Communities
Elementary School
Definition
In ecology, all the populations of different species that live and interact in the same area. The species in a community depend on one another through relationships such as feeding, competition, and cooperation.
Worked examples
A forest community includes oak trees, squirrels, hawks, fungi, and bacteria all living together.
These different species interact through feeding, decomposition, and competition for resources.
A pond community contains algae, water beetles, frogs, fish, and herons that depend on one another.
Energy flows from algae to beetles to frogs to fish to herons in overlapping food chains.
Common mistakes
- A community is all the organisms of one species in an area → A community includes all the different species; one species alone is a population Community = multiple species together. Population = single species.
- A community includes the rocks, water, and soil in the area → A community is only the living organisms; adding nonliving factors makes it an ecosystem Community = biotic (living) only. Ecosystem = biotic + abiotic (nonliving).
- Species in a community live near each other but don't interact → Species in a community interact through feeding, competition, and cooperation Interactions like predation, competition, and symbiosis define community relationships.
Where you'll use it next
You'll use communities when studying ecosystems, food webs, biodiversity, and succession. Later in biology and environmental science, you'll explore how communities change over time and respond to disturbances.
See also
Reviewed by Pat Cheng, M.Ed. — StudyPug Curriculum Lead · Last updated June 6, 2026