Concepts

Mutually beneficial herbivore-predator associations where sap-feeding insects provide honeydew food for ants in exchange for protection against predators

Indirect effects of predators on lower trophic levels mediated through changes in intermediate consumer behavior or abundance

Positive species interactions such as nurse plant effects by cushion-forming species that increase reproductive success for neighboring plants

Temporal alignment between consumer energy requirements and food source availability across trophic levels

Effects of human recreational activities on wildlife communities through habitat alteration, disturbance, and behavioral changes

Interactions involving three species or groups, such as soil microbes, plants, and pollinators

Selective feeding behavior of herbivores that favors certain plant traits or genotypes over others

Nectar-secreting organs located on leaf laminae, petioles, rachis, bracts, stipules, pedicels, or fruit that attract arthropods

How male and female plants of dioecious species differ in their interactions with insects

Sugar composition of plant phloem sap which honeydew is derived from, potentially altered by temperature affecting ant recruitment or tending behavior

The excretion of sugar-rich liquid waste by herbivorous hemipterans feeding on plant sap

The concept that higher trophic levels are more sensitive to environmental change due to their smaller population sizes and greater environmental demands

Chemical signals that organisms use to obtain information about their environment

The balance between costs and benefits that determines whether species interactions are mutualistic or antagonistic

The hypothesis that species that are competitively dominant have reduced ability to discover new resources quickly

Predicts that dominant species may be more specialized on particular resources than subordinates, allowing subordinate species to coexist by better capitalizing on unused resources.

Species that define ecosystems and provide critical habitat structure, where big sagebrush is a foundation species in steppe ecosystems of western North America

Behavioral patterns of wasps that parasitize other arthropods, particularly aphids

When plants are found adjacent to one another with less than two finger-widths between them or when one plant surrounds another

The sharing of liquid food resources between nestmates through specialized anatomical and behavioral adaptations

Ecological interactions between hoofed mammals and aspen trees including herbivory effects on tree health and forest composition

Having the greatest foraging success relative to abundance in the environment