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46 | II. Biocoenosis and zoocoenosis
to various coeti, by being active in various life forms, even within the same
zoocoenosis. Expressions like “predatory species” or “herbivorous species”
are not precise enough, and cannot be used as coenological categories. Larvae
of Lepidoptera are indeed herbivores, but the adults can hardly be classified
as herbivores in the same sense, even if in the form of nectar, they also
consume plant “material” (while some do not feed at all). A certain larva
may be strictly linked to a given coenosis, meaning it isa member ofa certain
coetus, while the imago flies from flower to flower, possibly ranging far.
Adults of several parasitoids can be sustinents, but the same individuals
become obstant semaphoronts as soon as they attack a lepidopteran pupa;
not only laying eggs, but also feeding on the haemolymph seeping out of the
pierced pupa (Bischoff, 1927). The piercing itself can also be lethal, even in
the absence of egg laying, as in Psychophagus omnivorus (Nagy, 1952).
Without doubt, populations exist that fit into more than one coetus. The
Odynerus wasps live on nectar, but prey on caterpillars that they feed to their
progeny. The Aclypea (Blitophaga) poaca is a scavenger, but also feeds on
plants. The activity of birds is obviously multi-faceted (Turcek, 1951), and
one population can not only be obstant or corrumpent, but also, sometimes
simultaneously, sustinent. This phenomenon can be expressed as populations
with one, two or three coetus values. One can assume that populations with
multiple coetus values are less dependent on any spatially-fixed energy source
and, if they exert corrumpent activities, they are not dependent on another
corrumpent element, because they can also directly connect to the primary
energy source. it is correct to proceed by assigning such multi-coetus value
populations to corrumpents, because this is the life form that is directly linked
to the producent elements of a biocoenosis and, thus, makes energy available
for other organisms.
These structural elements, though, are not identical with the basic life
forms (syntrophium, Balogh, 1946, 1953), that are autecological groups;
while the coeti are synmorphological units, in which populations with different
life forms can be grouped together. When establishing these groupings, our
aim was to unearth the structure necessary for the survival of the community,
starting from a zoocoenosis and identifying the real roles of semaphoront
groups, rather than trying to project the structure onto the coenosis, starting
from the behaviour of the species.
This is the only way to frame our understanding when investigating the
structure and conditions that ensure the “stability” of an animal association,
to the degree that we can talk about regularly recurring species combinations.
Syntrophia (for example, spiders hunting with webs or by running or
jumping; Balogh and Loksa, 1948) are groups that are smaller than, and
belong within, coeti, as elementary life forms can only be interpreted within
such frames. Within the obstant coetus, for example, such elemental life
forms can be predation and parasitism, together with special ethological
adaptations to this mode of life. Elementary life forms, therefore, cannot be