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Related Concept Videos

Ecological Disturbance02:26

Ecological Disturbance

An ecological disturbance is a temporary disruption in the environment resulting from abiotic, biotic, or anthropogenic factors, causing a pronounced change in an ecosystem. The impact of an ecological disturbance, which can depend on its intensity, frequency, and spatial distribution, plays a significant role in shaping the species diversity within the ecosystem.Ecological disturbances can be caused by an event as small as the trampling of underbrush to an incident as wide-ranging as a forest...
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Measures of species biodiversity, such as richness (i.e., the number of species present) and evenness (i.e., their relative abundance), describe an ecological community’s structure. Many factors affect community structure, including abiotic factors (e.g., sunlight and nutrients), disturbances (e.g., fire or flood), species interactions (e.g., predation or competition), and chance events (e.g., foreign species invasion). Certain species—such as keystone species—also play a pivotal role in the...
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Biodiversity describes the variety of living things at multiple organizational levels: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. Species diversity includes all branches of the evolutionary tree from single-celled prokaryotic organisms, bacteria, and archaea, to the eukaryotic kingdoms: plants; animals; fungi; and protists. To date, there have been about 1.75 million species identified, and new species are discovered every week.
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There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...
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Organisms that are well-adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. However, natural selection does not lead to perfectly adapted organisms. Several factors constrain natural selection.For one, natural selection can only act upon existing genetic variation. Hypothetically, redtusks may enhance elephant survival by deterring ivory-seeking poachers. However, if there are no gene variants—or alleles—for redtusks, natural selection cannot increase the prevalence of...
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Loss of functionally unique species may gradually undermine ecosystems.

Eoin J O'Gorman1, Jon M Yearsley, Tasman P Crowe

  • 1School of Biology and Environmental Science, Science Centre West, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. eoin.ogorman@ucd.ie

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|November 26, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Highly unique species in ecosystems tend to have weaker interactions, contributing to stability. Losing these species may destabilize ecosystems, leading to unpredictable changes in functioning.

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Ecosystem Dynamics
  • Food Web Analysis

Background:

  • Functionally unique species enhance ecosystem functioning and diversity.
  • Abundant, weakly interacting species contribute to ecosystem stability.
  • The relationship between species uniqueness and interaction strength is crucial for ecosystem stability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the link between functional uniqueness of species and their interaction strength in food webs.
  • To determine how this relationship influences ecosystem functioning and stability.
  • To assess the impact of losing unique, weakly interacting species on ecosystem dynamics.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of 213 real-world food webs.
  • Quantification of species' functional uniqueness and mean interaction strength.
  • Examination of the influence of body size, trophic position, and food web resolution.

Main Results:

  • Highly unique species consistently exhibit the weakest mean interaction strength per unit biomass.
  • This pattern is influenced by size structuring in aquatic systems and trophic position.
  • Food web resolution significantly affects the observed relationship, with coarser resolutions weakening it.
  • Food webs with fewer unique, weakly interacting species show greater variability in primary production.

Conclusions:

  • A strong link exists between species' functional uniqueness and weak interaction strength.
  • The loss of highly unique, weakly interacting species can lead to ecosystem destabilization.
  • Such losses may result in unpredictable state changes and altered ecosystem functioning.