Community ecology is the study of the distribution, abundance, demography, and interactions between coexisting populations (not precisely synonymous with population ecology). However, biologists have for some time recognized that the most important level of organization of a species is its population, because at this level the gene pool is most coherent. Interactions between populations, determined by specific genotypic and phenotypic characteristics, is the primary focus of community ecology. Map of countries by population Population growth showing projections for later this century Demography is the scientific study of human population dynamics. ... Population ecology is a major subfield of ecology—one that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. ... The gene pool of a species or a population is the complete set of unique alleles that would be found by inspecting the genetic material of every living member of that species or population. ...

Community ecology has its origin in European plant sociology. Modern community ecology examines patterns such as variation in 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. World map showing the location of Europe. ... A pattern is a form, template, or model (or, more abstractly, a set of rules) which can be used to make or to generate things or parts of a thing, especially if the things that are generated have enough in common for the underlying pattern to be inferred or discerned... Species richness is the simplest measure of biodiversity and is simply a count of the number of different species in a given area. ... Figure 1. ... Process (lat. ... This snapping turtle is trying to make a meal of a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary. ... Prey can refer to: Look up Prey in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A prey animal eaten by a predator in an act called predation. ... Population dynamics is the study of marginal and long-term changes in the numbers, individual weights and age composition of individuals in one or several populations, and biological and environmental processes influencing those changes. ... Secondary succession: trees are colonizing uncultivated fields and meadows. ...

See also

• Ecosystem ecology
• Population ecology

Ecosystem ecology is the study of the movement of energy and matter through ecosystems. ... Population ecology is a major subfield of ecology—one that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. ...

References

• 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.