Community ecology
Community ecology is the study of the distribution, abundance,
demography, and interactions between
populations of coexisting
species. It is part of the division of
ecology known as
synecology that studies the organization of
ecosystems specifically at the level of the
biotic community (or
biocoenosis).
Community ecology focuses on relationships between species, including the study of
food webs,
energy flow, and
nutrient flow. Odum (1959, p. 8) considered that synecology should be divided into
population ecology,
community ecology, and
ecosystem ecology, which suggests that
autecology would not be precisely synonymous with
population ecology. However, biologists have for some time since recognized that the most important level of organization of a species is its population, because at this level the
gene pool is most coherent.
Community ecology has its origin in
European plant sociology. Modern community ecology examines
patterns such as
species richness, equitability,
productivity and
food web structure; it also examines
processes such as
predator-
prey population dynamics,
succession, and community assembly. Patterns and processes in turn can be considered in terms of space and time, at different scales.
*
Ecosystem ecology* Odum, E. P. 1959.
Fundamentals of ecology. W. B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia and London. 546 p.
* Barbour, Burke, and Pitts, 1987.
Terrestrial Plant Ecology, 2nd ed. Cummings, Menlo Park, CA.
* Ricklefs, R.E. 2005.
The Economy of Nature, 6th ed. WH Freeman, USA.
