Last Update: 3 November 2017 Part I

M - 90
Ecological equivalence and guild
Q: Write a brief note on Ecological guilds or Ecological equivalents. Briefly discuss the niche preemption
hypothesis. How does it differ from the log normal hypothesis?

Ecological equivalence Two species can occupy in same ecological niche in different geographical area.
Similar type of climate results into the development of similar type of ecosystem in disjuncked area. When
grassland will developed in any area, if the area has grassland climate. As a result desert will be formed in
any area if the climate is of desert type. But there are different species of grass. These are similar type of
species they occupy similar type of ecological niche. Such species are called ecological equivalence.
Ecological equivalents are the species which occupy similar ecological niche in widely separated
geographical areas.
e.g. A. i) Kangaroo is found in the grassland of Australia.
ii) Antilope is found in the grassland of Africa.
iii) Bison is found in the grassland of America these are ecological equivalents.
B. Tiger in India & Jaguar in America are ecological equivalents.
C. Lion in India, Puma in Africa & America are the ecological equivalents.
Ecological guild Concept of ecological guild was first introduced by Root (1967) and term also first used by
Root. He described a group of species that exploit some classes of environmental resources in a similar
guild.
Def.- According to smith- guild is a group of species which forage for food in a similar way in a given
habitat.
e.g.- Kangaroo and Sheep in Australia, they are taxonomically widely different and appearance are
also different but they belong to same guild.
On the other hand Rabbit and Bandicoot they are quite similar in appearance but they belong to
different guild.
So, guild is an assemblage of different types of species and a community is an assemblage of guild. So,
guilds are ecological units of great taxonomic diversity.
e.g.- The biotic community comprises of number of guilds i.e.- I, II, III and each gilds consists of one
or more species Biotic community can be described as assemblage of guild.

I II III
Biotic Community

Guild

Root (1973) studied the guild in a collard stand (Brassica oleracea).

* [Stand mean vegetation of same type of plant] He found total 93 species of insects which feed on leaves &
he also found that these 93 species comprises three guilds. These are
i) Pit feeder 19 species
ii) Strip feeder 16 species
iii) Sap feeder 58 species
i) Pit feeders are those insects which rasp surface
of the leaf and make pit. He found 19 species
which belong to this category. Pit

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Seed
ii) Strip feeders have biting & chewing type of month parts. They strip off and chew a portion of the
leaf making holes in the leaf. He found 16 species which belong to this category.
iii) Sap feeders are insects which feed on the plant sap. They have pearcing and sucking type of month
parts and they make a hole in the leaf and feed on the oozing the sac. He found 58 species which
belong to this category.
So, there are large number of species which utilize the same environmental resources and they
belong to different guilds but they are herbivores.
e.g.- Birds which feeds on nectar of the different types of flower in a forest belong to some guild.
Root further pointed out that the composition of species and its abundance is not constant in a guild. It may
vary.
When number of species may vary and abundance also vary. Guilds related to species and niche is
related to environment because niche is the part of ecosystem.
Cabbage aphid was the most abundance species in the collar stand in 1966 and 1968. But it was
absent in 1967. This phase was taken over by some other species. This implies that within same guild
species can replace one another and carry on same functional role. These are functionally equivalent.
Functionally Concept of guild is a new and little understood work. But there were 3 hypothesis may
be set to explain the concept which require further testing 3 hypothesis are
i) Many species formed interchangeable members of a guild. These species are functionally
equivalent.
ii) The number of guilds within a community is small in relation to the number of species This
hypothesis need not be further stated.
iii) A community always has a group of guilds but the group may be packed with different number
of species

Species Abundance Hypothesis

Species diversity gives very little information relation to species abundance. Two habitat can have
similar species diversity index but their species composition may be quite different altogether which can be
studied with the help of evenness index. We need to plot proportion of species into abundance classes. So,
abundance of species depends upon its ability to exploit environmental resources.
Based on this 3 hypothesis have been developed which are called species abundance hypothesis.
If in a semi long graph paper abundance of a species is placed against the sequence of species that
means the species are arranged in X-axis and Y (log scale) abundance are plotted and a points are
connected and 3 types of curve may be plotted. These curves has been named by Whittaker (1965 & 1972)
has the dominance diversity curve.

