community ecology

Table of Contents

Introduction
Biotic elements of communities
- Trophic pyramids and the flow of energy
  - Autotrophs and heterotrophs
  - The pyramid structure of communities
- Food chains and food webs
- Keystone species
- Guilds and interaction webs
Patterns of community structure
- Ecological succession
  - Types of succession
  - The process of succession
- Stratification and gradation
- Ecotones
- Ecological niches
- Biodiversity and the stability of communities
  - Community equilibrium and species diversity
  - Biogeographic aspects of diversity
Interspecific interactions and the organization of communities
- Mutualism
  - The pervasiveness of mutualism
  - The evolution of mutualism
  - Mutualism and cheaters
  - Community structure and the spread of mutualism
- Antagonism
  - Parasitism
    - Types of parasites
    - Specialization in parasites
    - Alternation among hosts
  - Grazing
    - The strategy of grazing
    - Specialization in grazing
  - Predation
    - Specialization in predation
    - Effect on community structure
- Competition
  - Types of competition
  - The effects of competition
- Commensalism and other types of interaction
The coevolutionary process
- The study of coevolution
- The coevolutionary “arms race” versus reduced antagonism
  - Predator-prey interactions
  - Parasite-host interactions
- Coevolution and the organization of communities
  - The importance of interspecific interactions
  - Human disruption
- Gene-for-gene coevolution
- The geographic mosaic theory of coevolution
  - Coevolution of one species with several species
  - Coevolution among groups of species
    - Convergence
    - Mimicry complexes
  - Coevolution among many species

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community ecology: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	biocenology • biosociology • synecology

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Topics

human ecology geographic mosaic theory of coevolution community ecology population ecology systems ecology autecology patch dynamics phenology

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Robin Wall Kimmerer

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