Ecology and Community Dynamics Flashcards

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers key concepts from the lecture on ecosystem dynamics, species interactions, succession, and biogeography.

Ecosystem

A combination of living things, non-living things, and the environment.

Communities

Groups of interacting individuals that occur together at the same time and place.

Population

Individuals of the same species living and interacting together in the same place.

Guild

A group of species that use the same resources; for example, hummingbirds, bees, and bats in a pollinator guild.

Direct effects

Species interactions involving consumption or competition.

Indirect effects

Occurs when one species affects another species through a 3rd party, such as through habitat modification, indirect mutualism, or apparent competition.

Trophic Cascade

A process where a top predator limits the density of a consumer, which benefits another species on a lower trophic level.

Net effects

The final result of all direct and indirect effects acting simultaneously, usually calculated to determine if a species overall impact is positive, negative, or neutral.

Chronosequence

A series of ecological sites or soils that differ in age since a disturbance but share similar environmental conditions, often used for space-for-time substitution.

Succession

The change in species composition of a community over time, which can be caused by abiotic or biotic factors.

Primary succession

Ecological succession that occurs after a large scale wipe out.

Secondary succession

The re-establishment of communities in which most but not all individuals have been destroyed.

Biogeography

The study of spatial patterns of biological diversity.

Vicariance

The geographical separation of a population by a physical barrier like mountain formation, river changes, or continental drift, leading to speciation.

Wallace's line

A geographical boundary explaining why the Philippines and New Guinea have more dissimilar faunas than expected based on their distance.

Species-area relationship (SAR)

The principle that the number of species increases as the area increases, expressed by the power-law relationship $S = CA^z$.

Production efficiency

A measure of how effectively an organism or trophic level converts energy into biomass.

Ecosystem services

The benefits provided to humans by nature, representing a perspective for why biodiversity should be conserved.