BIOLS340

CH17: Species Interactions & Community

Structure
Done by: Yousif Adel
  Why ecologists refer to sea otters as a keystone species.
 Because despite living at relatively low population densities, sea
otters have great ecological influence on the communities in which
they live. Because of that influence, which is exerted largely
through their feeding on grazing benthic invertebrates

-Feeding relationships are examples of interactions within communities:

A food web in action: baleen whales feeding on krill (zooplanktons)

-Food Web: a summary of feeding interactions within a community

The Antarctic pelagic food web

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 Detailed food webs reveal great complexity
-Winemiller (1990): described feeding relations among tropical
freshwater fishes
-Results (food webs) presented in different ways:
-Including the common fish species (Abundance 95%)
-Removing weakest trophic links (<1% diet)
-The results show that even when the web is simplified, it remains
remarkably complex

Strong interactions and food web structure

-Paine (1980) suggested that in many cases, the feeding activities of a
few species have a dominant influence on community structure (Strong
interactions)
-He suggested criterion for strong interaction is degree of influence on
community structure and not necessarily quantity of energy flow
-Tscharntke (1992) studied food webs associated with wetland reeds
(Phragmites australis) in a river in Germany
-This reed is considered a dominant or foundation species
-Foundation species: those that have substantial influences on
community structure as a consequence of their high abundance or
biomass
-Tscharntke (1992):
-Phragmites is attacked by Giraudelia inclusa fly forming rice
grain galls
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 -Phragmites also attacked by Archanara geminipuncta moth on
stems
-Stem-boring by A. geminipuncta induces Phragmites to form side
shoots, a response that provides additional sites for oviposition by
the gall maker G. inclusa

-In winter, blue tits (bird) peck open the galls formed by G. inclusa and
eat the larvae, causing mortality in the fly larvae population and the
wasps parasitoids
-This study illustrates the strong interactions (e.g., blue tits on certain
parasites; certain parasites on G. inclusa)
 What is the advantage of identifying strong interactions?
 Allows us to determine which species may have the most
significant influences on community structure

17.2: Indirect interactions

-Indirect interactions between species are fundamental to communities
Direct interactions Indirect interactions
Between 2 species 1 species affects another through a third
intermediary species
Including: Includes:
-Competition -Predation -Trophic cascades
-Herbivory -Mutualism -Apparent competition
-Indirect commensalism
-Involve positive or negative
effects of one species on another
without the involvement of an
intermediary species

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 Indirect commensalism
-One species indirectly benefits another species (through a third species)
while it is neither helped or harmed
-Example: Martinsen, Driebe, Whitham (1998):
-Beavers fell cottonwood trees which then produce stump sprouts
(Young branches)
-Beetles prefer consuming high nutrition sprout leaves
-Beetles grow larger, faster and utilize defensive compounds
found in leaves

Apparent competition
 Negative impacts are the result of:
1.Two competitors who share a predator or herbivore
2.By one species facilitating populations of a predator or herbivore
of the second species

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-Orrock, Witter, Reichman (2008)
-Exotic plant Brassica nigra sheltered mammals which increased
herbivory on native bunchgrass Nassella pulchra

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Apparent competition. Brassica nigra negatively affects Nassella pulchra
through its positive effects on populations of small mammalian
herbivores, which feed on the seeds, seedlings, and adults of N. pulchra

17.3: Keystone species

-The feeding activities of a few keystone species may control the
structure of communities
-Paine (1966, 1969) proposed that the feeding activities of a few species
have inordinate (excessive) influences on community structure (keystone
species)
-keystone species hypothesis emerged form:
1.Predators might keep prey populations below their carrying capacity
2.Potential for competitive exclusion would be low in populations kept
below carrying capacity
3.If keystone species reduce the likelihood of competitive exclusion,
their activities would increase the number of species that could exist in
communities
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 Food web structure and species diversity
-Paine found as number of species in intertidal food webs increased,
proportion of the web represented by predators also increased
-According to his hypothesis, higher proportion of predators
produces higher predation pressure on prey populations, in turn
promoting higher diversity
-Removal of starfish (top predator) caused decline in diversity
from 15 to 8 species
-keystone species exert strong effects on their community structure,
despite low biomass

Consumers effects on local diversity

-Lubchenko proposed to resolve the effect herbivores have on plant
diversity, you need to know:
-Herbivore food preference
-Competitive relationships between plant species in the local
community
-Variance in feeding preferences and competitive relationships
across environments

-Lubchenko studied influence of intertidal snail (Littorina littorea) on

structure of an algal community
-Snails fed on green (Enteromorpha spp.) and red (Chondrus
crispus) algae
-Under normal conditions, Enteromorpha out-competes
Chondrus in tide pools, and Littornia prefers Enteromorpha
-In the absence of snails, Chondrus is competitively displaced
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-When snails are present in high densities, Littorina grazes down
Enteromorpha, releasing Chondrus from competition
-Green crabs (Carcinus maenus) prey on young snails, preventing
juveniles from colonizing tide pools
-Populations of Carcinus are controlled by seagulls

-Low snail density - Enteromorpha dominates tide pool

-Medium snail density - Competitive exclusion eliminated, and algal
diversity increased
-High snail density - Feeding requirements are high enough that snails
eat preferred algae and less-preferred algae
-Algal diversity decreased

Fish as river keystone species

-Power investigated whether California roach Hsperoleucas symmetricus
and steelhead trout Oncorhhyncus mykiss significantly influence food
web structure
 Predatory fish decrease algal densities.
 Because low predator density increased midge (insects)
production
-Increased feeding pressure on algal populations
-Thus, fish act as Keystone Species

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Keystone species exert strong effects on their community structure,
despite low biomass

17.4: Mutualistic keystones

-Mutualists can act as keystone species
-A Cleaner Fish as a Keystone Species
-A cleaner fish (the cleaner wrasse), Labroides dimidiates. A single
cleaner fish can remove and eat 1,200 parasites from client fishes per
day
 What effect might cleaning activity by L. dimidiatus have on the
diversity of fish on coral reefs?
 Increasing biodiversity (keystone species)

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 Seed dispersal mutualists as keystone species
-Ants that disperse seeds have a significant influence on the structure of
plant communities
-Christian observed native ants disperse 30% of shrubland seeds
-Seed-dispersing ants bury seeds in sites safe from predators and fire
-Argentine ants have displaced many native ant species that
disperse large seeds. This resulted in:
-Substantial reductions in seedling recruitment by plants
producing large seeds

-The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, has invaded and disrupted ant
communities in many geographic regions. In the fynbos of South Africa,
invading Argentine ants are displacing keystone ant species, which
threatens the exceptional plant diversity of the fynbos

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