Landscape

Communiti
es

Populatio
ns

Species
Community Ecology
Community is a group of two or more
populations sharing a common resource

In each community population interact as

individual organims

Communities differ from one another by

Number of species and their relative
abundance
The nature of their interaction
Physical structures
Community Ecology
 Contrasting views of
community
◦ Organismic concept of
community
 Strong integration between
components of communities
 Communities are discrete
and form clusters
◦ Continuum concept of
community
 Loose integration between
components of communities
 Communities are not discrete
 Communities are group of
species found to coexist
under particular environment
Community Structure
The number of species and their
relative abundance
◦ The mix of species, their number and
diversity is the biological structure of
a community
◦ Biological structure of a community
is measured by
 Species richness
 Species abundance
 Species evenness
Community Structure
Species richness
(R)
◦ The total number of
species in given
community The species
Relative richness of this
community is
abundance R=3
 The number of The relative
individuals comprised abundance of species
by each species in a
community Species A = 7
Species B = 6
Species C = 5
Community Structure
Species evenness
◦ Measures the equitable distribution
of individuals among the given
species
Species A = 80 Species A = 56
individuals individuals
Species B = 75 Species B = 44
individuals individuals
Species C = 5 Species C = 60
individuals individuals

Community 1 Community 2
Community 2 is more even than community
1
Community Structure
Simpson diversity index
◦ Measure the probability that two
individuals randomly selected from a
sample belong to two different
species
◦ Given by
 SDI = 1 – D, where D = summ (n/N)2
◦ Other indices has also been
developed to quantify the structure
of communities like Shannon wiener
index (H)
Community Structure
 Communities can also be
characterized by the sum of
interactions within
communities
◦ These interactions are
understood through Food webs
and Food chains
 Communities have a definite
physical structure
 Terrestrial communities are defined
primarily by vegetation
 Woodland community, shrub land
community or grassland community
 Aquatic communities are defined by
dominant organisms
 Kelp forest, seagrass meadow and coral
reefs
Community Structure
 Communities have distinctive vertical
structure
◦ For terrestrial ecosystems vertical structure
include
 Canopy, understorey, shrub layer, herb layer and
forest floor
◦ For aquatic ecosystems vertical structure
include
 Epiliminion, metalimnion and hypolimnion
 Defining
boundaries between
communities is often difficult
 Communities are rarely discrete
 The spatial variability in communities is very gradual
 It is very difficult to demarcate the boundary
between communities
 Terrestrial vertical
structure

Aquatic vertical
structure
 low growth
Community dynamics rate, larger
size and
reduced
Community structure Climax dispersal
community
changes with time
◦ Communities born and
communities perish Sere
 The gradual and seemingly
directional change in the
structure of the community
through time is called
Successation
◦ The sequence of
communities from grass to
shrub and shrub to forest is
called Sere High growth
 Each seral stage is a distinct Pioneer rate,
community community smaller size
and higher
dispersal
Community dynamics
Aquatic successation
◦ Community successation triggered by
wave overturn of rocks
 Algal community showed community dynamics
Community dynamics
Terrestrial successation
◦ Terrestrial forest dynamics triggered
by forest clearing
Community dynamics
Primary successation
◦ Primary successation occurs on sites previously
unoccupied by a community
 It occurs in cliffs, sand dune and newly exposed glacial
till
◦ The colonizing species ameliorate the
environment, paving the way for the invasion of
other species
 Other communities replace the pioneer community
bringing further dynamics in sand dunes
 The establishment of climax community is determined
by environmental conditions in sand dunes
 Climax community dominated by oak or sugar maple
(basswood)
◦ Primary successation is slower than secondary
successation
 Dry condition Oak
tree
Pine tree
Wet Maple tree
condition
Community dynamics
 Secondary successation
 Secondary successation occurs on sites previous
occupied by a community
 Occurs after abandoned farm land or after forest fire event
Community dynamics
 Successation
is determined by changes in
environmental conditions
 Availability of light, moisture and nutrients
determine the type of climax community
 Thespecies diversity of communities change
during successation
Successation involves colonization and replacement
of species
 Colonization increases the number of species
 Replacement tends to decrease the number of
species
 Transition period refers to the time between
colonization and replacement where species
coexist
 Transition
period of successation have the
highest species diversity
 Coexistence of
colonizing and
replacing species

