Is a community still a community? Reviewing definitions of key terms in community ecology.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Stroud JT
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4662321 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Is a community still a community? Reviewing definitions of key terms in community ecology.
Stroud James T JT Bush Michael R MR Ladd Mark C MC Nowicki Robert J RJ Shantz Andrew A AA Sweatman Jennifer J
Ecology and evolution 20151007 21
Community ecology is an inherently complicated field, confounded by the conflicting use of fundamental terms. Nearly two decades ago, Fauth et al. (1996) demonstrated that imprecise language led to the virtual synonymy of important terms and so attempted to clearly define four keywords in community ecology; "community," "assemblage," "guild," and "ensemble". We revisit Fauth et al.'s conclusion and discuss how the use of these terms has changed over time since their review. An updated analysis o ...[more]
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