Ecological Community




What is ecology?

Before yu would get an idea about ecological community you should know about ecology. The branch of biological science dealing with the inter-relationship between the living organisms and their environment is known as ecology.

What are the types of ecology?

There are mainly two types of ecology, those are autecology and synecology.
i) Autecology: Autecology is concerned with the study of individual species in relation to the environment. As an example: – study of single Pines plant and its relation to environment.
ii) Synecology: Synecology is the study of a group of organisms taken together as a unit in relation to the environment. Example: – study of a Pines Forest and the relation of the environment with it. Synecology has two major branches, those are Ecological community and Ecosystem.

What is ecological community?

A community or bio-conenose is an assemblage of organisms forming a distinct ecological unit. Different organisms like plants, animals, fungi and bacteria remain in close association, they constitute a biotic community. The size of the community is not a factor. Because the size of the ecological community maybe very big like as the tropical rain forest or it may be microscopic like the philosopher organisms of a banyan leaf.




Types of ecological community: –

On the basis of their sites and the nature of habit biotic community is can be classified as follows:
i) Major community: major communities represent complete units of ecology or ecosystems and their habits are distinctive in nature, such as, tropical rain forest.
ii) Minority communities: minor communities do not always represent distinct groups with distinctive habits and they are often called societies and normally remain in association to constitute a major ecological community such as, Rhizosphere organism of big trees.

Members of biotic community: –

The classification of plant life forms in a biotic community was given by the scientist Christen Raunkiaer in the year 1934. This classification mainly includes five major firms of higher plans group. Those are as follows:
i) Phanerophytes: these are the trees, shrubs or climbers present in tropical regions but are gradually reduced in the temperate and polar regions.
ii) Chamaephytes: Chamaephytes plants are small having a high of maximum 25 cm remaining in the temperate regions.
iii) Hemicryptophytes: these types are biennial or perennial herbs of cold climates regions having perennating buds protected under the soil surface.
iv) Geophytes: mostly they are including plants having bulbs and rhizomes, which survive underground during adverse climatic conditions. This types also known as cryptophytes.
v) Therophytes: Therophytes are including annual plants reproducing during their favourable condition by the reproduction of flowers and seeds.



What is Plant Succession?

The process by which one ecological community replaces another community in a particular habitat is known as plant succession.

Types of plant succession: -

The primary and secondary successions are the two types of succession.

Primary Succession:

The other name of this type of succession is autotrophic successionand it takes place in the barren area or sterile area like the barren rock or sand dunes. The fallowing stages are they included:
i) Nudation: Due to physical forces of nature the soil surface or the rock is exposed.
ii) Migration: In this case the plant parts are transferred to that barren area.
iii) Ecesis : This is the propaguletion and seed germination.
iv) Colonization : Here the primary colony develops due to propagulation of a single plant.
v) Aggregation : this is called the last stage of primary succession and here the colony becomes stable due to increase in population of the same species.

Secondary Succession :

The other name of this succession is heterotrophic succession because in this process a stable ecological community is replaced by another community resulting in the development of seres and ultimately it ends with the development of climax community.