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Community Ecology
• A biological community
– Is an assemblage of populations of various
species living close enough for potential
interaction
Figure 53.1
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• Concept 53.1: A community’s interactions
include competition, predation, herbivory,
symbiosis, and disease
• Populations are linked by interspecific
interactions
– That affect the survival and reproduction of the
species engaged in the interaction
Table 53.1
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Competition
• Interspecific competition
– Occurs when species compete for a particular
resource that is in short supply
Chthamalus
fundamental niche
Balanus
realized niche
Ocean Ocean
Low tide Low tide
A. ricordii
A. insolitus
A. distichus perches
on fence posts and A. alinigar A. christophei
other sunny
A. distichus
surfaces.
A. cybotes
A. etheridgei
Figure 53.3
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Character Displacement
• In character displacement
– There is a tendency for characteristics to be more
divergent in sympatric populations of two species
than in allopatric populations of the same two G. fortis
species G. fuliginosa
Beak
depth
Los Hermanos
40
G. fuliginosa,
20
allopatric
0
Daphne
40
20 G. fortis, allopatric
0
8 10 12 14 16
Beak depth (mm)
Figure 53.4
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Predation
• Predation refers to an interaction
– Where one species, the predator, kills and eats
the other, the prey
Figure 53.5
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• Aposematic coloration
– Warns predators to stay away from prey
Figure 53.6
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• In some cases, one prey species
– May gain significant protection by mimicking
the appearance of another
Figure 53.8a, b
(b) Yellow jacket
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Herbivory
• Herbivory, the process in which an herbivore
eats parts of a plant
– Has led to the evolution of plant mechanical
and chemical defenses and consequent
adaptations by herbivores
Figure 53.9
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Commensalism
• In commensalism
– One species benefits and the other is not
affected
Figure 53.10
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• Commensal interactions have been difficult to
document in nature
– Because any close association between
species likely affects both species
• Relative abundance
– Is the proportion each species represents of
the total individuals in the community
Community 1
A: 25% B: 25% C: 25% D: 25%
Community 2
Figure 53.11 A: 80% B: 5% C: 5% D: 10%
producers to top
Tertiary
consumers
Secondary
consumers
Carnivore Carnivore
Primary
consumers
Herbivore Zooplankton
Primary
producers
Plant Phytoplankton
Figure 53.12 A terrestrial food chain A marine food chain
– Is a branching
food chain with Baleen
whales
Smaller toothed
whales
Sperm
whales
complex
trophic Crab-eater seals
Leopard
seals
Elephant
seals
interactions
Birds Fishes Squids
Carnivorous
plankton
Euphausids Copepods
(krill)
Phyto-
plankton
Figure 53.13
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• Food webs can be simplified
– By isolating a portion of a community that
interacts very little with the rest of the
community
Fish larvae
6 6
No. of species
5 5
4 links 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
0 0
High Medium Low
(control)
Productivity
Figure 53.15
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Species with a Large Impact
• Certain species have an especially large
impact on the structure of entire communities
– Either because they are highly abundant or
because they play a pivotal role in community
dynamics
Number of species
15
present
10 Without Pisaster (experimental)
0
1963 ´64 ´65 ´66 ´67 ´68 ´69 ´70 ´71 ´72 ´73
(a) The sea star Pisaster ochraceous feeds (b) When Pisaster was removed from an intertidal zone,
preferentially on mussels but will mussels eventually took over the rock face and eliminated
consume other invertebrates. most other invertebrates and algae. In a control area from
which Pisaster was not removed, there was little change
Figure 53.16a,b in species diversity.
80
(% max. count)
Otter number
effect the
60
40
otters have
20
0
(a) Sea otter abundance
on ocean 400
communities 300
Grams per
0.25 m2
200
100
0
(b) Sea urchin biomass
10
8
Number per
6
0.25 m2
4
2
0
1972 1985 1989 1993 1997
Year
Food chain before (c) Total kelp density Food chain after killer
Figure 53.17 killer whale involve- whales started preying
ment in chain on otters
Figure 53.18
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• Some foundation species act as facilitators
– That have positive effects on the survival and
reproduction of some of the other species in the
community
8
0
With Without
Juncus Juncus
Salt marsh with Juncus
(foreground) Conditions
Figure 53.19
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Bottom-Up and Top-Down Controls
• The bottom-up model of community
organization
– Proposes a unidirectional influence from lower
to higher trophic levels
75
herbaceous plant cover
Percentage of
50
25
0
0 100 200 300 400
Figure 53.21a–c (a) Before a controlled burn. (b) During the burn. The detritus (c) After the burn. Approximately one
A prairie that has not burned for serves as fuel for fires. month after the controlled burn,
several years has a high propor- virtually all of the biomass in this
tion of detritus (dead grass). prairie is living.
