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The habitat of a species is not necessarily found in a geographical area, it can be the interior of a stem, a rotten log, a rock or a clump of moss; a parasitic organism has as its habitat the body of its host, part of the host's body (such as the digestive tract), or a single cell within the host's body.
A bear with a salmon. Interspecific interactions such as predation are a key aspect of community ecology.. In ecology, a community is a group or association of populations of two or more different species occupying the same geographical area at the same time, also known as a biocoenosis, biotic community, biological community, ecological community, or life assemblage.
For example, ecosystems can be quite different if situated in a small depression on the landscape, versus one present on an adjacent steep hillside. [ 9 ] : 39 [ 10 ] : 66 Other external factors that play an important role in ecosystem functioning include time and potential biota , the organisms that are present in a region and could ...
Spatial ecology studies the ultimate distributional or spatial unit occupied by a species.In a particular habitat shared by several species, each of the species is usually confined to its own microhabitat or spatial niche because two species in the same general territory cannot usually occupy the same ecological niche for any significant length of time.
For example, the behavior of the California thrasher is consistent with the chaparral habitat it lives in—it breeds and feeds in the underbrush and escapes from its predators by shuffling from underbrush to underbrush. Its 'niche' is defined by the felicitous complementing of the thrasher's behavior and physical traits (camouflaging color ...
Similarly, an organism living in a demersal habitat is said to be a demersal organism, as in demersal fish. Pelagic habitats are intrinsically ephemeral, depending on what ocean currents are doing. The land-based ecosystem depends on topsoil and fresh water, while the marine ecosystem depends on dissolved nutrients washed down from the land.
A habitat cascade is composed of at least three organisms: a primary habitat former or modifier; a secondary habitat former or modifier; and a focal organism that utilizes the secondary habitat former or modifier. For example, primary habitat forming trees can provide habitat for secondary habitat forming epiphytes, lianas, or vines that again ...
Niche construction is the ecological process by which an organism alters its own (or another species') local environment. These alterations can be a physical change to the organism’s environment, or it can encompass the active movement of an organism from one habitat to another where it then experiences different environmental pressures.