Exam 3
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What is an ecological community?
A group of interacting species living in a particular area.
What is physical structure defined by?
Species composition, abundance, and spatial distribution.
What factors cause vertical stratification in terrestrial environments?
Light, Moisture, and Temperature
What factors cause vertical stratification in aquatic environments?
Light availability, temperature, and nutrient distribution.
What effect does vertical structure have on diversity?
It increases niche diversity and supports more species.
What are properties of zonation?
Changes in altitude, latitude, tidal level, or distance from shore.
What is species richness?
The number of species
What is species evenness?
Relative abundance of species.
What does a rank abundance curve show?
Species abundance distribution.
What is a keystone species?
Has an extremely disproportionate impact on community structure.
What is a dominant species?
The most abundant species, but not necessarily influential.
What is ecological succession?
Gradual, predictable changes in community composition.
What communities are associated with initial and final stages of succession?
Initial: Pioneer Species Final: Climax community
What is primary succession?
It starts on a new community.
What is secondary succession?
It starts from a disturbance (eg. forest fire)
What is the discrete succession process?
Discrete suggests distinct stages.
What is the continuum succession process?
Continuum envisions a gradient.
What are the three models used to explain successional changes?
Facilitation, Inhibition, and Tolerance models.
What is heterotrophic succession?
The process by which decomposers break down dead organic matter.
What is plant succession?
The process by which different plant species colonize and replace each other over time.
What is autogenic environmental change?
Changes cause by the community.
What is Allogenic environmental change?
External factors drive change.
How does species diversity change during succession?
Increases initially, stabilizes, may decrease with time.
What is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis?
Intermediate levels of disturbance are necessary to maintain high levels of species diversity in ecosystems.