Editing Community (section)

===Ecology===
{{main|Community (ecology)}}

In [[ecology]], a community is an assemblage of populations—potentially of different species—interacting with one another. Community ecology is the branch of ecology that studies interactions between and among species. It considers how such interactions, along with interactions between species and the [[abiotic]] environment, affect social structure and species richness, diversity and patterns of abundance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nicolson |first=Malcolm |date=March 1993 |title=L. A. Real and J. H. Brown (eds.), Foundations of Ecology: Classic Papers with Commentaries. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press (with the Ecological Society of America), 1991. Pp. xiv + 905. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0007087400030673 |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=129–130 |doi=10.1017/s0007087400030673 |issn=0007-0874|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Species interact in three ways: [[competition]], [[predation]] and [[Mutualism (biology)|mutualism]]:
* Competition typically results in a double negative—that is both species lose in the interaction.
* Predation involves a win/lose situation, with one species winning.
* Mutualism sees both species co-operating in some way, with both winning.

The two main types of ecological communities are '''major''' communities, which are self-sustaining and self-regulating (such as a forest or a lake), and '''minor''' communities, which rely on other communities (like fungi decomposing a log) and are the building blocks of major communities. Moreover, we can establish other non-taxonomic subdivisions of biocenosis, such as [[Guild (ecology)|guilds]].

[[File:IB Biology Figure Project (1).svg|thumb|A simplified example of a community. A community includes many populations and how they interact with each other. This example shows interaction between the zebra and the bush, and between the lion and the zebra, as well as between the bird and the organisms by the water, like the worms.]]