(a) Soon after fire. As this photo taken soon after the fire shows, (b) One year after fire. This photo of the same general area taken the
the burn left a patchy landscape. Note the unburned trees in the following year indicates how rapidly the community began to
distance. recover. A variety of herbaceous plants, different from those in the
former forest, cover the ground.
Figure 53.22a, b
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Human Disturbance
• Humans
– Are the most widespread agents of
disturbance
• Secondary succession
– Begins in an area where soil remains after a
disturbance
Ri
l.
gg
Alaska
G
Pacific Gl. 0 5 10
sG
ide
ui
r
l.
Br
G
Mc
l.
1940 1912 1948 Miles
Pl
l.
a
1941
tG
1899
te
au
en
G
em
1931
l.
1907 1879 1948 1911
s
Ca
1900
1879 1879 1892 1913
1935 1949
1860
Reid Gl.
1879
Johns Hopkins
Gl. Glacier
Bay
1830
1780
1760
Pleasant Is.
60
50
Soil nitrogen (g/m2)
40
30
20
10
0
Pioneer Dryas Alder Spruce
Successional stage
(c) Spruce stage
160 200
Tree species richness
140
Vertebrate species
100
120
(log scale)
richness
100
50
80
60
40
20
10
0 1
500 1,000 1,500 2,000
100 300 500 700 900 1,100
Actual evapotranspiration (mm/yr) Potential evapotranspiration (mm/yr)
(a) Trees (b) Vertebrates
Figure 53.25a, b
100
10
1
1 10 100 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 1010
Area (acres)
Figure 53.26
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Island Equilibrium Model
• Species richness on islands
– Depends on island size, distance from the
mainland, immigration, and extinction
d)
n
Im
sla tion
io
Im
an
Im
m
(n
ct
Rate of immigration or extinction
)
c
ig
isl
m
n
nd
ea
tin
(la
(fa xtin
ig
io
ra
ig
r
rg
Ex
ct
ra
tio
al l
ra
isl
E
e
tin
tio
tio
Im
n
ri
m
nd on
an
is
Ex
(s
n
n
i
la
d
ct
(fa ig
)
nd
)
tin
ri ra
ti n
Ex
)
sl io
la
an on ct )
is
I m d) it n land
(s
e
m
E x r is
rg
ig
al
(la
ra ea
l
t io
is
(n
n
la
nd
)
Equilibrium number Small island Large island Far island Near island
(a) Immigration and extinction rates. The (b) Effect of island size. Large islands may (c) Effect of distance from mainland.
equilibrium number of species on an ultimately have a larger equilibrium num- Near islands tend to have larger
island represents a balance between the ber of species than small islands because equilibrium numbers of species than
immigration of new species and the immigration rates tend to be higher and far islands because immigration rates
extinction of species already there. extinction rates lower on large islands. to near islands are higher and extinction
rates lower.
Figure 53.27a–c
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• Studies of species richness on the Galápagos Islands
RESULTS
400
200
Number of plant species (log scale)
100
50
25
10
0
0.1 1 10 100 1,000
Area of island (mi2)
(log scale)
individual
species
Environmental gradient
(such as temperature or moisture)
individual
species
Environmental gradient
(such as temperature or moisture)
(b) Individualistic hypothesis. Species are independently
distributed along gradients and a community is simply the
assemblage of species that occupy the same area because of
Figure 53.29b similar abiotic needs.
600
per hectare
Number of
plants
400
200
0
Wet Moisture gradient Dry
(c) Trees in the Santa Catalina Mountains. The distribution of tree species at one
elevation in the Santa Catalina Mountains of Arizona supports the individualistic
hypothesis. Each tree species has an independent distribution along the gradient,
apparently conforming to its tolerance for moisture, and the species that live
together at any point along the gradient have similar physical requirements.
Because the vegetation changes continuously along the gradient, it is impossible to
Figure 53.29c delimit sharp boundaries for the communities.