Ecology Concepts: Species Abundance and Diversity

Vocabulary flashcards related to species abundance and diversity in ecology, including key terms and their definitions.

Eusocial

A term used to describe species that live in large groups, with a division of labor and cooperative brood care, primarily seen in insects.

Sexual selection

A natural process where certain traits become more or less common in a population due to the preferences of one sex for certain characteristics in individuals of the other sex.

Community structure

The organization of a biological community, including aspects such as species richness, abundance, and evenness.

Guild

A group of species that exploit the same resource or function in similar ways within an ecological community.

Species abundance

The number of individuals of a particular species in a defined area.

Species diversity

A measure of the variety of species within a given ecological community, often characterized by species richness and evenness.

Lognormal distribution

A frequency distribution where data sets with a wide range of values are spread in a bell-shaped curve, indicating most species are found at intermediate abundances.

Shannon-Wiener Index (H’)

A quantitative measure of species diversity that accounts for both abundance and evenness of the species present in a community.

Ordination techniques

Statistical methods used to explore and visualize differences in community structure and species composition.

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

A theory proposing that moderate levels of disturbance in an environment can foster greater species diversity than either high or low disturbance.

Disturbance

An event that disrupts ecosystem, community, or population structure, thereby altering resource availability and the physical environment.

Environmental complexity

The variety of structures and habitats present in an ecosystem, often leading to increased species diversity.

Coexistence

A situation where multiple species share the same habitat without exclusive competition, often facilitated by niche differentiation.

Niche partitioning

The process by which competing species use the environment differently in a way that helps them to coexist.

Species-area curve

A model that describes the relationship between the area of a habitat and the number of species that it can support.

Evenness

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

Competitive exclusion

The principle stating that two species competing for the same resources cannot coexist at constant population values.