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#Rivet hypothesis

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SPECIES HYPOTHESIS

In rivet hypothesis, species loss impacts:

The rivet hypothesis predicts accumulating, often stepwise deterioration as species are removed. Individual losses may initially have small effects, yet each removes part of the system's functional support, so resilience and performance decline and eventual collapse becomes increasingly likely. Species richness counts taxa but does not show their abundance, traits, or interaction strengths. Dominant species may control bulk process rates, rare species may provide specialized functions or future insurance, and predators can restructure whole food webs through indirect effects. Functional groups

Ref: NCERT Biology Class 12, Ch. 15 Biodiversity and Conservation

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SPECIES HYPOTHESIS

The Rivet hypothesis compares species to:

Paul and Anne Ehrlich compared species in an ecosystem to rivets holding an airplane together. Losing a few rivets may produce little visible effect, but continued losses progressively weaken the system and raise the probability of sudden failure. A functional relationship should be interpreted by asking whether change is gradual, buffered, abrupt, or irregular. Gradual loss is consistent with accumulating contributions; an initial plateau suggests compensation; an abrupt drop points to loss of a disproportionately important species; and an irregular curve indicates identity-dependent effects.

Ref: NCERT Biology Class 12, Ch. 15 Biodiversity and Conservation

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