covert inorganic materials into organic materials

Question 6

What is an ecological niche?

Answer 6

total of all the ways an organism can use the resources in its environment

Question 7

What is a fundamental niche?

Answer 7

what organisms can actually use

Question 8

What is realized niche?

Answer 8

what organisms are actually using

Question 9

What is the range of realized niche compared to that of the fundamental niche?

Answer 9

realized niche is either the same or smaller than the fundamental niche

Question 10

What is resource partitioning?

Answer 10

division of a niche (like splitting up where to nest on a tree)

Question 11

Why do organisms resource partition?

Answer 11

because competition is tiring

Question 12

What is character displacement?

Answer 12

evolution so character traits enable better use of different parts of a niche

Question 13

What does character displacement need?

Answer 13

time

Question 14

Is herbivory a predator prey relationship?

Answer 14

yes

Question 15

What can too much predation do for prey population?

Answer 15

extinction of prey population and then extinction of predator

Question 16

What is an example of non-lethal predator effect?

Answer 16

to avoid predators, prey may remain in less food abundant areas, and then the prey suffers from food loss (not directly affected by a predator)

Question 17

What is batesian mimicry?

Answer 17

a species that is not poisonous looks like one that is

Question 18

What is mullerian mimicry?

Answer 18

a species that is poisonous looks like another species that is poisonous also

Question 19

What is coeveolution?

Answer 19

evolutionary changes brought about by interactions between species

Question 20

What is warning coloration?

Answer 20

having colorful colors to indicate that they can cause harm

Question 21

What is cryptic coloration?

Answer 21

blending into their environment to not get preyed upon

Question 22

What is symbiosis?

Answer 22

long term biological interaction between species (evolve over TIME)

Question 23

What is mutualism?

Answer 23

a relationship where both organisms benefit

Question 24

What is commensalism?

Answer 24

a relationship where one species benefits and one is unaffected

Question 25

What is parasitism?

Answer 25

a relationship where one benefits and the other is harmed

Question 26

What are endoparasites?

Answer 26

internal parasites

Question 27

What are ectoparasites?

Answer 27

external parasites

Question 28

What are parasitoids?

Answer 28

lay eggs on another species and when it hatches, the larvae eat the host

Question 29

What is toxoplasmosis?

Answer 29

a parasite that infects rats and makes them lose fear of cats, and the cats eat the rats and the toxoplasmosis further divides and develops (because toxoplasmosis needs a cats gut to reproduce)

Question 30

What are cordyceps?

Answer 30

a fungus that affects ants brains and then later, the fungus sprouts out of the ants head

Question 31

What is the story with ants, rodents, and seeds?

Answer 31

1. rodents eat big seeds (and small seeds) and ants eat only small seeds 2. if the rodents are removed, the population of ants will increase for a while 3. then the population of ants decrease because the big seeds dominate due to no one eating it

Question 32

What is primary succession?

Answer 32

growth starting from nothing

Question 33

What is secondary succession?

Answer 33

rebuilding after disturbance

Question 34

What are the 3 steps to succession?

Answer 34

1. establishment 2. facilitation 3. inhibition

Question 35

What is establishment?

Answer 35

r-selected species start to grow (grasses and weeds)

Question 36

What is facilitation?

Answer 36

r-selected species change landscape (by dying and making soil) to favor k-selected species (equal amount of k and r)

Question 37

What is inhibition?

Answer 37

k-selected species take over and the landscape mature (low r-selected species)

Question 38

What are r-selected species?

Answer 38

species that have high growth rates, many offspring, and low survival chances

Question 39

What are k-selected species?

Answer 39

species that are more stable and tend to live longer

Question 40

What is interference competition?

Answer 40

species fight for similar resources (occupy the same space)

Question 41

What is exploitative competition?

Answer 41

one species takes over a portion of the others resources (occupy different spaces)