Community Ecology

Chapter 7
The flying fox
 Keystone species in tropical rainforest
 Pollinates plants while drinking nectar
 Spreads seed of fruit eaten
 Mutualistic relationship with durian fruit
 Help regenerate open areas through
seed dispersal (80-90% new seed)
 Decline in numbers from deforestation
and hunting
Dispersal of diversity
 Groups are arranged either in clumps
(most common), uniformly, or randomly

 Edge effects are ecotones where

different species may live. Usually
different microclimate than adjoining
areas
Largest Biodiversity
 Tropical rainforest
 Coral reefs
 Deep sea
 Tropical lakes
 Also considered species rich
 Tropical
dry habitats
 Temperate shrublands (chaparral)
Biodiversity continued
 Most diversity near equator
 Higher availability of resources
 Less evolutionary time
 High diversity leads to higher diversity
 More pressure from disease and parasites
 Speciation higher than background
extinction
Diversity in marine systems
 Higher diversity near 2000 meters and
on bottom
 More stable away from surface
 Lack of nutrients below 2000m
 Abundant nutrient on bottom and variation
of habitats

 Pollution
lowers diversity (never would
have guessed that)
Diversity on Islands
 The bigger the more diverse

 The farther from mainland the less

diverse
Nonnative species
 Also called alien, exotic and introduced
 Generally have no natural predators so
population goes unchecked, seriously
damaging the ecosystem
 Often introduced by accident
 Cargo from foreign areas
 Pets and house plants that “escape”
 “Natural” migration due to climate changes
Prime players
 Indicator species – serves as an early
warning that an ecosystem is declining
 Birds – low birth rates, thin shells, birth defects
 Keystone species – a species that contributes
greatly to an ecosystem even though they
may not dominate in numbers
 Seed dispersal/pollination (birds)
 Habitat modification (beaver)
 Efficient recycling of matter
Species interaction
 Intraspecific competition – competing
with your own species

 Interspecific competition – competing

with another species

 Compete over food, shelter, space,

breeding, etc.
Dibs, I saw it first!
 Interference competition – when two or
more species try to limit access to a
resource (some humming birds defend
particular trees)
 Exploitation competition – when one
group uses a resource faster than
another (can lead to competitive
exclusion principle (one dies out))
How to avoid competition
 Resource partitioning – using a limited
resource at different times, in different
places or different ways

 Think about how similar all birds are,

but through evolution have developed
different feeding patterns (beaks)
 Brown pelican dives for fish, Herring gull is a
Black skimmer which it locates from the air tireless scarialavenger
seizes small fish Dowitcher probes deeply
at water surface Avocet sweeps bill through into mud in search of
Scaup and other mud and surface water in snails, marine worms, Ruddy turnstone searches
diving ducks feed on search of small crustaceans, and small crustaceans under shells and pebbles
mollusks, crustaceans, insects, and seeds for small invertebrates
and aquatic vegetation

Flamingo
feeds on Oystercatcher feeds on Knot (a sandpiper) Piping plover feeds
minute clams, mussels, and picks up worms and on insects and tiny
organisms Louisiana heron wades into other shellfish into which small crustaceans left crustaceans on
in mud water to seize small fish it pries its narrow beak by receding tide sandy beaches

Fig. 8.9, p. 182

Predator-Prey relationship
 Needed to keep gene pool strong
 Slow, sick, less agile, etc. “weak” are
more easily caught, and are therefore
removed from the gene pool. This
strengthens the remaining population
Symbiotic interactions
 3 types of symbiosis – parasitism, mutualism,
and commensalism

 Parasitism – one species (parasite) feeds on

another organism (host) by living in or on the
host.
 Parasites help promote biodiversity by
controlling population size (eliminates the
weak)
Mutualism
 Two organisms (different species)
interact and both benefit from the
relationship

 Examples
 Clownfish/Anemones
 Tickbird/Rhinoceros
 Protozoan/Termites
Fig. 8.13, p. 187
Commensalism
 Two species interact, one benefits and
the other is unaffected.

 Some trees have mosses or epiphytes

growing on them
Fig. 8.14, p. 187
Succession
 Primary succession – takes place on new
rock or lifeless ground

 Mosses/lichen begin to turn rock to soil

 Small fast growing plants take root (weeds)
 Larger plants grow in the nutrient enhanced
soil
 Trees immigrate in from birds
 Mature ecosystem (forest) climax community
Secondary succession
 Same as primary except in an area that
once had life, but was ruined during a
catastrophe (fire, flood, farming, etc.)
Early Successional Midsuccessional Late Successional Wilderness
Species Species Species Species

Rabbit Elk Turkey Grizzly bear

Quail Moose Martin Wolf
Ringneck pheasant Deer Hammond’s Caribou
Dove Ruffled grouse Flycatcher Bighorn sheep
Bobolink Snowshoe hare Gray squirrel California condor
Pocket gopher Bluebird Great horned owl

Ecological succession

Fig. 8.17, p. 190

Sustainability
 What maintains an ecosystem
 Inertia or persistence – ability of a
system to resist disturbances
 Constancy – keep population level
stable
 Resilience – ability to bounce back from
a disturbance
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