A Strong Partner for Sustainable Development

Module
in

GEE4
Course Code

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

College of Agriculture, Forestry and

Environmental Science
 2

Module 6


Biological
Communities

2nd Semester AY 2021-2022

Abegail P. Arpon
Instructor

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 3

Table of Contents

CHAPTER CONTENTS PAGE

Table of Contents 3
Instruction to the User 4
Introduction 5
Chapter 5 6
Title of the Chapter 6
Overview 6
Learning Outcomes 6
Time Allotment 6
Pre-test 6
Lesson 1
Learning outcomes 7
Discussion 7
Lesson 2
Learning outcomes 11
Discussion 11
Evaluation/Post-test 20
References 21
Student Information 21
Core Values 22

INSTRUCTION TO THE USER

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 4

This module would provide you an educational experience while

independently accomplishing the task at your own pace or time. It aims as
well to ensure that learning is unhampered by health and other challenges. It
covers the topic about ____________________________________.

Reminders in using this module:

1. Keep this material neat and intact.

2. Answer the pretest first to measure what you know and what to be
learned about the topic discussed in this module.
3. Accomplish the activities and exercises as aids and reinforcement for
better understanding of the lessons.
4. Answer the post-test to evaluate your learning.
5. Do not take pictures in any parts of this module nor post it to social
media platforms.
6. Value this module for your own learning by heartily and honestly
answering and doing the exercises and activities. Time and effort were
spent in the preparation in order that learning will still continue
amidst this Covid-19 pandemic.
7. Observe health protocols: wear mask, sanitize and maintain physical
distancing.

Hi! I’m Blue Bee, your WPU Mascot.

Welcome to Western Philippines University!

Shape your dreams with quality learning experience.

STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY!

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 5

INTRODUCTION

The term biological community refers to all the living components in an

ecosystem. A slightly different concept is encompassed in the word biota, which
refers to all flora and fauna, or plant and animal life, in a particular region.
For the biological community to survive and thrive, a balance must be
maintained between consumption and production of resources. Nature provides for
that balance in numerous ways, but beginning in the late twentieth century students
of ecology in the industrialized world have become more and more concerned with
the possible negative impact their own societies exert on Earth's biological
communities and ecosystems.
It should be noted, however, that nature itself sometimes replaces biological
communities in a process called succession. This process involves the progressive
replacement of earlier biological communities with others over time. Coupled with
succession is the idea of climax, a theoretical notion intended to describe a biological
community that has reached a stable point as a result of ongoing succession. (See
Succession and Climax for more about these subjects.)

Chapter 5
WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
 6

Biological Communities
Overview
An ecosystem is a complete community of interdependent organisms as well
as the inorganic components of their environment; by contrast, a biological
community is just the living members of an ecosystem. Within the study of biological
communities there are a great number of complexities involved in analyzing the
relationships between species as well as the characteristics of specific communities.
Yet many of the concepts applicable to biological communities as a whole also apply
to human communities in particular, and this makes these ideas easier to
understand. For example, the competitive urge that motivates humans to war (and to
less destructive forms of strife in the business or sports worlds) may be linked to the
larger phenomenon of biological competition. Indeed, much of the driving force
behind the development of human societies, as it turns out, has been biological in
nature.
Time Allotment: 2 hrs.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the chapter, the students can;
1. Describe the properties and structure of a community,
2. Explain the ecological succession and its significance,
3. Recognize the different biomes and their roles in the environment,
4. Enumerate the benefits of biodiversity,
5. Explain the human-induced threats to biodiversity locally and globally.

Pre-test
Try to answer honestly the following given below. Write it on the space provided after
the number.
1. ______ The number of individuals from one species, which occupy the same
area and in which inbreeding occurs.
2. ______ The natural home or environment of a species or population.
3. ______ The biological community of organisms, which interact within an
environment.
4. ______ Each of the hierarchal levels within an ecosystem, in which
organisms have the same function and nutritional relationship within a food
chain.
5. ______ The smallest ecological unit which is able to sustain itself and is self-
regulating.

Lesson 1
A. Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, you can;

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 7

1. Define and discuss the different terminologies use,

2. Describe the properties and structure of a community.

B. Discussion
COMMUNITY

A biotic community, also known as a biota or ’biocoenosis’, is the group of

organisms that live together and interact with each other within an
environment or habitat. Together, the biotic community and the physical
landscape or abiotic factors make up an ecosystem.

