Communities
All species are dependant on their interaction with other species to ensure their long-term survival. This means that a population of one species can never live entirely on its own. However, a species also depend on their interaction with the environment, of which you can find out more about below!
EcosystemsA community forms an ecosystem by its interactions with the abiotic environment.
The abiotic environment consists of all the non-living things in our environment such as air, water, soils and/ or rocks. The abiotic environment sometimes has a huge influence in the lives of organisms, while in other situations, the living organisms influence their abiotic surroundings. An example of the first case is the wave action created by rocky shores which creates a very specific habitat where only very well adapted organisms can live. In a different context, rocks also affect ecosystems on cliff areas, as the type of rock determines whether there are ledges on which birds can nest. Sand dunes, on the other hand, are an example of how an abiotic environment can be affected by its inhabitants, as they often develop along coasts where sand is blown up the shore and specific plants grow in the loose wind-blown sand. These plants' roots stabilise the sand and their leaves break the wind, therefore encouraging more sand to deposit, consequently forming dunes. |
A community is formed by populations of different species living together and interacting with each other. Relationships between organisms are complex and vary greatly, forming an important part of research done in ecology. Apart from interacting within a species or a population, to form a community species interact with each other. This relationship can either be beneficial for both organisms, as is the case of hummingbirds and bees who feed on the nectar of flowers while enabling pollination (click here to find out about the importance of bees and the problems their extinction could cause to our environment or watch the video to the left!). In other cases however, the interaction between two species can be harmful to one organism and beneficial for the other, for example, the relationship between a parasite and its host.
|