BIOL 1902 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Keystone Species, Species Richness
19 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
An association of interacting species inhibiting a defined area. Communities can be defined by groups or functional groups. The main goal is to understand how abiotic factors and species interactions influence the characteristics of a community. Happens when 2 species overlap in needing one resource. Usually parasites don"t kill their hosts unlike its other similar counterpart. The parasite uses the host for its own purposes so it changes the behavior of the host to suit its own needs. Species that are not very abundant but have a large impact in the ecosystem. Dominant species are very common with a large impact in the community. When a keystone species population decreases, even though they aren"t very abundant, creates a snowball affect where certain species populations will dramatically increase or dramatically decrease. A dramatic fluctuation of these population increases the risk of diseases being introduced to the ecosystem. The nymph stage of ticks is the most susceptible stage to gather lyme disease.
