BIO120H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Niche Differentiation, Interspecific Competition, Logistic Function
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BIO120H1 Full Course Notes
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Scope of community ecology: definition and properties of interest. Ecological community definition: all of the organisms or the biotic entities in some spatially defined locality. Most studies consider only a subset of the species in a local ecosystem. The subsets can be taxonomically defined or functionally defined. E. g. consider the bird community in arizona. Restrictions go further, down the guild level. Population ecology is concerned with abundance and age structure; community. Organisms share a guild if they have similar functional niches ecology is concerned with the number of species present -- species richness -- and the abundance of them. Usually comprise of many rare species (dominants) and a few common species. Distribution of the abundance and rarity determines the species diversity. E. g. one with 10 equally abundant birds is more diverse than one with 1 common and 9 rare birds. Ecologist consider primary productivity: how much plant growth occurs per area per time, or biochemical variable.
