What is the focus of community ecology?

Community ecology primarily focuses on the interactions and relationships between different species within a community. This field examines how species coexist, compete, and interact through various relationships such as predation, mutualism, parasitism, and competition. By exploring these dynamics, community ecology seeks to understand the structure and functionality of ecological communities, including how these interactions influence biodiversity and ecosystem health.

The distinction between community ecology and other areas is important; for instance, studying the effects of climate change on a single species relates more to population ecology, where the focus is on individual species rather than their interactions. Similarly, genetic variations within a population is a topic more aligned with population genetics or evolutionary biology, concentrating on genetic diversity rather than community interactions. Lastly, the impact of abiotic factors on ecosystems often falls under the realm of ecosystem ecology, which emphasizes the influence of non-living environmental components on ecological processes, rather than focusing on the relationships among species.