Community Ecology: Key Concepts, Experiments, and Applications

community

A group of interacting species that share a common environment.

species evenness

A measure of how similar the abundances of different species are in a community.

species richness

The number of different species represented in a community.

symbiosis

A close and often long-term interaction between two different biological species.

mutualism

A type of symbiosis where both species benefit from the interaction.

commensalism

A type of symbiosis where one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.

parasitism

A type of symbiosis where one species benefits at the expense of the other.

interspecific competition

Competition between different species for the same resources.

ecological niche

The role and position a species has in its environment.

fundamental niche vs realized niche

The fundamental niche is the potential mode of existence of a species, while the realized niche is the actual mode of existence.

habitat

The natural home or environment of an organism.

biotic factors

Living components of an ecosystem that affect the environment.

abiotic factors

Non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms.

resource partitioning

The division of resources among species to reduce competition.

character displacement

The phenomenon where differences among similar species are accentuated in regions where they coexist.

competitive exclusion

The principle that two species competing for the same resources cannot coexist.

predation

The act of one organism consuming another for food.

biological pest control

The use of natural predators or parasites to manage pest populations.

pioneer species

The first species to colonize previously disrupted or damaged ecosystems.

primary succession

The process of community development on a site that has never supported life before.

secondary succession

The process of community development on a site that has been disturbed but where soil and organisms still exist.

keystone species

A species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance.

endemic species

Species that are native to and found only within a specific geographic area.

exotic/invasive species

Species that are introduced to a new area and can disrupt the existing ecosystem.

exploitative competition

Lizards that eat flies they capture on the ground and birds that eat flies they catch in the air are engaged in exploitative competition.

endoparasite

A tick is a(n) endoparasite.

brood parasite

A brood parasite has another species rear its young.

herbivory

Herbivory benefits the herbivore.

area effect

The area effect greatly affects other species.

indicator species

Indicator species are species that are especially sensitive to changes in the environment.

exotic species

Exotic species often outcompete, displace native species of established community.

ecological principle

The ecological principle guiding the practice of using probiotic feed is that a large population of beneficial bacteria can prevent harmful bacteria from establishing.

flightless birds

Flightless island bird species are unlikely to regain the ability to fly due to the absence of selection pressure favoring flight after losing it.

biological controls

Community interactions that could slow or prevent an introduced biological control agent from becoming established include competition with native species and predation.

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