Ecological dominance is the degree to which one or several species have a major influence controlling the other species in their ecological community (because of their large size, population, productivity, or related factors) or make up more of the

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

. Both the composition and abundance of species within an ecosystem can be affected by the dominant species present. In most of the world's ecosystems, biologists have repeatedly observed a rank-abundance curve in which ecosystems comprise a handful of incredibly abundant species, but more numerous, rarer species that are few in number. Danish botanist Christen C. Raunkiær described this phenomenon as his " law of frequency" in 1918, in which he recognized that in communities with a single species accounting for most of the biomass, species diversity was often lower. Understandably, biologists expect to see more profound effects from those species greater in number. First formalized as the ''mass ratio hypothesis'' in a 1998 paper by English ecologist J. Philip Grime, ecologically dominant species are predicted to have overwhelming effects on ecosystem function and ecological processes due to their relatively high biomass and ubiquity. Most ecological communities are defined by their dominant species. * In many examples of wet woodland in western

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, the dominant tree is alder ('' Alnus glutinosa''). * In

tallgrass prairie The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and Historical ecology#Anthropogenic fire, anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to th ...

s of Northeastern

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, the dominant grass is ('' Andropogon gerardii).'' * In

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

bogs, the dominant vegetation is usually species of ''

Sphagnum ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store water, since ...

'' moss. * Tidal swamps in the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

are usually dominated by species of mangrove ('' Rhizophoraceae''). * Some Arctic sea floor communities are dominated by

brittle star Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomot ...

s. * Exposed rocky shorelines are dominated by sessile organisms such as

barnacle Barnacles are arthropods of the subclass (taxonomy), subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacean, Crustacea. They are related to crabs and lobsters, with similar Nauplius (larva), nauplius larvae. Barnacles are exclusively marine invertebra ...

s and limpets. * The turtle ant ('' Cephalotes pusillus''), is thought to dominant arboreal ant communities in the Brazilian savannah. There are currently several different metrics for assessing species dominance in natural ecosystems, including the importance value index, competitive index, community importance index, and dominance index.

References

External links

Dominant Species in a Diverse Ecosystem
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dominance (Ecology) Habitats

See also

References

External links