<P> In ecology, a community is a group or association of populations of two or more different species occupying the same geographical area and in a particular time, also known as a biocoenosis The term community has a variety of uses . In its simplest form it refers to groups of organisms in a specific place or time, for example, "the fish community of Lake Ontario before industrialization". </P> <P> Community ecology or synecology is the study of the interactions between species in communities on many spatial and temporal scales, including the distribution, structure, abundance, demography, and interactions between coexisting populations . The primary focus of community ecology is on the interactions between populations as determined by specific genotypic and phenotypic characteristics . Community ecology has its origin in European plant sociology . Modern community ecology examines patterns such as variation in species richness, equitability, productivity and food web structure (see community structure); it also examines processes such as predator--prey population dynamics, succession, and community assembly . </P>

A group of interacting different species in a given area is called