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Campbell Biology Chapter 53
Community Ecology
57
Biology
Undergraduate 2
02/23/2008

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Term
Community
Definition
An assemblage of populations of various species living close enough for potential interaction.
Term
Interspecific Interactions
Definition
Interactions with other species in the community.
Term
Interspecific Competition
Definition
Occurs when species compete for a particular resource that is in short supply. (-/-)
Term
Competitive Exclusion
Definition
Competition that leads to the local elimination of one or two competing species.
Term
Ecological Niche
Definition
The sum total of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.
Term
Fundamental Niche
Definition
The niche potentially occupied by a species.
Term
Realized Niche
Definition
The niche a species occupies in a particular environment.
Term
Resource Partitioning
Definition
Differentiation of niches that enables similar species to coexist in a community; Ex) one species hunt during the day, the other at night.
Term
Character Displacement
Definition
The tendency for characteristics to be more divergent in sympatric populations of two species than in allopatric populations of the same two species; ex) variations in beak size between different populations of two species of Galapagos finches.
Term
Allopatric Populations
Definition
Geographically separate populations that are generally morphologically similar and use similar resources.
Term
Sympatric Populations
Definition
Geographically overlapping populations that generally show differences in body structures and in the resources they use.
Term
Predation
Definition
Refers to interaction between species in which one species, the predator, kills and consumes the other, the prey. (+/-)
Term
Cryptic Coloration
Definition
Camouflage; makes prey difficult to spot.
Term
Aposematic Coloration
Definition
The bright coloration of animals with effective physical or chemical defenses that acts as a warning to predators.
Term
Batesian Mimicry
Definition
A palatable or harmless species mimics an unpalatable or harmful model.
Term
Müllerian Mimicry
Definition
Two or more unpalatable species resemble each other.
Term
Herbivory
Definition
Refers to an interaction in which an herbivore eats parts of a plant or alga. (+/-)
Term
Parasitism
Definition
A symbiotic interaction in which one organism, the parasite, derives it nourishment from another organism, its host, which is harmed in the process. (+/-)
Term
Parasite
Definition
An organism that benefits by living in or on another organism at the expense of the host.
Term
Host
Definition
The larger participant in a symbiotic relationship, serving as home and feeding ground to the symbiont.
Term
Endoparasites
Definition
Parasites that live within the body of their host.
Term
Ectoparasites
Definition
Parasites that feed on the external surface of a host.
Term
Parasitoidism
Definition
Parasites (usually insects) that lay eggs on or in living hosts.
Term
Pathogens
Definition
Disease-causing agents similar to parasites. (+/-)
Term
Mutualism
Definition
An interspecific interaction that benefits both species (+/+); aka mutualistic symbiosis.
Term
Commensalism
Definition
An interspecific interaction that benefits one of the species but neither harms nor helps the other. (+/0)
Term
Coevolution
Definition
Reciprocal evolutionary adaptations of two interacting species.
Term
Species Diversity
Definition
The variety of different kinds of organisms that make up a community.
Term
Species Richness
Definition
The total number of different species in a community.
Term
Relative Abundance
Definition
The proportion each species represents of the total individuals in a community.
Term
Trophic Structure
Definition
The feeding relationships between organisms.
Term
Food Chain
Definition
The transfer of food energy up the trophic levels from its source in plants and other photosynthetic organisms through herbivores to carnivores and eventually to decomposers.
Term
Food Web
Definition
The elaborate, interconnected feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
Term
Energetic Hypothesis
Definition
A hypothesis that suggests the length of a food chain is limited by the inefficiency of energy transfer along the chain.
Term
Dynamic Stability Hypothesis
Definition
A hypothesis that proposes that long food chains are less stable than short chain due to population fluctuations.
Term
Dominant Species
Definition
Species in a community that are the most abundant or that collectively have the highest biomass.
Term
Biomass
Definition
The total mass of all individuals in a population.
Term
Invasive Species
Definition
Species, generally introduced by humans, that take hold outside their native range.
Term
Keystone Species
Definition
Species that exert strong control on a community structure not by numerical might but by their pivotal ecological roles (niches).
Term
Facilitators
Definition
Foundation species that have positive effects on the survival and reproduction of some of the other species in the community by altering the structure or dynamics of the environment.
Term
Bottom-up Model
Definition
A model of community organization in which mineral nutrients control community organization because nutrients control plant numbers, which in turn control herbivor numbers, which in turn control predator numbers.
Term
Top-down Model
Definition
A model of community organization in which predation controls community organization because predators control herbivores, which in turn control plants, which in turn control nutrient levles; aka trophic cascade model.
Term
Biomanipulation
Definition
A technique for restoring eutrophic lakes that reduces populations of algae by manipulating the higher-level consumers in the community rather than by changing nutrient levels or adding chemical treatments.
Term
Nonequilibrium Model
Definition
The model of communities that emphasize that they are not stable in time but constantly changing after being buffeted by disturbances.
Term
Disturbance
Definition
An event that changes a community, removes organisms from it, and alters resource availability.
Term
Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis
Definition
A hypothesis, supported by a broad range of studies of terrestrial and aquatic communities, suggests that moderate levels of disturbance can create conditions that foster greater species diversity than low or high levels of disturbances.
Term
Ecological Succession
Definition
A process by which a disturbed area is colonized by a variety of species, which are gradually replaced by other species, which are in turn replaced by still other species.
Term
Primary Succession
Definition
A type of ecological succession that occurs in a virtually lifeless area, where there were originally no organisms and where soil has not yet formed.
Term
Secondary Succession
Definition
A type of ecological succession that occurs when an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil intact.
Term
Evapotranspiration
Definition
The evaporation of water from soil plus the transpiration of water from plants.
Term
Actual Evapotranspiration
Definition
Determined by the amount of solar radiation, temperature and water availability; much higher in hot areas with abundant rainfall.
Term
Potential Evapotranspiration
Definition
A measure of energy availability but not water availability; determined by the amount of solar radiation and temperature; highest in regions of high solar radiation and temperature.
Term
Species-Area Curve
Definition
One of the first patterns of biodiversity to be recognized; illustrates that the larger the geographic area of a community, the greater the number of species.
Term
Integrated Hypothesis
Definition
Describes a community as an assemblage of closely linked species, locked into association by mandatory biotic interactions that cause the community to function as an integrated unit - in effect, as a superorganism.
Term
Individualistic Hypothesis
Definition
Depicts a plant community as a chance assemblage of species found in the same area simply because they happen to have similar abiotic requirements.
Term
Rivet Model
Definition
Suggests that most of the species in a community are associated tightly with particular other species in a web of life; thus, reducing or increasing the abundance of one species in a community affects many other species.
Term
Redundancy Model
Definition
Most of the species in a community are not tightly associated with each other and the web of life is very looze; an increase or decrease in one species in a community has little effect on other species, which operate independently.
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