BIOL 1082 Lecture 33: 4/11 Learning Outcomes
Document Summary
Community ecology ii (reading: concepts: 54. 3-54. 5 in textbook: discuss the current views of scientists on community stability, equilibrium, and climax. ** stability in this context refers to a community"s tendency to reach and maintain a relatively constant composition of species** Decades ago, most ecologists favored the traditional view that biological communities are at equilibrium unless seriously disturbed by human activities. The balance of nature view focused on interspecific competition as a key factor determining community composition and maintaining stability in communities. Clements argued in the early 1900s that the community of plants at a site had only one stable equilibrium, a climax community controlled solely by climate. According to clements, biotic interactions caused the species in the community to function as an integrated unit- in effect, as a superorganism. A. g. tansley challenged the concept of a climax community, arguing that differences in soils, topography, and other factors created many potential communities that were stable within a region.
