2.1.1: Definitions

The starting point for understanding Species, Populations and Communities is knowing what those words mean in Ecology.

Species
A group of organisms that interbreed and produce fertile offspring.

Feral Goats in the Pyrenees
A snake eating a frog

Three very different species in the images above

Population
A group of organisms of the same species living in the same area at the same time, and which are capable of interbreeding.

A population of mussels on a rocky shower on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales.

Community
A group of populations living and interacting with each other in a common habitat.

The ground layer community found in many Western Atlantic Oak woodlands in the UK. The Community includes bluebells, ferns, mosses and ivy among other species.