1000

A 100 A
A B

10
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2 3 4 5 6
Sp sequence
Spsequence
Species abundance is used as a biocriteria for environmental resources. Three basic types of curves
are formed a straight line curve, a sigmoid type of curve and 3rd type of curve is known as broken stick
curve.
Based on these, 3 hypothesis have been developed which are called
i) The niche pre-emption hypothesis.
ii) The random niche model.
iii) The log-normal model.

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i) The niche pre-emption hypothesis The niche pre-emption hypothesis is also called geometric
distribution hypothesis. According to this model, the most abundance species is twice number than the next
most abundance species second species is twice the abundance of 3rd species So, abundance gradually
decrease. From this hypothesis it might be assumed the most abundance species will pre-empt (occupied)
half of the available niche space and 2nd species will occupy half of the remaining space and there will be no
overlapping of the space.
According to this hypothesis no, overlapping space. This type of distribution will result into a
straight line in the dominant distribution curve and will represent lowest evenness. This type of distribution
found in nature. We seen in plant community found in harsh environment and curve will more & more
straight.

A C

Random niche model Random niche model is also called broken stick model of Mac Arthur (1960).
According to this hypothesis niche space is divided into random contagious non overlapping segment length
of each segment represent abundance of a species. It result into a broken stick type of curve but non
overlapping. It produces the highest evenness of the three model. This type is rarely seen groups exhibiting
into specific competition and terrestrial behaviour show this type of curve. e.g.- Forest Bird. This type of
curve is seen in environment which is least distributed.

Log normal hypothesis In most natural population and intermediate sigmoid type of curve is seen
indicating a more complex pattern of niche differentiation and niche overlap with partial competition. This is
seen in relatively undisturbed habitat. Species distribution is determined by large number of variables such
as food, space microclimate etc. So, theoretically it can expect 3 different dominance diversity curves A, B
& B & A & C are the two extreme situation.
On the basis of three hypothesis some generalization are made.

1) Higher and flatter the curve the higher is overall

density or abundance. So, C>B>A.
2) The steeper the curve the lower is the overall
diversity and greater the dominance of one or few B
species. So, A<B<C or C>B>A. Species diversity is
maximum in C & minimum in A.

3) Stress weather natural or anthropogenic will tend to

steepened the curve, stress increase and steepened
also increase.
4) Dominant diversity curve can be used to asses the effect of perturbance (disturbance) on species
structure.

Sl. Community Niche-pre-emption Random-niche Log normal

No. Parameter
1. Type of curve Straight line Broken Stick Sigmoid
2. Niche overlap No overlap No overlap Overlapping
3. Niche partitioning Niche pre-emption Random partitioning Niche differentiation

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4. Evenness Least Highest Intermediate
5. Diversity Least Highest Intermediate
6. Dominance One or few species Least Intermediate
7. Stress Operating Maximum Minimum Intermediate
8. Competition Maximum (most intense) Intense Competition Partial competition
9. Occurrence In stress environment Rare in nature Common in undisturbed
environment

Species diversity hypothesis Species diversity can be related to different environment. Different scientist
proposed several hypotheses known as species diversity hypothesis. This difference species diversity
hypothesis they relate the species diversity with the age of community stability, production of community
and several aspect of community.

