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Related Concept Videos

Competition02:34

Competition

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When organisms require the same limited resources within an environment, they may have to compete for them. Competition is a net-negative interaction. Even if two competing individuals or populations do not interact directly, the overall fitness of both competitors is lowered as a result of not having full access to the limited resource.
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Ecological Niches02:02

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All organisms have a position within an ecosystem. The complete set of living and nonliving factors—including food resources, climate, and terrain—that define the position of a given organism are collectively referred to as the organism’s ecological niche.
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Frequency-dependent Selection01:21

Frequency-dependent Selection

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When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.
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Ecological Disturbance02:26

Ecological Disturbance

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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.
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Speciation Rates01:07

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Overview
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Types of Selection01:46

Types of Selection

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Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
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Periodic temporal environmental variations induce coexistence in resource competition models.

Tom Burkart1, Jan Willeke1, Erwin Frey1,2

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Periodic environmental changes can significantly impact ecosystem biodiversity. When environmental changes occur faster than species growth, biodiversity is maintained, potentially explaining natural species richness.

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Population Dynamics
  • Microbial Ecology

Background:

  • Natural ecosystems host numerous species, with population sizes influenced by interspecies interactions and environmental fluctuations.
  • Resource availability and environmental changes are key factors affecting species composition and biodiversity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how periodic temporal environmental variations influence ecosystem composition and biodiversity using a generic population dynamics model.
  • To determine the conditions under which environmental variability affects species coexistence and ecosystem stability.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a generic population dynamics model to simulate species interactions under varying environmental conditions.
  • Employed timescale separation to analyze long-term population dynamics and predict ecosystem behavior.
  • Extended Tilman's R* rule to periodically varying environments.

Main Results:

  • Timescale separation enables qualitative prediction of population dynamics in fluctuating environments.
  • Tilman's R* rule can be extended to periodic environments when environmental changes are faster than population growth.
  • When environmental and population growth timescales are similar, varying environments prevent steady states, promoting species coexistence.

Conclusions:

  • Natural environmental variations can be a significant driver of biodiversity.
  • The interplay between environmental change frequency and population growth rates dictates ecosystem stability and species coexistence.
  • Understanding these dynamics is crucial for predicting ecosystem responses to environmental fluctuations.