Concepts

Negative interactions between individuals of different species competing for limited resources

Mutually beneficial herbivore-predator associations where sap-feeding insects provide honeydew food for ants in exchange for protection against predators

Positive species interactions such as nurse plant effects by cushion-forming species that increase reproductive success for neighboring plants

Temporal alignment between consumer energy requirements and food source availability across trophic levels

The species assemblage and relative abundances of aquatic invertebrates in a habitat, used as indicators of ecosystem condition and habitat quality

Interactions involving three species or groups, such as soil microbes, plants, and pollinators

Nectar-secreting organs located on leaf laminae, petioles, rachis, bracts, stipules, pedicels, or fruit that attract arthropods

How male and female plants of dioecious species differ in their interactions with insects

Study of organisms that utilize dead animal matter as a resource for feeding or reproduction

Sugar composition of plant phloem sap which honeydew is derived from, potentially altered by temperature affecting ant recruitment or tending behavior

The excretion of sugar-rich liquid waste by herbivorous hemipterans feeding on plant sap

The concept that higher trophic levels are more sensitive to environmental change due to their smaller population sizes and greater environmental demands

Chemical signals that organisms use to obtain information about their environment

The balance between costs and benefits that determines whether species interactions are mutualistic or antagonistic

The hypothesis that species that are competitively dominant have reduced ability to discover new resources quickly

Predicts that dominant species may be more specialized on particular resources than subordinates, allowing subordinate species to coexist by better capitalizing on unused resources.

Competition through depletion of shared resources without direct interaction

Behavioral patterns of wasps that parasitize other arthropods, particularly aphids

The sharing of liquid food resources between nestmates through specialized anatomical and behavioral adaptations

Having the greatest foraging success relative to abundance in the environment