What is an Ecological Community?

An ecological community is a group of species that occur together in a particular area of the landscape. For example, there will be a particular group of flora and fauna species that are typically found in wet, swampy areas and a different group of species that occur together in dry, arid areas of the landscape.

Whilst most ecological communities are recognised by the plant species that occur within them, the community includes all the organisms that occur in that particular area. An ecological community may also be recognised as a group of animal species that occur together in a particular area, such as the endangered Taren Point Shorebird community in Botany Bay.

The survival of each species relies on complex interactions amongst all of the inhabitants of an ecological community, through biotic mechanisms such as food webs, mutualisms and pollination, as well as abiotic mechanisms such as water, nitrogen and carbon cycles. Consequently, the loss of any species may have detrimental flow-on effects for the ecological functioning of the whole community.