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| A form of interference competition in which individuals of one species release toxins that directly harm individuals of other species |
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| A process in which competition causes the forms of competing species to evolve to become more different over time, thereby causing species to become more different where they live together than where they live apart. |
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| An interaction between two species in which individuals of both species are harmed when both species use a resource that limits their ability to grow and reproduce. |
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| A constant used in the Lotka–Volterra competition model to describe the effect of one competing species on the other |
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| competitive exclusion principle |
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Definition
| The principle that two species that use a limiting resource in the same way cannot coexist indefinitely. |
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| An interaction in which species compete indirectly through their mutual effects on the availability of a shared resource. Compare interference competition. |
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| A species whose persistence depends on its being able to disperse from one place to another as environmental conditions change |
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| An interaction in which species compete directly by performing antagonistic actions that interfere with the ability of their competitors to use a resource that both require, such as food or space |
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| A feature of the environment that affects organism function and population growth rates but is not consumed or depleted |
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| An adaptive growth response of plants to herbivory in which removal of plant tissues stimulates the plant to produce new tissues |
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Definition
| In plant–herbivore interactions, a defense against herbivory, such as production of a secondary compound, that is stimulated by herbivore attack |
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| One of a wide variety of chemicals produced by plants and used in functions such as defense against herbivory, protection from harmful radiation, and soil nutrient cycling; secondary compounds are so-named because they are synthesized on side branches off of the primary metabolic pathways that produce the carbohydrates, amino acids, lipids, and other compounds common to all organisms. |
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| A term used to describe the diversity of important ecological entities that span multiple spatial scales, from genes to species to communities. |
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| A group of interacting species that occur together at the same place and time |
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| A view of species interactions as variable in strength and direction under different environmental conditions |
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| Interactions between two species, including traditional relationships such as competition, predation, and positive interactions. Compare indirect interactions |
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| A dominant species that influences its community by creating, modifying, or maintaining physical habitat for itself and other species |
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| A subset of the species in a community that function in similar ways, but do not necessarily use the same resources. |
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| A subset of the species in a community that use the same resources, whether or not they are taxonomically related. |
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| Non-trophic interactions, such as competition and some positive interactions, that occur within a trophic level. |
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| Interactions in which the relationship between two species is mediated by a third (or more) species |
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| A graph that plots the proportional abundance of each species in a community relative to the others in rank order, from most abundant to least abundant |
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| The index most commonly used to describe species diversity quantitatively. |
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| species accumulation curve |
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Definition
| A graph that plots species richness as a function of the total number of individuals that have accumulated with each additional sample |
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Definition
| A measure that combines both the number of species (species richness) in a community and their relative abundances compared with one another (species evenness). |
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| An interaction in which a consumer is indirectly facilitated by a positive interaction between its prey and another species |
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| A group of species in a community that obtain energy in similar ways, classified by the number of feeding steps by which the group is removed from auto-trophs, which are the first trophic level. |
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| alternative stable states |
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Definition
| Different community development scenarios that are possible at the same location under similar environmental conditions. |
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| The final stage of succession, viewed as a stable end point that experiences little change |
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| An abiotic event that kills or damages some organisms and thereby creates opportunities for other organisms to grow and reproduce |
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Definition
| An inability to shift back to the original community type, even when the original conditions are restored |
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| The change in species composition over time as a result of abiotic and biotic agents of change |
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| In a mutualism, an individual that increases its production of offspring by overexploiting its mutualistic partner |
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