13_Changes in communities_BI370

Succession

Change in an ecological community over time.

Abiotic factors of change

Waves, wind, water supply, chemicals/ nutrients, temperature, volcanic activity

Biotic factors of change

Negative interactions (predation, competition, etc)

Disturbance

Removes biomass or causes mortality (fire, floods, etc)

Stress

Reduces growth/ reproduction; may result in mortality (water, temperature, etc)

Primary succession

Colonization of habitat with no life (no soil)

Secondary succession

Reestablishment of a community (soil present)

Climax community

Stable endpoint of succession

Facilitation

Early species pave the way for later species by modifying the environment

Tolerance

Early species modify the environment in neutral ways; later species dominate

Inhibition

Early species modify the environment to inhibit later species.

Resilience

Resistance to being disturbed/ changed

Alternate stable states

An ecosystem shifts to a new state that is difficult to recover from.

Space-for-time experiments

Substitutes space for time to assess patterns

Scale of disturbance

The geographic extent and intensity of a disturbance.

Biotic disturbances

Predation, herbivory, trampling, etc.

Pioneer species

Species that colonize uninhabited areas

Biotic stress

Stressors such as competition, parasitism, disease

Intensity of disturbance

How much biomass is removed

Frequency of disturbance

How often biomass is removed