Chapter 3 – part 03

COMMUNITY ECOLOGY

Thanh-Son Dao, A/Prof. PhD.

Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources
HCMC University of Technology
 Community ecology

5.1. General definitions

5.2. Main types of communities

5.3. Relationship among the communities

5.4. The basic characteristics of communities

5.5. Ecological succession

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5.1. General definitions
• A community is an assemblage of populations of different species, interacting with
one another.
• Community ecology is the branch of ecology that studies interactions between and
among species
Buffer zone is an area between two communities. The zone could be very large
e.g. the buffer zone between a forest or a marsh and a farming field

In the buffer zone, besides the species originated from the two communities, there are
distinct species of the zone
Species richness in the buffer zone could be more diverse than that in the other two
communities.

5.2 Main types of communities

5.2.1. Terrestrial communities
5.2.2. Aquatic communities

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities

5.2.1.1. Tropical forests

Tropical forests are found around the equator, where annual rainfall > 2.400 mm and
average temperature > 170C.
Water shortage and low temperature are two ecological limits for the development of
plants in tropical forests.
Tropical forests cover around 23% square of the earth and 20% (people) population is
living there

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities

Soil in tropical forest is not very rich but the flora are still diverse.

Heavy rains could quickly remove the rich soil surface in tropical forests. The top
organic layer on land in tropical forests is not as thick as that in temperate ones
Environmental conditions strongly enhance the decomposition of top layer (dried leaves)
consequently a quickly energy cycle.

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities
Tropical forests

Yên bạch - Eupatorium odoratum

L.
Video clip on Animals in tropics

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Hồ đằng - Cissus evrardii Gagn.
5.2.1. Terrestrial communities

5.2.1.2. Temperate forests

Temperate forests are found in Europe, Eastern Asia and North American.
Temperate forests could presence at the place having temperature below 00C, but not
below –120C in winter, and annual rainfall from 750 – 2.000 mm.
Plants’ leaves fall in winter and come out in spring, in temperate forests .

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities

5.2.1.2. Temperate forests Video clip on organisms in cold region,

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities
5.2.1.3. Deserts

Deserts consist communities of dry regions.

Generally, deserts are found between 300 North and 300 South latitudes, middle tropical,
temperate and grassland regions

Around 1/3 area of the earth is desert or desertization.

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities
Huge deserts are Sahara (North Africa), Kalahari (South Africa), Atacama (Chile), Sonoran
Southwestern America, Gobi (Mongolia) and Simpson (Australia).
Deserts are characterized with low annual rainfall (300 mm), extreme high temperature at
day, largely varied temperature between day and night
Cold desert is also found at western Rocky mountain of America, East Argentina and
Middle Asia.

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities

In deserts, plants cover less than 10% land

area

Living things are usually observed in/on

sand hills deserts although some area
in a desert (e.g. Atacama, Chile) has got no
rain
Clip of flowers in desert

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities
5.2.1.4. Grasslands
Grasslands occur in the range between desert and temperate forest, having annual
rainfall of 250 – 700 mm.
Grassland dominate regions that are not too wet to be forest and too dry to be desert
Some ecologists think that in addition to the limiting rainfall, fire and grazing animals
prevent the establishment of trees in grasslands

Grasslands could be divided into 2 communities depending on average temperature,

temperate grassland (prairie) and tropical grassland (savanna).
Nowadays, few original grassland remain.
Large mammals are prominent members of fauna in grassland, e.g. bison, lion,
kangaroos, zebra…

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities

Prairie

Savanna

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities
5.2.1.5. Taiga
Taiga (Rusian name) locates in
north of the temperate
zone and grasslands
I n Ta i g a , m o s t t r e e s a r e
evergreens/conifers with
tough needles persisting
for years (before replaced by new
ones); soil is poor

snakes: rare; insects: strongly

periodic; few amphibians;
mammals: heavily furred

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities

5.2.1.6. Tundra
Tundra is the last major terrestrial biome occupying ~ 17% of the earth surface.

Summer temperature is around 50C; winter one is < - 300C

Like Taiga, tundra exists only in the North hemisphere (there is little land in South hemisphere at the
latitude tundra would occur)

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities
5.2.1.6. Tundra
Precipitation in tundra is < 250 mm per year and often locked up as snow hence largely
unavailable for plants consequently no tree growth

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5.2.1. Terrestrial communities

5.2.1.6. Tundra
Vegetation: mosses, lichens, grasses, occasional shrubs
Animals: shorebirds, waterfowl, lemming, hare, reindeer, arctic fox, wolf, pole bear, ox,
owl
Clip on organisms at pole in spring

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5.2.2. Aquatic communities
5.2.2.1. Marine communities

Marine communities occur in ¾ of the earth surface

Like freshwater communities, marine ones are affected by the depth.

Shallow zone is called intertidal zone

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5.2.2. Aquatic communities

Beyond the intertidal zone is the neritic zone, or shallow regions over the continental
shelf.

