Concepts

When organisms switch from their primary food to secondary food sources under conditions of high competition or resource limitation

The hypothesis that secondary metabolites in certain pollen types provide protection against natural enemies

Underground ecosystem components crucial for sustaining ecosystem function but often remain unseen

The sequential development of microbial communities on substrates following disturbance

Pollination behavior where bumblebees make vibrations that knock pollen out of plant anthers, fertilizing the plant and allowing quicker seed and fruit production

Influence of forest canopy openness on understory light availability and bee community composition

Chemical signals that organisms use to obtain information about their environment

Competition between fungal groups for limited plant photosynthate allocation

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

When prior infection by one natural enemy affects the plant's resistance or susceptibility to attack by a different natural enemy

Number of social ties that if cut will result in two or more separate networks, measuring group fragmentation

Consumption of dead organic matter by organisms, particularly caddisfly larvae feeding on detritus

Functional guild of macroinvertebrates that break down dead organic material, contributing to nutrient cycling in aquatic ecosystems

Differential prey use based on habitat type, with fairy shrimp comprising majority of diet in temporary ponds

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

The location of extrafloral nectaries relative to plant reproductive structures acts to distract flower-damaging ants or other visitors from flowers, and consequently pollinators as well

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.

A habitat not well suited for survival and reproduction that animals are attracted to for foraging if the threat of vehicles is not recognized

Competition through depletion of shared resources without direct interaction

The energetic cost of provisioning brood cells, measured by number of foraging flights per completed cell and provision mass

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

Asymmetric intraguild predation (IGP) between caddisflies where larger, faster-growing species prey on smaller competitors

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

The transport and distribution of microorganisms among different locations by animal vectors

Behavioral patterns of wasps that parasitize other arthropods, particularly aphids

Algae growing attached to surfaces such as decomposing plant material

Ecological relationships between bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts involving infection, replication, and lysis or lysogeny

The rate at which predators consume prey, measured as prey mortality per predator per unit time

Habitat structure that provides protection from predation by offering shelter or hiding places

Interspecific interactions between caddisfly larvae and their predators affecting case size and behavior

Seeds present in the soil that represent the potential for future plant community recruitment and composition

The relationship between the microbiome and sociality in animals

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