-
community
- group of populations of organisms in a given place
- members interact ecologically both directly and indirectly
- an ecological unit including groups of various sizes (numbers of species) and degree of integration
-
Clement's View
- communities = real
- organized systems of recurrent species
-
Gleason's View
- communities = not real
- haphazard assemblages of species with minimal integration
- byproduct of human desire to classify things
-
associations
- communities of plants with a definite floristic composition
- used in same way that zoologist uses "community"
- ex: Beech-Maple Association
-
stand
- concrete unit of vegetation observed in the field and making up part of an association
- concrete unit: spatially bounded patch; clear spatial boundaries
-
community parameters
- attributes of the group of co-occurring species
- 1. species diversity
- 2. growth form and function
- 3. dominance
- 4. relative abundance
- 5. trophic structure
|
|