front 1 What does community structure refer to? (3) | back 1 the composition of species in a community, the relative abundance of each species, and the relationships among the species |
front 2 What is an ecotone? | back 2 boundaries made by sharp changes in environmental conditions and species composition over a relatively short distance |
front 3 Explain why species richness is often higher at an ecotone than not at an ecotone. | back 3 Some species can move between environments created by ecotones while others can specially adapt to the ecotone environment. Species from neighbouring communities can also sometimes bleed into the ecotone. |
front 4 What makes a community interdependent? | back 4 species within the community depend on each other to exist |
front 5 What makes a community independent? | back 5 species in the community do not depend on each other to exist |
front 6 What is species richness? | back 6 The number of species in a community |
front 7 How is relative abundance different from regular abundance? | back 7 Abundance can be explained in absolute terms, but relative abundance is specifically the proportion of individuals in a community represented by each species |
front 8 How do rank abundance curves plot species abundance? | back 8 They plot the relative abundance of each species in a community in rank order from the most to least abundant species |
front 9 What is species evenness? | back 9 A comparison of the relative abundance of each species in a community. |