BIOL 1070 Lecture 7: Bio Unit #7

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOL 1070
• Professor: Shoshanah Jacobs

Document Summary

Intermediate disturbance hypothesis: predicts that the highest species richness will occur at an intermediate level of intensity or frequency of natural disturbance. These species are optimally suited to high light conditions in which they can establish themselves and out-compete other shade tolerant species: large, infrequent, disturbances are often catastrophic and include disturbances such as. Oods, forest re, hurricanes and volcanic activity: a woodlot may be transformed by a severe re into an open eld dominated by herbs and grasses. A less severe re may transform a maple woodlot into one that is dominated by ash and popular seedlings: natural disturbances are very important in shaping landscapes and in uencing ecosystem processes. There is a host of organisms including insects, bacteria and fungi that literally keep the logs and branches from piling up on the woodlot oor. For example, here is some fungus on decaying log on the oor of the goose walk woods in the.