Communitystructureanddynamics Comm nit str ct re and d namics Todaysquestions: T d ti I.Communitystructure I C i II. Howdoesdisturbanceaffectcommunities? III. Howdocommunitiesrespondtodisturbance?

I.Communitystructure Community=thecollectionofspeciesinaparticulararea. Thesespeciesinteractvia: Mutualism P Parasitism iti Competition Consumption Consumption Keyideawithcoevolution andarmsraces:

Question:Arecommunitiessuperorganisms?

Hypothesis1:Communitiesarehighlystructured(highly coevolved;lotsofinteractions) coevolved; lots of interactions) 1.Communitieshaveamature("climax")stagethatis predictable.

2.Communitiesdevelopovertimelikeanindividual organism.Ifdisturbed,theclimaxcommunitywill organism. If disturbed, the climax community will reconstituteitselfbyreiteratingdevelopmentalstages. 3.Communitycompositionispredictablebecauseitis dominatedbybioticinteractions. dominated by biotic interactions

Hypothesis2:Communitiesarelooseassemblagesof species(littlecoevolution/dependence) i (littl l ti /d d ) 1.Communitiesarenotstable.Theyaredynamic(always y y ( y changing). 2.Ifacommunityisdisturbed,adifferentcommunityis likelytodevelop. likely to develop. 3.Communitycompositionisnotpredictablebecausethe 3 C it iti i t di t bl b th speciespresentinanareaaretherelargelybecauseof chanceevents(history). chance events (history)

Testingthesehypotheses Climatechange:Averageglobaltemperatureshave increasedoverthepast50years,andarepredictedto p y p increasemuchmoreoverthenext50years. Speciesrangesarechanging

Basedontheevidenceinthereadingandevidencetodate onrecentchangesinspeciesranges,whichviewiscorrect: TheHighlystructuredorLooseassemblagehypothesis?

It's a combination of both, though much closer to loose assemblage hypothesis.

SuccessiononMountSt.Helens:
If you look at the trees, it's predictable, but everything else was very varied and not what we predicted.

II.Howdoesdisturbanceaffectcommunities? Disturbance=anychangethatremovesbiomass Typesofdisturbance:

Fire. Tsunami. Volcanoes. Tornadoes. Hurricanes/ intense winds/ typhoons. Logging, surburbilization.

Tounderstanddisturbance,needtoanalyze: 1. 1 Type 2. Severity 3. Frequency e.g. Borealforestsburntothegroundevery100300years - "Let it burn" policy Tropicalandtemperaterainforests:frequent(annual) p p q ( ) gapscreatedbywindblownordiseasedlargetrees - Cutting in gaps (1-5 acre blocks).
- Inject trees with disease genes? - Clear-cutting (does fire itself make a difference?) - Controlled burns (you can do it every set amount of years instead 100-300 years).

Grasslandsandsavannas:firesevery23years

Considersomespeciesfromfireproneecosystems:
fire-prone means high fire frequency

Lodgepole pinerequiresfullsuntothrive;conesaresealed shutwithresin

- Resin melt and seeds drop out, and they now have full sun because fire burns out the taller trees.

Inmostprairie(grassland)plants,themeristematic tissue responsiblefornewgrowthislocatedbelowground

-After burn, get rapid regrowth (recovery)

SomespeciesinCaliforniachaparralhaveseedsthatmust beexposedtosmoke/ashtogerminate Burroaktreeshaveextraordinarilythickbark,compared tootheroakspeciesofsimilarsize

- The thick bark protects the tree. -Be able to recover/ germinate after fire, there's more space and resource after a fire since other plants are killed off.

Acasehistory:ForestfiresintheRockyMountains
Smokey the Bear! Vastly successful educational campaigns.

Historically,mostregionsburnevery60100years Mostforestshavenowgone>120yearswithoutafire Whatarethelikelyconsequencesofthischangein disturbanceregime?

- Biomass would accumulate, there's lot of fuel now. How can we fix this? - Sell them to logging?

III.Howdocommunitiesrespondtodisturbance? III How do communities respond to disturbance? Successionreferstothesequenceofspeciesthatoccupya q p py sitethroughtime,afteradisturbance Earlysuccessional Early successional Latesuccessional Late successional _
Smallseeds(goodcolonizers)Largeseeds(goodcompetitors) Thriveinharshabiotic conditionsRequirehighwater/nutrients (lowwater&nutrients;high(organicsoils),lowtemp variationintemp/wind/lightcancopewithlowlight(forests) / d/l h hl l h (f )
"Weedy" species. Competition

Rapidgrowth,shortlivedSlowgrowth,longlived

Keyobservations: 1. Earlysuccessional speciesalterthephysical environmentinwaysthatfavorlatesuccessional species. y p

2.Latesuccessional speciesaremuchbettercompetitors thanearlysuccessional species. y p