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Chapter 54
Biodiversity Spring 2026- Exam 4
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is a community? | An assemblage of populations of different species living in the same area |
| What is a niche? | The full range of biotic and abiotic resources a species uses |
| What is the fundamental niche? | The full potential range a species could occupy without competition |
| What is the realized niche? | The actual range a species occupies due to competition and interactions |
| What is competitive exclusion? | When two species cannot coexist if they compete for the exact same niche |
| What is resource partitioning? | Species divide resources to reduce competition and allow coexistence |
| What is mutualism? | Both species benefit |
| What is commensalism? | One benefits, the other is unaffected |
| What is parasitism? | One benefits, the other is harmed |
| What is ecological succession? | Gradual change in species composition over time |
| What is a climax community? | A stable end-stage community after succession |
| What is primary succession? | Occurs on newly exposed surfaces with no soil (e.g. lava, glaciers) |
| What is secondary succession? | Occurs after disturbance where soil remains (e.g. fire, flood) |
| What is facilitation? | Early species make the environment more suitable for later species |
| What is inhibition? | Early species prevent other species from establishing |
| What is tolerance? | Species neither help nor harm each other |
| What is species richness? | Number of species in a community |
| What is species evenness? | How evenly individuals are distributed among species |
| What is species diversity? | Combination of richness and evenness |
| What is biomass? | Total mass of living organisms in a given area |
| What does the intermediate disturbance hypothesis state? | Moderate levels of disturbance lead to the highest species diversity |
| Why do low disturbance levels reduce diversity? | Competitive exclusion dominates |
| Why do high disturbance levels reduce diversity? | Too many species are eliminated |
| What is a keystone species? | A species with a disproportionately large effect on its community |
| How do keystone predators affect diversity? | They prevent dominant species from excluding others, maintaining diversity |
| What is island biogeography? | Study of species richness on islands |
| What determines species number on an island? | Balance between immigration and extinction |
| Prediction #1 (Species-Area Effect)? | Larger islands have more species (lower extinction rates) |
| Prediction #2 (Distance Effect)? | Islands farther from mainland have fewer species (lower immigration) |
| How does species richness vary geographically? | Increases from poles to tropics |
| Why are tropical regions more diverse? | Older ecosystems Higher productivity Faster evolution/speciation |
| Why does competition shape communities? | Limited resources force species to adapt, exclude others, or partition resources |
| What ultimately determines community structure? | Interactions between species + environmental conditions + disturbance |
Created by:
KristenR2025