An ecologist samples the abundance of various species along an environmental gradient and fails to find clusters of species.Instead,peaks of abundance of dominant species are merely randomly spaced segments along a continuum.This distribution of species supports the
A)unified concept of a community.
B)organismic concept of a community.
C)individualistic or continuum concept of a community.
D)successional concept of a community.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The individualistic or continuum concept of a community states that species exist along a gradient independently and respond to environmental factors according to their individual tolerances, rather than forming distinct groupings or communities. The description of randomly spaced peaks of abundance of dominant species along a continuum supports this concept. The other concepts, such as the successional concept, assume distinct and ordered stages of community development, which is not observed in this scenario.

An Ecologist Samples the Abundance of Various Species Along an Environmental