Community

Definition

A community in biology is a group of interacting species living in the same area. These organisms affect each other's abundance, distribution, and evolutionary adaptation.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Communities are structured by interactions such as predation, competition, and mutualism.
2. Species diversity within a community includes both species richness (number of species) and evenness (abundance distribution of those species).
3. Ecological succession describes the process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time.
4. Communities can be studied at various scales, from small areas like a pond to large regions like forests.
5. Keystone species play a critical role in maintaining the structure and health of their communities.

Review Questions

• What are some types of interactions that structure communities?
• How do species richness and evenness contribute to species diversity within a community?
• What is ecological succession?

Related terms

Ecosystem:

A larger system that includes both the biological community and its physical environment.

Population: A group of individuals belonging to the same species living in the same area.

Habitat: The natural environment where an organism lives, which can be part of multiple communities.