Measuring Diversity
A measure of diversity that involves an area the size of campus.
What is alpha-diversity?
The observation that there are more species at the base of a mountain than at the top.
What is the elevational species gradient?
The idea that communities are assembled as a function of their traits (e.g., competitive abilities).
What is niche theory?
The increase in function that occurs because the addition of more species increases the probability of including a high-function species.
What is the sampling effect?
The transport of a non-native species to a novel landscape.
What is introduction?
The number of different species present at a location
What is species richness?
The observation that there are fewer species at the poles and more at the equator.
What is the latitudinal species gradient?
The predictable changes in community structure that occur over time and result in a climax community.
What is ecological succession?
When the presence of one species provides things that another needs to increase its function (e.g., productivity).
What is facilitation?
The three factors that govern successful invasion according to Catford et al. (2009).
What are propagule pressure, abiotic conditions, and biotic interactions?
A measure of rarity or dominance in a community.
What is species evenness?
The observation that temperature or potential evapotranspiration are positively correlated with species richness.
What is the species-energy relationship?
The idea that disturbance and dispersal are the dominant mechanisms structuring communities.
What is neutral theory?
The ability of more diverse communities to avoid changes in structure in the face of disturbance.
What is resistance?
Three things that make a species invasive.
What are ecological damage, economic damage, and threats to human health?
Changes in the structure of a community at two points in time.
What is beta diversity or species turnover?
The observation that S=cA^z
What is the Arrhenius curve or the Species-Area relationship?
The development of a community of organisms immediately following a disturbance.
What is community assembly?
The ability of communities to return to a pre-disturbance structure following some disturbance.
What is resilience?
The consequence to oceans of increasing Carbon (CO2) in the atmosphere.
What is ocean acidification?
The measure of differences in community structure that takes into account the relative abundance of species.
What is the Bray-Curtis Index?
The places on the planet where species diversity is much higher than most other locations/regions.
What are biodiversity hotspots?
True or false: Changes in communities over time are governed either by disturbance and dispersal, or by species traits, but not both.
False
The effect that changes in the relative abundance of highly competent disease reservoirs have on disease transmission.
What are diversity-disease effects?
Two scales of variation in atmospheric CO2 at the Mauna Loa Observatory.
What are seasonal fluctuations and annual increases?