ESCI 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Pelagic Zone, Autotroph, Food Chain
12 Sep 2018
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Document Summary
Community is an assemblage of species living close enough together for potential interaction. Diversity of community is variety of different kinds of organisms that make up the community. Species richness: total number of different species in the community. Relative abundance of the different species, how many individual species they are. Types and structural features of plants in a community largely determine kind of animals that live there. Species" ecological niche is sum total of a species" use of biotic and abiotic resources in its environment. Two species cannot coexist in a community if their niches are identical. When organisms eat other organisms, predator as consumer and food species as prey. Includes herbivory which is the consumption of plants by animals. Adaptations like claws, teeth, fangs, stingers, or poison to help catch and subdue prey. Plants have various types of defenses against herbivores. Passive defense that makes potential prey difficult to spot against its background.
