Construct · 2 fields · 2 citations
One name. Different field. Different construct. One map.
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In geometry the apex is the vertex of a figure that lies opposite its base: the tip of a triangle, the point of a cone or pyramid, or the turning point of a parabola. It is a single distinguished point defined by position relative to a base, and it fixes quantities such as the height and the apex angle of the figure. Coxeter’s Introduction to geometry treats these figures and the role of such distinguished points. The referent is a purely spatial construct and shares nothing with a tooth root or a top predator beyond the Latin meaning of a “peak.”[1]
In ecology an apex predator sits at the top of a food web, with no natural predators of its own, and exerts top-down control that cascades down through the community. Removing such a species can restructure whole ecosystems, a loss Estes and colleagues’ Trophic downgrading of planet Earth documents across marine and terrestrial systems. Here the referent is a trophic position in a community, tracked through diet and interaction strength, which has nothing in common with a geometric vertex or a root tip beyond the shared image of being at the top.[2]
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