Community Ecology

Previously we learned about interactions occurring between two species, but in this session we will explore how multiple species interact with each other.  For example, what happens when predation, competition, mutualism occur all at once?  This will continue our earlier discussion of direct and indirect interactions and introduce new ideas such as trophic cascades.  We'll also consider how the various interactions occurring in a  community impact diversity (and define those terms!).

Communities can be defined by complex direct and indirect interactions that differ in strength and direction. Diffuse and emergent interactions can impact coexistence of species. Chapter 19.4 of Community Ecology of Concepts of Biology offers background reading for this lecture. Additional reading listed below will help you understand how ecologists study and define communities. The videos below explain some of the important topics that we will discuss in this lecture, such as keystone predation, resource partitioning, biodiversity, species coexistence and species interactions.