section_path: Levels, scope, and scale of organization/Community ecology
section_name: Community ecology
paragraph_text: Community ecology
  
  Community ecology examines how interactions among species and their environment affect the abundance, distribution and diversity of species within communities.
  
  Johnson & Stinchcomb (2007)
  
  Community ecology is the study of the interactions among a collection of species that inhabit the same geographic area. Community ecologists study the determinants of patterns and processes for two or more interacting species. Research in community ecology might measure species diversity in grasslands in relation to soil fertility. It might also include the analysis of predator-prey dynamics, competition among similar plant species, or mutualistic interactions between crabs and corals.