Chapter 54: Community Ecology

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to community ecology as discussed in Chapter 54.

Community

A group of populations of different species living in close enough proximity to interact.

Intraspecific Competition

Competition between individuals of the same species for limited resources.

Interspecific Competition

Competition between individuals of different species for the same limited resource.

Competitive Exclusion Principle

Two species competing for the same limiting resource cannot coexist indefinitely.

Ecological Niche

The specific set of biotic and abiotic resources that an organism uses in its environment.

Fundamental Niche

The niche potentially occupied by a species.

Realized Niche

The portion of the fundamental niche that a species actually occupies.

Character Displacement

When two species that compete for the same resources develop different traits to reduce competition.

Exploitation

A type of interaction where one organism benefits while harming the other.

Predation

An interaction where one organism (predator) hunts and eats another (prey).

Herbivory

An exploitative interaction in which an herbivore eats parts of a plant or alga, harming it but usually not killing it.

Mutualism

A type of symbiotic interaction where both species benefit.

Parasitism

A type of symbiotic interaction where one organism benefits while the other is harmed.

Commensalism

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

Foundation Species

A dominant, habitat-forming organism that shapes ecosystems and supports many other species.

Keystone Species

A species that has a disproportionately large impact on its ecosystem relative to its abundance.

Disturbance

An event that disrupts a community by removing organisms or altering resource availability.

Ecological Succession

The change in species that occupy an area after a disturbance.

Primary Succession

Succession occurring in an area where no soil is present.

Secondary Succession

Succession occurring in an area where soil remains after a disturbance.

Zoonotic Pathogen

A disease-causing organism that can be transmitted from animals to humans.

Vector

An organism that transmits a pathogen from one host to another.

Species Richness

The number of different species in a community.

Relative Abundance

The proportion of each species that represents all individuals in the community.

Species-Area Curve

A graph showing that larger areas tend to contain more species.

Island Equilibrium Model

A model stating that the number of species on an island reaches a stable balance where immigration rates equal extinction rates.