BIOL 1020U Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Garrett Hardin, Competitive Exclusion Principle, Ecological Niche
Document Summary
A biological community consists of interacting species, usually living within a defined area. A community lies between spatial scales of a biome and a population. Studies how groups of species interact and form functional communities. Species distribute according to tolerance ranges due to genetic, physiological, and lifecycle characteristics and interactions with other species. With sharp changes in biotic or abiotic environment, community compositions may change abruptly; areas where distinct communities meet is an ecotone. Often find a broad overlap of species population among environmental gradients; communities grade into each other continuously rather than forming distinct groups, making definition of communities fuzzy. Distinctive lifestyle and role of an organism in a community. Takes into account all abiotic and biotic aspects. Potential ecological niche for an organism, in absence of competing species and predators. Almost always a smaller subset of possibilities than the fundamental niche. Two or more individuals attempting to use the same resource, including space.
