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The factors that determine the overall structure of a community are the number of species (diversity) within it, the number of each species (abundance) found within it, the interactions among the species, and the ability of the community to return to normal after a disruptive influence such as fire or drought. The change of biological communities over time is known as succession, or ecological succession.

The various species in a community each occupy their own ecological niche. The niche of a species includes all of its interactions with other members of the community, including competition, predation, parasitism, and mutualism. The organisms within a community can be positioned along food chains by showing which eats which, and these positions are known as trophic levels. The first level includes the producers—the photosynthetic plants—which convert the Sun’s radiant energy into nutrients available to other organisms in the community.