Synecology, also referred to as community ecology, is the study of a group of organism populations in the same area and their various interactions. This can include many different things, including distribution, structure, demography and interactions that occur between organisms in a same area. This helps us learn about our surroundings, and how various organisms interact with each other, whether peaceably, territorial, or aggressive.

Synecology has its roots in European plant sociology. It stems from phytosociology, which is the study of plant communities. These communities were categorized with a specific system, allowing for easy access to the information. Synecology does that, but on a much larger scale, focusing on all communities in nature.

Modern synecology focuses on patterns within communities of species and organisms. This includes how many of each species, how much stake each species has in the community, what the species does for the community, as well as how the species eats within the community. It also can get into predatory-prey dynamics and how it effects everything listed before.

Synecology's focus is on how different organisms and species interact with each other in each area. This helps create an accessible database of information for scientists to have on a specific region. Many sciences benefit from synecology, but the biosciences (life sciences) benefit the most, being that ecology stems from biology. The way scientists study synecology is through two specific characteristics: genotypic and phenotypic.

There are a few theories to go along with Synecology. Holistic theory, created by Frederic Clements, is when species in a certain area, though near each other, are mostly independent from each other.

Individualistic theory was created by Henry A. Gleason. He created the concept of an open community, when most a population changes according to the environment. This change happens to individual populations and not all populations equally. This creates communities that would be labeled as discrete, or almost private communities.

Natural theory, made popular by Stephen Hubbell, is a hypothesis that does its best to explain abundance of certain species in ecological communities. His hypothesis makes assumptions, such as that members of an ecological community have differences, though none of them are relevant to their success. This means that biodiversity would occur on a random scale, which causes much controversy in the scientific community.

Synecology is the basis for how we view communities. Communities exist all around us, from our plants and insects, to the microscopic organisms we cannot see with our eyes. Synecology helps better understand these communities, and with that will help us adapt our lives around it.

Related Links: Science Biology Branches of Biology