Communities and interdepedance

• Population: a group of individuals of the same species
• Community: several populations of different species across all kingdoms living in a habitat
• Ecosystem: when communities interact with each other (biotic) as well as the environment (abiotic)
• Interdependence: different species in a community relying on one another for food, shelter, pollination, seed dispersal, and any change can affect many different species
• A plant (eg. a dandelion) will depend on abiotic factors like light, carbon dioxide water availability, and temperature
• Herbivores (eg. rabbits) rely on plants for food so if the population of plants is reduced, so is the population of herbivores
• Carnivores (eg. foxes) rely on herbivores (eg. rabbits) for food, so if herbivore populations decrease so do carnivore populations
• Plants also rely on animals like bees and pollen beetles to sexually reproduce
• Berry-producing plants rely on birds and small rodents to spread their seeds
• Abiotic factors are non-living factors like moisture levels, light intensity, temperature, and carbon dioxide levels
• Biotic factors are living factors like new predators, competition, disease, and food availability
• A stable community: abiotic and biotic factors rarely change and are kept roughly constant, like tropical rainforests and ancient woodlands