BIOB50H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Dynamic Equilibrium, Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, Robert Macarthur
Document Summary
Biofuels liquid or gas fuels made form plant material (ethanol and biodiesel) Fossil fuels are needed to produce the fertilizers and transport biofuels. Species diversity differs among communities due to variation in regional species pools abiotic conditions and species interactions. The distributions and abundances of organisms within communities are dependent on three interacting factors. Species supply is the (cid:862)first cut(cid:863) to community membership. Regions of high species richness tend to have communities of high species richness: due to the role of the regional species pool and more specifically the role of dispersal in supplying species to communities. Humans have great expanded the regional species pools of communities by serving as vectors of dispersal: ex. aquatic animals travel more distance due to ballast of ships, zebra muscles. Abiotic conditions play a strong role in limiting community membership. Species may be able to get to a community but fail to become a member of community: unable to tolerate the abiotic conditions.
