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IV. CATEGORIES OF ANIMAL ASSOCIATIONS
§ THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE CATEGORISATION
From the arguments we can see that the biocoenosis is an inseparable entity
of coexisting plants and animals, that are different, yet mutually dependent
on each other, termed (in Hungarian) a bioassociation; the community is
used in a generalised sense to denote any link that is not based on a simple
co-occurrence, but is created through trophic relationships, and has the
importance of an essential life condition.
So far, only one sub-category of the biocoenosis was established, that of
the microbiocoenosis, which is the community of an oecus. The totality of
these groupings form the macrobiocoenosis, that is, the animal community
of a biotope, or of an even larger space. The micro- and macro- modifiers
should not be interpreted as in micro- and macrofauna, but through the lens
of community biology; bigger-bodied individuals are also connected to
smaller, or tiny organisms.
The concept of animal association was anchored on plant feeders that
transform plant materials into animal material, thus making the stored energy
within plants available to animals. The association is created by other levels
becoming attached to this level, and these are held together by existential links.
Therefore, not all animal associations can be considered zoocoenoses,
because animal associations can be formed by the most varied factors. In
order to avoid any further misunderstanding, we define the concepts used
in the categorisation of animal associations vs. zoocoenoses as follows:
A semaphoront, in all cases, means a part of the life of an individuum.
When using the term semaphoront, we never mean the whole individuum.
A semaphoront group is composed of semaphoronts of several individuals
that are zoocoenologically equivalent. The semaphoront group is, therefore,
a group of animals but not a group of individuals; a semaphoront group
represents parts of different individuals.
An individuum is the full series of semaphoront stages that an individuum
passes through during its development. In this sense, an individuum is always
an abstraction because, in any given moment, we never see it, only its
momentarily representative semaphoront.
A population is the semaphoront representation of individuals that belong
to the same species, i.e. asemaphoront group with the same species identity.