Communities consist of a group of different species, which partake in

direct and indirect biotic interactions, such as predator-prey interactions,
herbivory, parasitism, competition and mutualisms. Alternatively, the
interrelationships may take a more diffuse route, such as an organism that
creates certain necessary climatic conditions, or one that acts as a
substrate for another organism.

Types of Community
There are two main types of community.

Major Community
A major community is the smallest ecological unit which is able to sustain
itself and is self-regulating. These communities are usually relatively
independent of other communities, for example a pond, a forest, a
grassland or lake. Long lasting and mature major communities contain
only those organisms, which are successfully adapted to the environment
and to the other species within the community.

A major community is an assemblage of a faunal community or

’zoonenosis’, a floral community or ’phytocenosis’, and a microbial
community or ’microbiocenosis’.

Minor Community
Minor communities, or merocenoses, which make up major communities,
are smaller ecological units that are not individually self-sustaining and
rely on interactions with other communities. An example of a minor
community is the collection of organisms, which lives within a piece of
deadwood on the forest floor.

Characteristics of a Community
The features within communities are highly variable, and there are a
number of characteristics that can be used as descriptors to distinguish
them.

Trophic Organization

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 8

Each organism within a community can be categorized within a specific

trophic level, which relates to the way which it obtains nutrition. These
trophic levels can be divided into three main groups: i) primary producers
(also known as autotrophs) manufacture their own food using energy from
the sun to perform photosynthesis. Primary producers are usually green
plants and algae. ii) Consumers, or heterotrophs must obtain their
nutrition from other organisms. Primary consumers, or herbivores eat the
plant material while secondary and tertiary consumers, carnivores or
omnivores, eat the primary consumers. iii) Decomposers (which are also
heterotrophs) consume dead plant and animal material, recycling the
nutrients back in to the earth.

Communities can be described by the way that the energy is transferred

through these trophic levels. For example, in a grassland community, the
grass (primary producer) is consumed by a mouse (primary consumer),
which is consumed by a snake (secondary consumer), and subsequently an
eagle (tertiary consumer). The dead body of the eagle may be consumed by
fungus (decomposer).

Each interaction, from the sun’s energy to the decomposers, makes up a

link in the food chain. It is usually the case however, that a number of
primary producers are eaten by several different primary consumers,
which are subsequently eaten by various secondary consumers. This lack of
specialization results in various interconnected links within a food chain
and so the nutritional relationships take the form of a food web instead.

Dominance
There is usually one or two species at each trophic level, which exert a
more dominant influence over the function and structure of the
community than others. This may be due to their physical size, population
numbers, or activities that have an impact upon other organisms or the
environment. These so called ’ecological dominants’, can have a major
effect on the nature of the community.

Plants usually dominate land communities, and so the name of the

community is often based on the ecologically dominant vegetation, for
example Douglas-fir Woodland or Rocky Mountain Maple Forest. The
ecological dominants may be responsible for modifying the abiotic
conditions of a habitat, although rare species might be equally as
important for the correct functioning of the community. For instance, in a
forest, a dominant tree species may control amount of light available to
other plants, the temperature in the lower canopy, and the nutrients that
are available to other organisms, whilst their reproduction may depend on
pollination by a rare insect

Interdependence
Communities are not just a random mixture of plants, animals and
microbes; each of the organisms within a community has a fundamental
dependence on at least one other, although most organisms will engage in
multiple interactions.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 9

There are three main forms of interdependence.

Nutritional interdependence describes the transfer of energy and

nutrients through feeding. Certain organisms may be more reliant on the
presence of others to fulfill their nutritional requirements, for example
insects that can feed only from one species of plant.

Reproductive independence can take several forms. A common

example is that of pollination, which is present within most communities.
Whilst for the pollinator the interaction provides a food source of nectar,
for the plant, the interaction is essential to its reproductive success.
Certain species may only be able to reproduce on a particular plant or
substrate and are therefore dependent on the presence of this within the
community. Other reproductive independences involve parasitic
interactions, for example cuckoos, which lay their own eggs in the nests of
other birds.

Protective interdependence is the third main interaction. Most

organisms require a level of shelter, and may rely on other organisms
within the community for this. For example, insects living on a tree are
dependent on the leaves and branches to shelter them from predation by
birds.

