In Grime’s triangle, which is NOT correct?
The keyed exception is “Trees and shrubs are ruderal.” In the context of in grime’s triangle, which is not correct, that statement differs from the governing ecological pattern and must be evaluated against the mechanism rather than accepted from wording alone. Population ecology links individual births, deaths, immigration, and emigration to changes in abundance. Per-capita rates determine the direction of change, while density dependence creates feedback when crowding alters survival or reproduction. The remaining alternatives—“Ruderal species in high disturbance”, “Competitive species in high nutrients”, “Stress-tolerators in low disturbance”—refer to different states, processes, or scales and therefore do not express the same causal relationship. Interpretation must distinguish absolute population change from a per-capita rate and must state the time interval and population boundary. Age structure, dispersal, environmental variation, and delayed responses can all make observed trajectories depart from a simple model. This distinction matters because similar surface patterns can arise through different mechanisms, whereas ecological prediction depends on identifying the mechanism that actually changes rates.
Ref: Campbell Biology, Urry et al., 12th Ed., Unit 8 Ecology