#Id: 5730
#Unit 10. Ecological Principles
The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis Suggests Species Richness
Low rates of disturbance, competitively dominant species would outcompete all other species (K selected) At high levels of disturbance, species would be continually driven extinct and only good colonists and well disperse (r-selected) would persist. Intermediate disturbance, species richness is greatest in areas where disturbances are neither too large nor too small but are of intermediate size.