community ecology: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	synecology • biocenology • biosociology

Photos and Videos

Diagram showing energy flow in a food chain from a tree to a caterpillar, then to a bird, and finally to microbes, with red arrows illustrating energy transfer and heat loss at each stage.

Diagram showing energy transfer through an ecosystem, with solar energy absorbed by plants (producers) at the base, then moving up to herbivores (primary consumers), small carnivores (secondary consumers), and large carnivores (tertiary consumers), while most energy is lost as heat at each step.

A diagram of a generalized aquatic food web shows various marine organisms connected by arrows indicating predator-prey relationships. Top predators like large sharks, smaller sharks, and marlin are at the top, followed by predators such as tuna, squid, lancet fish, and mackerel. Filterers like lantern fish, amphipods, and ocean sunfish occupy the next level, with zooplankton such as shrimp, copepods, and pteropods below them. At the base, phytoplankton including dinoflagellates and diatoms prov

ecological succession

Two-part illustration showing parasitoid wasps. On the left, a female Ichneumonidae wasp uses her ovipositor to lay eggs inside a host larva beneath tree bark. On the right, the life cycle of a Trichogramma wasp is depicted, with a female laying eggs in a host egg, development from larva to pupa, and an adult wasp emerging.

D'Orbigny's round-eared bat (Tonatia silvicola) flying with wings spread wide, holding a green katydid in its mouth against a dark background.

yucca moth and yucca flower

mutualism: yucca moth

European cukoo egg in a reed warbler nest

A single mushroom grows from the base of a hollow tree trunk in a forest, surrounded by bark and green leaves in soft focus.

A white man in a blue shirt stands in front of an illustrated blue background with fish and the text "animal car wash?" across his chest, referencing animal mutualism.

How cleaner fish help maintain coral reefs

Close-up of a spider with a yellow and black striped body sitting at the center of its web, with a blurred green background.

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Topics

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

Key People

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Potawatomi writer and scientist

Chutes d'Ekom - a waterfall on the Nkam river in the rainforest near Melong, in the western highlands of Cameroon in Africa.

Ecosystems

greylag. Flock of Greylag geese during their winter migration at Bosque del Apache National Refugee, New Mexico. greylag goose (Anser anser)

Biology Bonanza