Interactions between community members are not always linear and can
involve several highly complex interactions. Many of such interactions may
take place only under precise environmental conditions. An example of
this is the symbiosis between corals and their the photosynthetic algae
which live within their body structures. The interaction supplies the coral
with energy and the algae with nutrients; however, the algae only remain
within the body under certain temperatures. If the upper limits of the
temperature threshold are crossed, the algae are expelled and the coral
cannot survive. The complexity of the interactions between species
signifies the delicate balance within communities.

Community Structure
Descriptions of the community structure relate to both the species
richness, which is the total number of species, and the species diversity, a
community complexity measurement which takes in the species richness
as well as their relative abundances (i.e. 5 individuals rather than 100
individuals). Communities in which species exhibit higher species richness
and evenness (the numbers of individuals in each species present are more
equal) are considered to be more diverse.

The structure of a community may be determined by its natural history, i.e.

the chance colonization event of a population onto an island, by (non-
living) abiotic factors such as the climatic patterns, the geography and the
habitat location, or by (living) biotic factors such as the presence of other
organisms which exert pressures such as predation or competition.

Communities at tropical latitudes tend to display high species richness and

diversity, due to the high productivity of plants, which receive large

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 10

amounts of solar energy, and have year-round climatic stability.

Alternatively, community structure in habitats such as arctic tundra are
very different – usually displaying lower species richness as a result of
fewer basic resources such as sunlight and nutrients.

As a general rule, communities that have more species diversity are more
resilient against ecosystem damage.

Lesson 2
A. Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, you can;

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 11

1. Explain the ecological succession and its significance,

2. Differentiate the main types of ecological succession.

B. Discussion
ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
Ecological succession, the process by which the structure of a biological
community evolves over time. Two different types of succession—primary
and secondary—have been distinguished. Primary succession occurs in
essentially lifeless areas—regions in which the soil is incapable of
sustaining life as a result of such factors as lava flows, newly formed sand
dunes, or rocks left from a retreating glacier. Secondary succession occurs
in areas where a community that previously existed has been removed; it is
typified by smaller-scale disturbances that do not eliminate all life and
nutrients from the environment.

Primary and secondary succession both create a continually changing mix

of species within communities as disturbances of different intensities,
sizes, and frequencies alter the landscape. The sequential progression of
species during succession, however, is not random. At every stage certain
species have evolved life histories to exploit the particular conditions of the
community. This situation imposes a partially predictable sequence of
change in the species composition of communities during succession.
Initially only a small number of species from surrounding habitats are
capable of thriving in a disturbed habitat. As new plant species take hold,
they modify the habitat by altering such things as the amount of shade on
the ground or the mineral composition of the soil. These changes allow
other species that are better suited to this modified habitat to succeed the
old species. These newer species are superseded, in turn, by still newer
species. A similar succession of animal species occurs, and interactions
between plants, animals, and environment influence the pattern and rate
of successional change.

In some environments, succession reaches a climax, which produces a

stable community dominated by a small number of prominent species.
This state of equilibrium, called the climax community, is thought to result
when the web of biotic interactions becomes so intricate that no other
species can be admitted. In other environments, continual small-scale
disturbances produce communities that are a diverse mix of species, and
any species may become dominant.

There are two main types of Ecological Succession

Primary Succession: The process of creating life in an area where no life
previously existed.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 12

Secondary Succession: The process of re-stabilization that follows a

disturbance in an area where life has formed an ecosystem.

Primary Succession

Primary succession, type of ecological succession (the evolution of a

biological community’s ecological structure) in which plants and animals
first colonize a barren, lifeless habitat. Species that arrive first in the newly
created environment are called pioneer species, and through their
interactions they build a simple initial biological community.

 The development of an ecosystem in

an area that has never had a
community living within it occurs by
a process called PRIMARY
SUCCESSION.
 An example of an area in which a
community has never lived before,
would be a new lava or rock from a
volcano that makes a new island.
 Begins in a place without any soil
– In the beginning there is only
rock, sand, volcanic ash.
– Since there is no soil, there is
no community.
Why is there no soil?

 Lichens begin growing on the rocks.

