community in biology

Biologist

2022

We explain what a community is in biology, examples and characteristics. What is individual and species, community and population.

A biological community is made up of populations that share the same habitat.

What is a biological community?

In biology, there is talk of community or biological community, but also ecological community, biotic community or biocenosis, to refer to the set total number of organisms of various species that coexist and interrelate in the same biotope or habitat, in which they find the environmental conditions to guarantee their survival.

In other words, it is a set of populations different that share life in a geographic region and influenced by physical environmental elements such as the temperature, the humidity, the amount of sunlight, etc. Biological communities can be found in the most diverse and remote of habitats, since life in the planet it is widely disseminated and adapted to each environment, even when it comes to microorganisms in the intestine of another animal.

That said, biological communities can be of various types:

  • Phytocenosis. The set of species vegetables of a habitat;
  • Zoocenosis. The set of species animals of a habitat;
  • Microbiocenosis. The set of microorganisms of a habitat.

We can also speak of agrobiocenosis to refer to the animal and plant populations of the arable field, as in the farms created by our species.

Example of biological community

In a garden you can find populations of plants, animals and fungi.

A perfect example of a biological community can be found in a garden. In it we can identify various plant populations: grass, flower bushes, perhaps a couple of fruit trees, along with populations of mushrooms and animal populations: ants, earthworms, slugs, beetles, birds and surely a cat. Each different species of living being they make up a specific population, and their life as a whole makes up the garden community.

Between these species there will be interspecific relationships: ants feed on the remains of dead animals, slugs on the leaves of plants, while the beetles of the flower nectar, and the birds, in turn, of the beetles, of the earthworms and the slugs. It is even possible that the cat feeds on the birds, becoming the predator end of this little community.

If we add to our example the amount of light that plants receive, the weather specific to our region of the town and other geographical details regarding where the garden is located, we can broaden our perspective and talk about a ecosystem.

Characteristics of a biological community

Interspecific relationships determine food chains.

Biological communities are, first of all, made up of populations. Each population restricted to a species, that is, to a number of individuals capable of reproducing among themselves and sharing geographic habitat, also referred to as a biotope.

In this sense, in the same community there will be animal and plant populations, etc., and between them there will be various types of interactions, that is, interspecific relationships. The latter will also dictate the Trophic chains of each community and at the same time the ecological niche of each species, that is to say, the specific type of relations that it maintains with the others.

Thus, communities are largely determined by the number of species that inhabit them (their biodiversity), by the number of individuals that make up each determined population (its abundance), and the capacity of a community to return to normality once situations of risk, such as drought or fire.

Consideration of a community and its environment physical results in an ecosystem.

Individual and species

Every living being that exists, be it plant, animal, fungus or microbe, is an individual endowed with a unique and unrepeatable life, endowed with a genetic code unique and completely individual basic needs. But at the same time he is part of a much larger set of individuals who share with him many of his biological and genetic characteristics and who could (at least in cases where there are sexual reproduction) reproduce with him. This larger set is called the species.

Species share an evolutionary origin and are perpetuated in the weather through the reproduction of their individuals, preserving their genetic legacy while introducing minimal variations or adaptations that allow them to stay alive in their chosen environment. This process is known as adaptation and in radical cases it can cause radical changes in the genotype that give rise to a new species, in a process called speciation and that is fundamental to understand the evolution of life, as Charles Darwin understood in his work The origin of species.

The mixture, if possible, of individuals of close but different species yields hybrid individuals, which may contain characteristics of both species but are always sterile. This is the case of the mule, for example, a hybrid between horse and donkey.

Community and population

Biological populations are the groups of individuals of the same species that share the same habitat and that tend to reproduce among themselves. There are various types of populations (gregarious, familiar, in colony, etc.) but their individuals always share fundamental biological characteristics.

Instead, a community is determined by the set of different populations that live in the same habitat. That is, by the sum of the different species that are interrelated in the same habitat, forming a trophic chain and that compete for the continuity of their species.

!-- GDPR -->