We explain what a community is in biology, examples and characteristics. What is individual and species, community and population.
What is a biological community?
In biology , we speak of community or biological community, but also of ecological community, biotic community or biocenosis, to refer to the total set 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 different populations that share life in a geographical region and is influenced by environmental physical elements such as temperature , humidity , amount of sunlight , etc. Biological communities can be found in the most diverse and remote habitats, since life on the planet is widely disseminated and adapted to each environment, even when it comes to microorganisms in the intestine of another animal .
That being said, biological communities can be of different types:
- The set of plant species in a habitat;
- The set of animal species in a habitat;
- The set of microorganisms in a habitat.
One 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.
See also: Individual in biology
Biological community example
Plant populations, animals and fungi can be found in a garden.
A perfect example of a biological community can be found in a garden . In it we can identify various plant populations: grass, flowering shrubs, perhaps a couple of fruit trees, along with populations of fungi and animal populations: ants, earthworms, slugs, beetles, birds, and surely a cat. Each different species of living being makes up a specific population, and their life together makes up the community of the garden.
Among these species there will be interspecific relationships: ants feed on the remains of dead animals, slugs on plant leaves , while beetles on floral nectar, and birds, in turn, on beetles, on earthworms. dirt and slugs. It is even possible that the cat feeds on the birds, becoming the final predator of this small community.
If we add to our example the amount of light the plants receive, the specific climate of our region of the city , and other geographical details regarding where the garden is located, we can broaden our perspective and talk about an ecosystem .
It can help you: Interspecific relationships
Characteristics of a biological community
Interspecific relationships determine trophic 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 that share a geographic habitat, also referred to as a biotope.
In this sense, in the same community there will be animal, plant, etc. populations. , and among them various types of interactions will take place, that is, interspecific relationships. The latter, in addition, will dictate the trophic chains of each community and, at the same time, the ecological niche of each species, that is, the specific type of relationships that it maintains with the others.
Thus, communities are largely determined by the number of species that inhabit it (its biodiversity ), by the number of individuals that make up each given population (its abundance), and the ability of a community to return to normality once overcome risk situations , such as drought or fire.
The consideration of a community and its physical environment 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 unique genetic code and completely individual basic needs. But at the same time it is part of a much larger group of individuals that share with it many of its biological and genetic characteristics and that could (at least in cases where there is sexual reproduction ) reproduce with it. This larger set is called the species.
Species share an evolutionary origin and are perpetuated over time through the reproduction of their individuals, conserving their genetic legacy while introducing minimal variations or adaptations that allow them to stay alive in the environment that is their lot. 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 which is fundamental to understanding the evolution of life, just as Charles Darwin did. understood in his work The Origin of Species .
Mixing, if possible, individuals of closely related 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 a horse and a donkey.
community and population
Biological populations are groups of individuals of the same species that share the same habitat and tend to reproduce among themselves. There are various types of populations (gredious, family, colony, etc.) but their individuals always share fundamental biological characteristics.
On the other hand, 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.