Biology 3445F Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Biogeography, Species Richness, E.G. Time
Document Summary
Are perhaps most daunting and challenging (michel loreau) : scientific study of the mechanisms that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms. : the hierarchical level where the basic characteristics of life its diversity, complexity, and history. Most texts define an ecological community as: a collection of species coexisting together in space and time weak, too general and misleading, doesn"t explain details, ignores what species do. Ecological events among interacting species can differ, different species have different perceptions of time, species can affect others even if their time frames of existence are very different (e. g. trees and insect herbivores) How to define a community in real life: either ecosystem-based or taxonomically- based often both, picture: most community definitions vary on these characteristics depending on type of study and question of interest. Community-level processes are linked to other levels of ecology. The community depends on the question of interest.