Related to time
i) Evolutionary time hypothesis This hypothesis species diversity with related to time and it is a
longer time hypothesis. It has longer time scale. According to this hypothesis the species diversity
can be related to the age of community of ecosystem. Species diversity is the higher is older in new
community. So, a pioneer ecosystem species is lower and climax community species diversity also
increase. Older community have greater diversity not only the species diversity is greater but also
bio-diversity is riches i.e. eco & genetic diversity greater. e.g.- Tropical area is older as compare to
temperate area. So, tropical communities have higher species diversity as compare to temperate
community.
ii) Ecological time hypothesis This is related the species diversity to the shorter time scale. According
to this hypothesis in a new habitats species have not. Gate in a time for dispersal and settlement of
species. In older habitat there comparative. Species diversity is greater and a new area species
diversity is less.
e.g.- Glacial period in temperate region, to be saturated by species from tropical region. Therefore
species diversity is less in the temperate region. So, tropical area is older than temperate area.
** Tiger was the original in habitat in Mongolian region. During ice age tiger migrated south world.

Related to space
Spatial heterogeneity hypothesis
The 3rd hypothesis which relates species diversity to space. This hypothesis is get that species
diversity can be related with the complexity and heterogeneity of physical environment. If a habitat is
homogenous then the species diversity is lower. But if there is a considerable heterogeneity that is physical
environment is complexity, that there will be greater. So, more complex & heterogeneous is the physical
environment more complex will be flora & fauna that means there will be greater diversity. If -diversity is
greater than the -diversity, is also greater.

Related to climate
Climate stability hypothesis
According to this hypothesis species diversity is related with the stability of climate. It is higher in
stable & lower in unstable climate. Tropical areas are more stable and so have greater species diversity.
When environment suffers from constable climate then the species diversity is also low.
Climate predictability hypothesis
According to this species diversity can be related with the predictability of the environment. It the
area has predictable climate then the species diversity is higher. If the area has unpredictable climate then
the species diversity is low. Tropical area has predictable climate. There are distinct season. In Antarctica &
desert the climate is unpredictable.
Stability time hypothesis
This is related to time. This hypothesis is modification of climatic hypothesis. Sanders (1968)
modified climatic hypothesis and called stability time hypothesis. According to this hypothesis diversity is
greater in biologically controlled community where density dependent factors are more important (predation
parasitism, competition etc.). On the other hand species diversity is lower in physically controlled
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community where density dependent factors control population as population subjected to greater
physiological stress. It has more important role in population regulation & sub community are more stable.
In biologically control community there is more interspectific association which results into stability of
community. So, species diversity is greater.

Related to Energy
7) Energy hypothesis This hypothesis relates the species diversity to energy flux. The energy received
per unit area called flux. According to this hypothesis species diversity will be greater in areas with
higher energy flux.
8) Productivity hypothesis According to this hypothesis diversity can be related to energy flow
entering in production & so it is related to climate stability. More energy is available for
maintenance, then species diversity will be high. Species diversity can be co related to ecological
turn over. Ecological turn over is low (ET>1), species diversity is also low & ecological turn over
(ET<1) is high and species diversity is also high.
Community respiration R
Ecological turn over
Community biomass B
9) Competition hypothesis This hypothesis relates species diversity to competition & availability of
ecological niche. If inter specific competition increase then species will search for new ecological
niche. Ecological niche is more in area then the species exist in more. If one of the species find
another ecological niche & both species survive in that area & more niche is available and initiate
factor is competition. In tropical areas ecological niche is greater then temperate region therefore
species diversity is higher.
10) Predation hypothesis According to this hypothesis predation reduces the number of prey individual
which permits existence of more types of prey by reducing interspecific competition. When species
diversity increase, predation also increase.
11) Dynamic equilibrium hypothesis
According to this hypothesis species diversity can be related with disturbance of community.
Disturbance increase in diversity. If a community have disturbed species diversity is low and
undisturbed species diversity is high. In undisturbed condition species diversity in equilibrium. In
cultivated land species diversity least in number & in grassland species diversity is more and in
former is maximum.
12) Prediction or bio-criteria or quality of environment is also one type of species diversity hypothesis.

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