Bio. Communities (Ch.46)

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habitat

Back 1

place where an organism or species lives; described by physical and chemical features and array of species

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community

Back 2

all populations of all species in a habitat

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niche

Back 3

a species unique ecological role; it is described in terms of the conditions, resources and interactions necessary for survival and reproduction

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commensalism

Back 4

an interspecific interaction in which one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed

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mutualism

Back 5

an interspecific interaction that benefits both participants

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interspecific competition

Back 6

interaction in which the individuals of different species compete for a limited resource; suppresses population size of both species

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parasitism

Back 7

interaction in which a parasitic species benefits as it exploits and harms (but usually does not kill) the host

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predation

Back 8

ecological interaction in which a predator kills and eats prey

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symbiosis

Back 9

ecological interaction in which members of two species live together or otherwise interact closely; (ex. mutualism, parasitism, commensalism)

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coevolution

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the joint evolution of two closely interacting species; each species is a selective agent that shifts the range of variation in the other

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competitive exclusion

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when two species require the same limited resource o survive or reproduce, the better competition will drive the less competitive one to extinction in the shared habitat

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character displacement

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modifications of a trait of ones species in a way that lowers intensity of competition with another species; occurs over generations

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resource partitioning

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use of different parts of a resource; permits two or more similar species to coexist in a habitat

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predators

Back 14

a heterotroph that eats other living organisms

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prey

Back 15

an organism that a predator kills and eats

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warning coloration

Back 16

in many toxic species and their mimics, bright colors, patterns, and other signals that predators learn to recognize and avoid

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camouflage

Back 17

body coloration, patterning, form, or behavior that helps predators or prey blend with the surroundings and possibly escape detection

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mimicry

Back 18

evolutionary convergence of body form; a close resemblance between species. A defenseless species may look like a well-defended one, or several well-defended species may all look alike.

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parasites

Back 19

an organism that obtains some or all the nutrients it needs from a living host, which it usually does not kill out right.

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vector

Back 20

an insect or some other animal that carries a pathogen between hosts; (ex. mosquito that transmits malaria)

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parasitoids

Back 21

a type of insect that, in a larval stage, grows inside a host (usually another insect), feeds on its tissues, and kills it

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social parasites

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an animal that takes advantage of its hosts' behavior, thus harming it (ex. cuckoo)

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primary succession

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a community arises and species arrive and replace one another over time in an environment that was without soil, such as a newly formed island.

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secondary succession

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a community arises and changes over time in a habitat where another community existed previously

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pioneer species

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an opportunistic colonizer of barren or disturbed habitats. adapted for growth and disperal

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intermediate disturbance hypothesis

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an explanation of community structure; holds that species richness is greatest in habitats where disturbances are moderate in intensity, frequency or both

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keystone species

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a species that has a disproportionately a large effect on community structure, relative to its own abundance.

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exotic species

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a species that has become established in a new community after dispersing from its home range

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equilibrium model of island biogeography

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a model describing the number of species expected to inhibit a habitat island of a particular size and distance from mainland as source of colonists.

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area effect

Back 30

biogeographical pattern; larger islands support more species than smaller ones at equivalent distances from sources of colonizing species

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distance effect

Back 31

a biogeographic pattern. islands distant from a mainland have fewer species than those closer to the potential source of colonists