Past the continental shelves is the oceanic zone which may reach greatest depths, and
also referred as pelagic zone

Bottom of the sea floor is named benthic zone.

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5.2.2. Aquatic communities

The intertidal zone is alternately submerged and exposed by the daily cycle of tides

The resident organisms are subject to a great daily variation in the availability of
seawater and temperature, and also battered by waves

Preys living in the intertidal zone are threaten by many predators under changing
conditions hence so vulnerable

There present attached algae, seaweed, mussels, snail, worms, crabs, birds, fish,

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5.2.2. Aquatic communities
Coral reefs V-clip organisms in coral reef

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5.2.2. Aquatic communities
Biodiversity in coral reefs is so high with ~ 30 – 40% total fish species on the earth.
Besides, there present snails, sea urchins, octopus, sea stars, … in coral reefs (Clip
of organisms in coral reef)

In the pelagic zone (open ocean), nutrient concentrations are typically low and it is cold
(except close to surface) hence primary production (phytoplankton) is limited consequently
low abundance of organisms (of biota)

Zooplankton, worms, copepods, … feed on phytoplankton, then the animals are food
for fish/ herbivorous fish, seabirds, mammals. Clips on sea turtle, organisms in ocean.

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5.2.2. Aquatic communities
5.5.2.2. Freshwater communities
Freshwater habitats are divided into standing (lentic) water and running (lotic) water
habitats
Ecology of freshwater habitats is governed by unusual properties of water, e.g. water
density, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, transparency, turbulence, nutrients,
trace elements

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5.2.2. Aquatic communities

Usually, there are 3 layers in lentic water bodies

top layer: epilimnion, saturated light
middle layer: metalimnion, dim light
bottom layer: hypolimnion, no light

The degree of productivity in lakes determines their characteristics fauna and flora
Least productive lakes are termed oligotrophic
Most productive lakes are termed eutrophic
Between oligotrophic and eutrophic is mesotrophic

Oligotrophic: e.g. larvae of ephemeroptera, Meso-eutrophic: e.g. worms

plecoptera, trichoptera

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5.2.2. Aquatic communities

Young lakes are usually in low nutrient hence oligotrophic

The increase of the age of water bodies commonly associated with nutrient
concentration increase, leading to the eutrophication of water bodies
Eutrophication is enhanced quickly by human activities

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5.2.2. Aquatic communities

There are different between tropical and temperate lakes (e.g. stratified conditions; seasonal
changing)

Animals living in lotic habitat could not adapt with low oxygen concentration (e.g. trout
only live in stream with high dissolved oxygen and clean water; carps and catfish are dominant in eutrophic lakes)

carp
trout

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5.3. Relationship among the communities

5.3.1. neutralism
5.3.2. competition
5.3.3. predation
5.3.4. parasitism
5.3.5. amensalism

5.3.6. mutualism
5.3.7. cooperation
5.3.8. commensalism

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5.3.1 neutralism

Neutralism describes the relationship between two species that interact but do not affect
each other

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5.3.2. competition

Intraspecific competition:
competition within the
same species

Interspecific competition:
competition between
difference species

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5.3.3. predation

Clips on Bear feed, Eagle feed, Snake feed

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5.3.4. parasitism

Parasitism is a relationship between two different organisms where the parasite harms
the host.

Parasites could be fungi, bacteria, protozoa, worms, pest ….

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5.3.5. Amensalism

An association between two organisms of different species in which one is harmed or

inhibited while the other is unaffected
e.g. blooms of algae, cyanobacteria and other aquatic organisms

Gonyaulax

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5.3.6. mutualism

A relationship between two species of organisms in which both benefit from the
association

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5.3.7. cooperation

similar to mutualism but if 2 species live separately they till grow well.
e.g. buffalo and blackbird

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5.3.8. commensalism

a symbiotic relationship between two organisms of different species in which one

derives some benefit while the other is unaffected
(clip on QH hoi sinh).

Echeneis naucrates

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5.4. The basic characteristics of communities
Similarity index (Sorensen, 1949)
2c
S = -------
a+b
where, a : total species number in community A
b : total species number in community B
c : total species number occur in both communities A and B

Dominant index (Berger-Parker, 1970)

Nmax
D = --------
N
where Nmax = the density of the dominant species
N = total density of the community
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5.4. The basic characteristics of communities

Shannon index (Shannon & Weaver, 1949)

s
H’ = - Σ pi * log2 (pi)
i=1
where,
pi: the ratio of the species i density to total density
s: total species in the community

Pielou index (Pielou, 1966)

H’ H’
E = -------- = ---------
H’max ln(S)

Case study: Biological indices

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5.5. Ecological succession

Ecological succession, the process by which the structure of a biological

community evolves over time.
During the succession, there are alterations of climate, geology and other
environmental conditions.

Primary succession is the series of community changes which occur

on an entirely new habitat which has never been colonized before.

Secondary succession is the series of community changes which

take place on a previously colonized, but disturbed or damaged
habitat.

Decomposing succession is developing on a dead plant or animal

commonly dominated by bacteria, fungi, mushroom

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