Over many years lichens break down
rock into sand.
 Weathering and erosion break down
rock into sand.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 13

 Lichens that do not need soil to survive called PIONEER SPECIES

 Lichens grow larger. Some die. Decomposers arrive and break
down the lichens. The dead lichens and waste materials of the
decomposers enrich the sand. Nitrogen cycle begins. Eventually
enough nutrients enter the sand and it becomes soil.
 Seeds are blown in by the wind or carried in
by animals. Simple plants like mosses can
grow in the new soil
 The plants grow and the soil gets enriched as
plants die..
 Herbs and weeds can grow in the thicker,
enriched soil
 The simple plants die, adding more organic material
 The soil layer thickens, and grasses, wildflowers, and other plants
begin to take over
 Medium sized animals and birds make this their habitat.
 The vegetation grows closer together, reducing the amount of space
available for growing.
 Competition between lichen and shrubs for the same space.
Eventually one species (lichen) will die out (or move) and the other
species will survive (shrubs).
 These plants die, and they add more nutrients to the soil shrubs and
trees can survive now
 Insects, small birds, and mammals have begun to move in what was
once bare rock now supports a variety of life

Pioneer species are the first to make up the community within a bare
landscape once their seeds or spores migrate from surrounding areas and
successfully germinate. These pioneer communities consist of fast
growing, hardy plants with a short lifespan and low biomass, requiring
very little nutrients. The roots of pioneer species contain nitrogen-fixing
bacteria, which are important for the formation of soil and other organic
material.

Seral communities develop in the area after the pioneer community.

These transitional communities consist of intermediate sized species such
as shrubs and heaths, which have high biomass and high nutritional
content. These species further build the soil and nutrients with
biogeochemical cycling.

The Climax Community

 A climax community is a mature, stable community that is the final

stage of ecological succession. In an ecosystem with a climax
community, the conditions continue to be suitable for all the
members of the community.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 14

 Any particular region has its own set of climax species, which are
the plants that are best adapted for the area and will persist after
succession has finished, until another disturbance clears the area.

These are Climax Communities

 Two main physical factors determine the nature of the community

that develops in an area. These are temperature and the amount of
rainfall.
 If we place the amount of rainfall on a graph’s “x” axis, from 0-10,
10-20,and 20-30+ inches and the temperature along the “y” axis
from hot, moderate, to cold, the various types of ecosystems will fit
into the graph based on the conditions that they require.

A summary of changes that occur during succession:

 Pioneer species colonize a bare or disturbed site. Soil building.

 Changes in the physical environment occur (e.g., light, moisture).

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 15

 New species of plants displace existing plants because their

seedlings are better able to become established in the changed
environment.
 Newly arriving species alter the physical conditions, often in ways
that enable other species to become established.
 Animals come in with or after the plants they need to survive.
 Eventually a climax community that is more or less stable will
become established and have the ability to reproduce itself.
 Disturbances will start the process of succession again.

What if?

What if?
Deforestation

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 16

Threats to Climax Communities

• Forest Fires
• Humans building cities and roads
• Flooding, Volcanic eruptions
• Clearing a community for agricultural purposes
• Anything that destroys the existing community, but much of the soil
remains. Sometimes, some of the organisms remain as well.

Secondary Succession

 Organisms are destroyed but the soil is safe.

 The soil already contains the seeds of weeds, grasses, and trees.
More seeds are carried to the area by wind and birds.
 Succession begins again but the primary species are different.
 Because soil is present, this succession is faster.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 17

Secondary Succession on an Abandoned Cornfield

• 1. Some seeds in the soil

begin to grow.
• 2. Larger shrubs move in.
• 3. Fast growing trees (such
as pines) move in
• 4. These are followed by
slower-growing hardwood
trees

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 18

Climax Community

• A stable group of plants and animals that is the end result of the
succession process
• Does not always mean big trees
– Grasses in prairies
– Cacti in deserts
• Insects
• Nationwide, 70 million acres of public and private lands are at serious
risk from insects and diseases
• Across the South, one of the
biggest forest management
challenges is the Southern Pine
Beetle. Attacking timber stands
throughout the region, it is
estimated that 57 million acres
are at risk of infestation. From
1999 to the present, the
Southern Pine Beetle outbreak
has caused timber value losses of
over $1.5 billion. Gypsy Moth, Lymantria dispar (Linnaeus)
female (Photo from USDA APHIS PPQ archives)
• Diseases
• Forest pests and disease have seriously harmed the environment and
have imposed significant cost to the U.S. economy. Exotic pests and
pathogens, such as the chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, and beech
bark disease have had a profound effect on Eastern forests.
• Management of these pests and diseases has been impacted by a
variety of factors such as forest fragmentation, increasing human
population, and the expansion of invasive species.
• Prompt identification and treatment of forest diseases often means
the difference between losing or saving a valuable forest stand.
• Diseases
• Forest pests and disease have seriously harmed the environment and
have imposed significant cost to the U.S. economy. Exotic pests and
pathogens, such as the chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, and beech
bark disease have had a profound effect on Eastern forests.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 19

