synusian.
/sɪˈn(j)uːsɪə/ Ecology.
A group of organisms (usually plants) of one or more species which have similar life-forms, occupy the same ecological niche, and play a similar role in the community which they form.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > organisms in interrelationship > [noun] > organisms by position in community
synusium1924
synusia1926
subdominant1933
1926 A. G. Tansley & T. F. Chipp Aims & Methods Study Vegetation ii. 25 The individuals composing a synusia may belong not only to different species but to different families or even different higher groups.
1930 Svensk Bot. Tidskrift 24 496 The method of dividing each sociation into its elementary one-layered units, or synusiae, and grouping the synusiae of each layer independently of those of the other layers to synusiae of higher rank.
1932 G. D. Fuller & H. S. Conard tr. J. Braun-Blanquet Plant Sociol. xii. 302 A cover of crustose lichens, a pure carpet of moss or of dwarf shrubs, the tree layer of a fir stand are ecological synusiae.
1960 N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xiv. 431 The large lianes comprise..by far the more numerous synusiae (groups of plants of similar life-form, each filling much the same ecological niche and playing a similar role).
1975 T. C. Whitmore Trop. Rain-forests Far East ii. 12 Species of very diverse taxonomic affinity make up the synusiae.
Derivatives
syˈnusium n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > organisms in interrelationship > [noun] > organisms by position in community
synusium1924
synusia1926
subdominant1933
1924 Jrnl. Ecol. 12 15 An aggregation of plants which belong to the same ‘life-form’ and make similar demands upon a similar habitat constitutes Gams' conception of a synusium.
1965 B. E. Freeman tr. A. Vandel Biospeleol. xvii. 285 Each biotope contains an animal population which is called the synusium.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
<
n.1924