Tag: basics of ecology

Some communities such as tropical oceanic islands appear to be particularly vulnerable to invasions. The vacant niche hypothesis suggests that island communities and some others are relatively impoverished in numbers of native species and thus cannot provide biological resistance to newcomers. Hence, they are most vulnerable.

Ecotone is the transition zone between two communities, e.g., forest and grassland. Ecotone has an admixture of species belonging to both the communities. Some specific species also occur exclusively in ecotone. As a result, ecotone possesses higher number of species than either of the two communities. The increased number and even density of species in a region of ecotone or community border is called Edge effect. The species which are found primarily, most abundantly or spend most of their time in ecotone or community boundary are known as Edge species.

An ecotype is a population (or subspecies or race) that is adapted to local environmental conditions. The implication is that those individuals which were best adapted to the prevailing conditions left the most offspring. Moreover, those more successful individuals carry genes that are partly responsible for their success in that environment. Thus, the adaptations of these ecotypes are based on the interactions of their own special sets of genes with their own environment.

Agroecosystem is also called as ecosystem on agricultural land. It is created by man. It includes biotic and nonbiotic components involved in that unit and their interactions.  It is unstable because of lack of variety and lack of biological control. It also lacks self-control.

An ecotype is known as the population of a species that survives as a distinct group through environmental selection and isolation and that is comparable with certain species.