Exam 16: Community Structure

In aquatic habitats, the upper zone of water where the availability of light supports photosynthesis by phytoplankton is called the ________ zone.

A type of indirect interaction in which a predator enhances the success of one or more inferior competitors by reducing the abundance of a superior competitor is called ________ predation.

Explain the differing roles of fundamental niches and species interactions in controlling community structure.

Identify at last three resources involved in competition among plants and explain how these resources may lead to zonation along a gradient.

Recent studies suggest that as species richness in a food web increases, the number of trophic links increases but the connectance decreases.

In its simplest form, apparent competition involves two predators and one prey species.

The structure of plant communities along environmental gradients can sometimes be explained by a trade-off between stress tolerance and ________ ability among the plant species.

Hubbell's unified neutral theory proposes that ________ drives community diversity.

The total number of species present within a community is called

A species that has a disproportionate impact on a community, relative to its abundance, is called a(n)________ species.

Which description is true for most communities?

Choose either of the two most common indices of community similarity (Sorenson's coefficient of similarity and percent similarity), and explain how it is calculated. For what purpose might such an index be used?

When populations at a given trophic level are controlled by populations in the trophic level above them, they are said to be under

The vertical structure of the plant community provides the physical framework in which many forms of animal life are adapted to live.

The organismic concept of communities views communities as clusters of species associating together as an interacting, integrated component.

A set of interconnected food chains with linkages representing a wide variety of species interactions is referred to as a food ________.

The view developed by H. A. Gleason that communities result from similarities in species' requirements and tolerances for environmental factors is referred to as the ________ concept of communities.

Draw a diagram of a simple food web with three trophic levels, and describe the difference between a food chain and a food web

A null model for the impact of species interactions on communities assumes that species interactions have strong influences on community structure.

Dominance is the converse or opposite of diversity.