Replacement
Colonization
Transition
Community dynamics
Is climax community always inevitable?
◦ Community successation is always
successptible for disturbance
 This disturbances change the nature of climax
community
 Montados in Iberian peninsula Climax community
Herbaceous
Agro forestry(Montado)
vegetation

Human
management

Lack of
human
Shrub management
community
Climax community
Landscape ecology
 Landscape is heterogeneous land comprising
mosaic of patches interacting each other
◦ Patches and their boundaries represent the
structural and functional components of landscape
◦ Patches are homogenous areas
 They could be forest, cropland, built-up area
 Patches vary in size, shape and type
Landscape ecology
German biogeographer, Carl Troll coined
the term landscape ecology in 1939
Emphasis on typology, classification,
nomenclature and mostly concerned with
the “built” (human) environment
◦ This perspective often seen among
Landscape Architecture, Planning or Design
◦ Mostly practiced among biologists,
environmentalist, ecologists and geographers
Comparatively young
◦ Launched by a few meetings in the early
1980s
Landscape ecology
More focused on natural or semi-
natural systems
Landscape ecology focuses on
◦ The spatial relationships among
landscape elements
◦ The flows of energy, mineral
nutrients, and species among the
elements
◦ The ecological dynamics of the
landscape mosaic through time
Landscape ecology
Environmental processes create variety of
patches in the landscape
◦ How come we have different configuration and
distribution of patches?
 Different environmental factors including geology,
topography and climate determine distribution of
patches within landscapes
 Human activities may diversify or diminish landscape
pattern
 Converting forest into built-up areas change the landscape
patterns
◦ Normally patches do not have regular boundary
like square
 Natural patches could be round, elongated or convoluted
 The area, shape and orientation of patches determine
their suitability for animals and plants and associated
ecological processes
 Landscape ecology
Transitionzones between patches offer
diverse conditions and habitats
 Transitionzones between
patches offer diverse
conditions and habitats
◦ The edge (boundary ) of
patches exhibit abrupt or
gradual changes
◦ The transition zone between
two patches is called Ecotones
 Narrow and abrupt Ecotones
result in sharp contrast between
adjoining patches and the
reverse happen for wide and
gradual Ecotones
Landscape ecology
Ecotones connect patches through
fluxes and flows of materials, energy
and organisms
 They can restrict or facilitate dispersal or
movement of organisms
 Ecotones blend elements from adjacent patches
 This increases diversity of life in ecotones
Patch size and shape are crucial to
species diversity
◦ The mosaic of patches that define
landscape is constantly changing
 Human development fragmenting large tract of
land
Landscape ecology
Fragmentation can affect the size of patches
 Decreasing patch size, decreasing the carrying capacity of the
patch
 Increases variation in topography and soil creating wide array of
habitats
 Small sized patch comprise small number of individuals
(Abundance) and species diversity
Fragmentation can affect the shape of
patches
 Elongated patches, where the perimeter of the patch is
greater than it interior reduce the diversity of life forms
 Only edge species prefer this type of patch
 Large round patches, where the perimeter is smaller than the
interior also reduce the diversity of life forms
 Only interior species prefer this type of patch
◦ Forest patches with intermediate size and elongation
result in higher diversity
 Landscape ecology
 Corridors
permit movement
between patches in fragmented
landscapes
◦ Fragmenting landscape limits the
mobility of organisms
◦ Corridor is a strip similar habitat
that connects two separate
patches allowing movement of
organisms
 Broad strip of woodlands left between
built-up areas and power line, belts of
vegetation along stream
◦ Corridors are important for
 Providing habitat for organims
 Permit travel way between patches
 Acts as stopover for migratory birds
 Increase gene flow between patches