Population
All organisms of the same kind living together in the same habitat form a population. For example the mango trees in a school compound, tilapia fish in a stream and a swarm of bees on a tree are all populations.
Community
A community us made up of all the populations of living organisms that exist together in a habitat.
In a fresh water pond, the community includes the following population of:
• micro organisms such as bacteria and protists;
• animals such as hydroids , copepods , bloodworms, annelids, insects, pond snail, fishes, tadpoles and frogs;
• plant such as the thread like algae, reed like plants along the pond margin, rooted plants (some with submerged leaves and others with floating leaves), and free floating plants (on water and in water).
The community on a rotting log will consist mainly of population of
• decomposers like bacteria and fungi;
• insects , especially termites and ants ; lizards; and small birds.
