Community in an Ecosystem
- Species do not exist by themselves in their own isolated environment; they interact with other species, forming communities
- A community can be defined as:
Multiple populations of different species living and interacting in the same area
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- For example, a garden pond community is made up of populations of fish, frogs, newts, pond snails, damselflies and dragonflies and their larvae, pondweed, water lilies, and all other populations living in the pond
- Communities include populations from all groups of living organisms, e.g. plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria
- Living communities interact with their abiotic environment to form an ecosystem
Levels of organisation within ecosystems diagram
A community is all of the populations of living organisms interacting in an area. Communities interact with their non-living environment to form an ecosystem.