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Dominance (ecology)

Measure of species' ecological influence

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. 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.[[File:Andropogon scoparium and Andropogon gerardii (20480264444).jpg|thumb|Androgopon scoparium and [[Andropogon gerardi]]i dominate this tallgrass prairie in Delorme, Minnesota]]

Most ecological communities are defined by their dominant species.

In many examples of wet woodland in western Europe, the dominant tree is alder (Alnus glutinosa).
In tallgrass prairies of Northeastern Kansas, the dominant grass is (Andropogon gerardii).
In temperate bogs, the dominant vegetation is usually species of Sphagnum moss.
Tidal swamps in the tropics are usually dominated by species of mangrove (Rhizophoraceae).
Some Arctic sea floor communities are dominated by brittle stars.
Exposed rocky shorelines are dominated by sessile organisms such as barnacles 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

"OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms - Ecological dominance Definition".
(13 March 2019). "Demystifying dominant species". New Phytologist.
Whittaker, R. H.. (1965-01-15). "Dominance and Diversity in Land Plant Communities". Science.
Alroy, John. (2015-09-04). "The shape of terrestrial abundance distributions". Science Advances.
(1859). "On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or, The preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life". John Murray, Albemarle Street.
Gleason, H. A.. (1 October 1929). "The Significance of Raunkiaer's Law of Frequency". Ecology.
Kenoyer, Leslie A.. (1 July 1927). "A Study of Raunkaier's Law of Frequence". Ecology.
Gaston, Kevin J.. (1 May 2011). "Common Ecology". BioScience.
Grime, J. P.. (5 January 2002). "Benefits of plant diversity to ecosystems: immediate, filter and founder effects". Journal of Ecology.
Braun, E. Lucy. (1 April 1947). "Development of the Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America". Ecological Monographs.
Prieditis, Normunds. (1997-03-01). "Alnus glutinosa – dominated wetland forests of the Baltic Region: community structure, syntaxonomy and conservation". Plant Ecology.
(8 May 2003). "Dominant species maintain ecosystem function with non-random species loss". Ecology Letters.
(2004-04-01). "Competition and coexistence in grassland codominants: responses to neighbour removal and resource availability". Canadian Journal of Botany.
(2011-10-21). "Invasion of an intact plant community: the role of population versus community level diversity". Oecologia.
(2014-05-23). "Contrasting sensitivities of two dominant C4 grasses to heat waves and drought". Plant Ecology.
(2016-06-15). "Sphagnum-dominated bog systems are highly effective yet variable sources of bio-available iron to marine waters". Science of the Total Environment.
Brocklehurst, P. (1996). "Mangrove survey of Darwin Harbour, Northern Territory (N.T.): CCNT/NFI project 1994-95". Dept. of Lands Planning and Environment.
(2021-04-01). "Diversity, density, and Importance Value Index of mangroves in the Segara Anakan lagoon and its surrounding area, Cilacap Regency, Indonesia". IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science.
(1996-07-01). "Brittle star fauna (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) of the arctic northwestern Barents sea: composition, abundance, biomass and spatial distribution". Polar Biology.
(2002). "Competition, Coexistence and Diversity on Rocky Shores". Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
(2020-10-01). "Revisiting ecological dominance in arboreal ants: how dominant usage of nesting resources shapes community assembly". Oecologia.
(1 July 1951). "An Upland Forest Continuum in the Prairie-Forest Border Region of Wisconsin". Ecology.
GRIME, J. P.. (30 March 1973). "Competitive Exclusion in Herbaceous Vegetation". Nature.
(1 September 1996). "Challenges in the Quest for Keystones". BioScience.

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