Why can intermediate levels of predation or disturbance both lead to increased species richness in a community?

Why can intermediate levels of predation or disturbance both lead to increased species richness in a community?

Why does an intermediate level of disturbance promote species diversity? Moderate levels of disturbance, however, can facilitate coexistence of a greater number of species in a community by preventing competitively dominant species from becoming abundant enough to eliminate other species from the community.

Are invasive species a disturbance?

Also a number of anthropogenic disturbances can potentially affect natural resources; these disturbances include nonnative invasive species, international and regional trade, transporta- tion, development, and fragmentation.

Who came up with intermediate disturbance hypothesis?

Connell
BACKGROUND. In this study, Wayne Sousa tested the intermediate disturbance hypothesis proposed by Connell (1978). In the 70’s and 80’s ecologists hotly debated factors explaining high diversity in tropical regions and bottom of the deep sea.

Are intermediate disturbances ideal?

Disturbances act to disrupt stable ecosystems and clear species’ habitat. As a result, disturbances lead to species movement into the newly cleared area. These proposed relationships lead to the hypothesis that intermediate disturbance levels would be the optimal amount of disorder within an ecosystem.

Are humans a dominant or keystone species?

Ecologists have identified numerous keystone species, defined as organisms that have outsized ecological impacts relative to their biomass. Here we identify human beings as a higher-order or ‘hyperkeystone’ species that drives complex interaction chains by affecting other keystone actors across different habitats.

When an area is disturbed by human activities then it is called?

Earthquakes, various types of volcanic eruptions, tsunami, firestorms, impact events, climate change, and the devastating effects of human impact on the environment (anthropogenic disturbances) such as clearcutting, forest clearing and the introduction of invasive species can be considered major disturbances.

How do you explain intermediate disturbance hypothesis?

The intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) suggests that local species diversity is maximized when ecological disturbance is neither too rare nor too frequent. At low levels of disturbance, more competitive organisms will push subordinate species to extinction and dominate the ecosystem.

How is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis ( IDH ) used?

The intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) has been used for several decades as an explanation for the coexistence of species in ecological communities. It is intuitively simple, but deceptively so.

Why are species at risk at intermediate levels of disturbance?

At high levels of disturbance, due to frequent forest fires or human impacts like deforestation, all species are at risk of going extinct. According to IDH theory, at intermediate levels of disturbance, diversity is thus maximized because species that thrive at both early and late successional stages can coexist.

Why is diversity maximized at intermediate levels of disturbance?

at intermediate levels of disturbance, diversity is maximized because species that thrive at both early and late successional stages can coexist, III. at high levels of disturbance species richness is decreased due an increase in species movement.

How are ecological disturbances related to species diversity?

IDH is a nonequilibrium model used to describe the relationship between disturbance and species diversity. IDH is based on the following premises: First, ecological disturbances have major effects on species richness within the area of disturbance.

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