EEB321H1 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Species Richness, Complex System, Pisaster
4 May 2015
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Lecture 1: what is community ecology? (jan 5) Ecology: the interac1ons that determine the distribu1on and abundance of organisms. Community: group of organisms living in the same place and 1me. Community is grouped by geography. And guildes by resources. Communi1es are cohesive, integrated units akin in superorganisms. Groups of species are repeatedly found living together across space1me. Communi1es show high iner1a : diversity and abundances of species stays constant. Two views of ecological communi6es: the clementsian view, the gleasonian view: Community iner1a: we want to know how coherent ecological communi1es are, we need ways to compare communi1es. Communi1es are merely collec1ons of popula1ons and every species is a law unto itself . Ex. wood rat: middens accumulate small mammal bones which are used to infer species diversity and abundance going back a millennia. Clementsian view: four sites compared at di erent 1mes show a posi1ve correla1on- suggests communi1es are constant. Ex. eastern vegeta1on: paleoecological evidence favoring the gleasonian view.
