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In ecology
Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
, a community is an assemblage of populations of different species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
, interacting with one another.

The term is used in various ways with slight differences in meaning. Sometimes it is limited to specific places, times, or subsets of organisms. For example, "the fish community of Lake Ontario before industrialization".

Another usage difference is whether a community is defined based on evolutionary taxonomy
Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word comes from the Greek language ', taxis and ', nomos .Taxonomies, or taxonomic schemes, are composed of taxonomic units known as taxa , or kinds of things that are arranged frequently in a hierarchical structure....
 and biogeography
Biogeography

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time. It aims to reveal where organisms live, and at what abundance....
, or based on function and behavior regardless of genetic relationships.






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In ecology
Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
, a community is an assemblage of populations of different species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
, interacting with one another.

The term is used in various ways with slight differences in meaning. Sometimes it is limited to specific places, times, or subsets of organisms. For example, "the fish community of Lake Ontario before industrialization".

Another usage difference is whether a community is defined based on evolutionary taxonomy
Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word comes from the Greek language ', taxis and ', nomos .Taxonomies, or taxonomic schemes, are composed of taxonomic units known as taxa , or kinds of things that are arranged frequently in a hierarchical structure....
 and biogeography
Biogeography

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time. It aims to reveal where organisms live, and at what abundance....
, or based on function and behavior regardless of genetic relationships. For example, a plant community of the first type might be called "oak-hickory forests", while one of the second type might be called "temperate deciduous forests". The first sense of the term "community" is related to broad concepts such as ecozones and floristic province
Floristic province

A Phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phtyochoria do not usually have a sharp boundary, but rather a soft one, a transitional area in which many species from both regions overlap....
s (such as the Neotropic ecozone or the Cape floristic region
Cape floristic region

The Cape floristic region is a floristic region located in South Africa. It is the only floristic region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, and includes only one floristic province, known as the Cape floristic province....
), while the second sense is related to biome
Biome

Biomes are Climateally and geographically defined areas of ecologically similar climatic conditions such as Community of plants, animals, and Soil biology, and are often referred to as ecosystems....
s (such as the Temperate coniferous forests
Temperate coniferous forests

Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial ecoregion biome found in temperate regions of the world with warm summers and cool winters and adequate rainfall to sustain a forest....
) (Akin, pp. 168-169).

Interspecific interactions

Species interact in various ways: competition
Competition

Competition is a rivalry between individuals, groups, nations, or animals, for territory, a niche, or allocation of resources. It arises whenever two or more parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared....
, predation
Predation

In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey, the organism that is attacked. Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of the prey....
, parasitism
Parasitism

Parasitism is a type of Symbiosis relationship between two different organisms where one organism, the parasite, takes from the host , sometimes for a prolonged time....
, mutualism
Mutualism

Mutualism is a biological interaction between two organisms, where each individual derives a fitness benefit, for example increased survivorship....
, commensalism
Commensalism

In ecology, commensalism is a class of relationship between two organisms where one benefits and the other is not significantly harmed or benefited....
, etc. The organization of a biological community with respect to ecological interactions is referred to as community structure.

Competition

In some situations, species compete
Competition

Competition is a rivalry between individuals, groups, nations, or animals, for territory, a niche, or allocation of resources. It arises whenever two or more parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared....
 with each other for resources, which may negatively affect the growth rate, size, or biomass
Biomass

Biomass, as a renewable energy source, refers to living and recently dead biological material that can be used as fuel or for industrial production....
 of the population. This is a double negative (- -) interaction. Two types of competition may occur:
  1. Interference competition: occurs when one species attacks, or consumes the resources, of another. Examples include a lion chasing a hyena from a kill, or a plant releasing allelopathic chemicals to impede the growth of a competing species.
  2. Exploitative competition: occurs via the consumption of resources. When an individual of one species consumes a resource (e.g., food, hiding place, light source, etc.), that resource is no longer available to be consumed by a member of a second species. Exploitative competition is more common in nature. Competition may limit average population size and the number of species that coexist in a community


Predation

Predation
Predation

In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey, the organism that is attacked. Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of the prey....
 is hunting another species for food. This is a positive-negative (+ -) interaction in that the predator species benefits while the prey species is harmed. Some predators kill their prey before eating them (e.g., a hawk killing a mouse). Other predators are parasites that feed on prey while alive (e.g., a vampire bat feeding on a cow). Herbivore
Herbivore

Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism, known as an herbivore, heterotrophs principally autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria....
s feed on plants (e.g., a cow grazing). Predation may affect the population size of predators and prey and the number of species coexisting in a community.

Mutualism

Mutualism
Mutualism

Mutualism is a biological interaction between two organisms, where each individual derives a fitness benefit, for example increased survivorship....
 is a symbiotic interaction between species in which both benefit, and is thus a double positive (+ +) interaction. Examples include Rhizobium bacteria growing in nodules on the roots of legume plants and insects pollinating the flowers of angiosperms.

See also

  • Biocoenosis
    Biocoenosis

    A biocoenosis , termed by Karl M?bius in 1877, describes all the interacting organisms living together in a specific habitat . Biotic community , biological community, and ecological community are more common synonyms of biocenosis, all of which represent the same concepts....
  • Community ecology
    Community ecology

    Community ecology is a subdiscipline of ecology which studies the distribution, abundance, demography, and biological interactions between coexisting populations....
  • Co-evolution
    Co-evolution

    In a broad sense, biological coevolution is "the change of a biological object triggered by the change of a related object". Coevolution can occur at multiple levels of biology: it can be as microscopic as correlated mutations between amino acids in a protein, or as macroscopic as covarying traits between different species in an environment...
  • Convergent evolution
    Convergent evolution

    Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action....
  • Evolutionary radiation
    Evolutionary radiation

    An evolutionary radiation is an increase in taxonomy diversity or Morphology disparity, due to adaptation change or the opening of ecospace. Radiations may affect one clade or many, and be rapid or gradual; where they are rapid, and driven by a single lineage's adaptation to their environment, they are termed adaptive radiations....
  • Phage ecology#Phage community ecology
    Phage ecology

    Bacteriophages , potentially #Vastness of phage ecology, are the viruses of bacteria . Phage ecology is the study of the interaction of bacteriophages with their Natural environment....
  • Phylogeography
    Phylogeography

    Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the contemporary geographic distributions of individuals. This is accomplished by considering the geographic distribution of individuals in light of the patterns associated with a gene genealogy....
  • Scientific classification
    Scientific classification

    Biological classification or scientific classification in biology, is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms....
  • Vegetation
    Vegetation

    refers to the flora system of a specific region....


External links

  • , Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources, USGS.
  • , ENTRIX Environmental Consultants.