• Management of these pests and diseases has been impacted by a

variety of factors such as forest fragmentation, increasing human
population, and the expansion of invasive species.
• Prompt identification and treatment of forest diseases often means
the difference between losing or saving a valuable forest stand.
Stratification
Natural climax communities usually exhibit some form of stratification, by
which the populations that make up the community are distributed into
defined vertical or horizontal strata.
For example, the bottom-up stratification of a forest community could be
divided into:
 The subterranean layer
 The forest floor
 The herbaceous vegetation
 The shrub layer
 The canopy layer
Organisms may not occupy only one stratum, moving between the layers
often on a diurnal basis. For example, a bird that feeds on the forest floor
during the day but roosts within the canopy.
A community may occur along a horizontal stratification where there is
transition between successional stages and ecotones.
Ecotone
Communities occur in a range of different sizes, and the boundaries of
each are often not well defined. An ecotone is the transitional area between
two biomes, where communities meet and may integrate.
Many organisms may be part of several different communities because
they have various geographic ranges, and density peaks; if these
boundaries are wide, it is known as an open community. A community in
which the species all have similar geographic ranges and density peaks,
resulting in a discrete unit where the boundaries are well defined, is called
a closed community.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 20

Open communities tend to occur where there is a long environmental

gradient, such as that of soil moisture content or the altitudinal slope of a
mountain. Organisms with different tolerances to the conditions occur at
different spatial scales along the gradients.
Closed communities occur where there is a sharp change in the vegetative
structure or the physical environment, for example, an area of a beach,
which separates the water from the land.
Ecotones are generally very hard to define because within an ecosystem
there are usually organisms, which can disperse between both open and
closed communities.

C. Evaluation/Post-test

1. A climax community is:

a. a community that is found in high latitudes
b. a community in which many new species colonize an area
c. a mature, stable and self-regulating community with high
biodiversity
2. The community structure that can be observed in the ecotone from a
young forest habitat to mature woodland is likely to be:
a. a closed community
b. an open community
c. a pioneer community
3. The smallest ecological unit which is able to sustain itself and is self-
regulating.
a. community
b. minor community
c. none of the above
4. Each of the hierarchal levels within an ecosystem, in which organisms
have the same function and nutritional relationship within a food chain.
a. trophical level c. first level
b. secondary level
5. The biological community of organisms, which interact within an
environment.
a. community c. biodiversity
b. ecosystem
6. The natural home or environment of a species or population.
a. habitat c. environment
b. community
7. The number of individuals from one species, which occupy the same
area and in which inbreeding occurs.
a. group
b. species
c. population

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 21

8. Refer to the initial colonization of a bare landscape which has not

previously been occupied, often following a significant ecological
disturbance such as a volcanic eruption.
a. ecological succession
b. Secondary succession
c. none of these
9. It occurs where a community has existed previously but has been
removed from a landscape, for example, an area of deforestation or an
abandoned cropland.
a. succession
b. First succession
c. Secondary succession
10. It is the group of organisms that live together and interact with each
other within an environment or habitat.
a. biotic community
b. minor community
c. major community

References
https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/news-wires-white-papers-and-
books/biological-communities
https://www.britannica.com/science/primary-succession
https://biologydictionary.net/community/

Congratulations for completing this module!

Privacy Notice for Module

For this Module, we collect your name, program, year and section, contact number,
email address, Facebook and messenger account when you submit your printed
module for purposes of coordination and communication.

All personal information collected will be stored in a secure location and only
authorized staff will have access to them.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 22

Student’s Information

Name:
Program:
Year and Section:
Contact No.:
E-mail address:
Facebook Account:
Messenger Account:
WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

Vision 2020
WPU: the leading knowledge center for sustainable
development of West Philippines and beyond.

Mission
WPU commits to develop quality human resource and green
technologies for a dynamic economy and sustainable
development through relevant instruction,
research and extension services.

Core Values (3CT)

Culture of Excellence
WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
Commitment