Essential Idea:
Community structure is an
emergent property of an ecosystem
Understandings:
- The distribution of species is affected by limiting factors
- Community structure can be strongly affected by keystone species
- Each species plays a unique role within a community because of the unique combination of its spatial habitat and interactions with other species
- Interactions between species in a community can be classified according to their effect
- Two species cannot survive indefinitely in the same habitat if their niches are identical
Applications:
- Distribution of one animal and one plant species to illustrate limits of tolerance and zones of stress
- Local examples to illustrate the range of ways in which species can interact within a community
- The symbiotic relationship between Zooxanthellae and reef-building coral reef species
Skills:
- Analysis of a data set that illustrates the distinction between fundamental and realized niche
- Use of a transect to correlate the distribution of plant or animal species with an abiotic variable