Concepts

A measure of community diversity that accounts for both species richness and relative abundance, calculated using the Shannon-Weiner index

The concept that co-occurring species occupy distinct positions in multidimensional nutrient space to minimize competition and facilitate coexistence

The positive relationship between species richness and the surveyed area, described by the power-law S=cA^z where c is the intercept and z measures the rate of community turnover

Fungal symbionts that form specialized structures (arbuscules, vesicles) within plant root cells and are important for nutrient exchange

A species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance and whose presence/absence significantly affects ecosystem structure and function

The modification of environments by organisms in ways that influence resource availability for other species, exemplified by beaver dam construction creating pond habitats.

The identity and relative abundance of species within an ecological community

Alpine plants growing in clumps with multiple species interacting in close proximity, affecting microhabitats and species interactions

A group of fungal endophytes characterized by dark-pigmented, septate hyphae that commonly colonize plant roots and can increase under environmental stress

Theory that predicts patterns of distribution, abundance, and energetics using instantaneous values of community state variables including total area, total abundance, total species richness, and tota...

Bird species that utilize nest cavities created by other species rather than excavating their own

Taxa that are significantly associated with particular habitat conditions and can be used to assess ecosystem state or restoration success

The process by which non-native species become established and spread in new environments

Parasitic plants that retain absorptive roots and are capable of carbon fixation through photosynthesis but still need to draw some of their resources from their hosts because they have low nutrient-u...

The degree to which parasites show preference or restriction to particular host species rather than being generalist

A measure of the evolutionary history represented in an ecological community, calculated as the sum of branch lengths connecting species in a phylogenetic tree

Mathematical models that represent how different pollinators perceive color based on their photoreceptor sensitivities and opponent color processing

Hypothesis that parasitism of dominant plant species reduces their competitive ability, allowing less competitive species to increase in abundance

The relationship between a host organism and its associated microbial community, including costs and benefits to host fitness

Distribution of metabolic rates over individuals in a community, obtained by summing over abundance

Classification of species with similar characteristics into plant functional groups or plant functional types to reduce complexity in ecological communities

Shift toward woody plant encroachment into nonwoody meadows and grasslands

Plot showing cumulative number of species discovered as a function of sampling effort, used to assess sampling completeness

Species with greater primary production exert the main controls for the functioning of ecosystems due to greater aboveground abundance of biomass or leaf area that promotes resource uptake

Species best suited for the environment that make up most of the vegetation in early successional stages

Percentage of leaf area affected by pathogen symptoms including powdery mildew, rust, and other fungal diseases

Model developed to determine LARs based on SAR and simple properties of food webs including species richness, number of links and connectance

A statistical distribution commonly observed in species abundance patterns, predicted by METE for undisturbed communities

Standardized measure of interaction strength ranging from -1 to 1, where positive values indicate facilitation and negative values indicate competition

Competition between fungal groups for limited plant photosynthate allocation

Decrease in compositional similarity between communities with increasing geographic distance or environmental separation

Sapsucker-fungus partnership that strongly influences the avian community by providing nest sites

The study of spatial distribution patterns of microorganisms and the factors controlling these patterns