Homework Assignment #8 Community Structure

Due: Monday, 13 November 2006

Define the following terms

1. intermediate disturbance hypothesis—

2. Community—

3. Guild—

4. Life form—

5. Compare and contrast absolute and relative abundance.

6.  You are studying three communities of insects which contain the same 5 species with varying abundances.  After careful study, you find that the abundances of each species in each community are as following:

                        Community A               Community B               Community C

Species 1           100                              100                                        400

Species 2           100                                90                                        200

Species 3             80                                60                                          45

Species 4             95                                30                                        100

Species 5             65                                10                                          25

            A. Calculate species richness, evenness, and the Shannon-Weiner index of diversity

            for the three communities.

            B. Are these communities similar in diversity or is one more diverse than the other?

                Defend your answer.