| A | B |
|---|
| community | an assemblage of species living close enough together for potential interaction |
| species richness | the number of species that a community contains |
| individualistic hypothesis | a community as a chance assemblage of species found in the same area because they happen to have similar abiotic requirements |
| interative hypothesis | a community as an assemblage of closely linked species locked in by mandatory biotic interactions |
| competitive exclusion principle | two species with similar needs for same limiting resources cannot coexist in the same place |
| ecological niche | the sum total of an organism’s use of abiotic/biotic resources in the environment |
| resource partitioning | the differentiation of niches that enables two similar species to coexist in a community |
| character displacement | the tendency for characteristics to be more divergent in sympatric populations of two species than in allopatric populations of the same two species |
| herbivory | animals eat plants |
| parasitism | live on/in a host causing harm to the host |
| predator adaptations | claws, teeth, fangs, poison, heat-sensing organs, speed, and agility |
| cryptic coloration | deceptive markings |
| aposematic coloration | warning colors sometimes associated with other defenses (toxins) |
| Batesian mimicry | a harmless species mimics a harmful one |
| Müllerian mimicry | two or more unpalatable species resemble each other |
| endoparasites | parasites that live inside the host |
| ectoparasites | parasites that live on the surface of the host |
| parasitoidism | a special type of parasitism where the parasite eventually kills the host |
| mutualism | two species that benefit from their interaction |
| commensalism | an interaction in which one species benefits from the interaction, and the other is not affected |
| coevolution | reciprocal evolutionary adaptations of two interacting species |
| food chain | the transfer of food energy from its source in photosynthetic organisms through herbivores and carnivores |
| dominant species | those in a community that have the highest abundance or highest biomass |
| biomass | the sum weight of all individuals in a population |
| keystone species | a species that has a regulating effect on other species in a community |
| bottom-up model of community structure | nutrients and vegetation control community organization |
| top-down model of community structure | predation controls community organization |
| community stability | the ability of a community to persist in the face of disturbance |
| ecological succession | the transition in species composition over ecological time |
| primary succession | succession in a lifeless area where soil has not yet formed |
| secondary succession | succession in an existing community has been cleared by some event, but the soil is left intact |
| species-area curve | the larger the geographic area, the greater the number of species |
