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Competition is an interaction between organisms or species in which both require one or more resources that are in limited supply (such as food, water, or territory). [1] Competition lowers the fitness of both organisms involved since the presence of one of the organisms always reduces the amount of the resource available to the other. [2]
Contest competition is the opposite of scramble competition, a situation in which available resources are shared equally among individuals. As contest competition allows the monopolization of resources, offspring will typically always be produced and survive until adulthood independent of the population size, resulting in stable population ...
This glossary of biology terms is a list of definitions of fundamental terms and concepts used in biology, the study of life and of living organisms.It is intended as introductory material for novices; for more specific and technical definitions from sub-disciplines and related fields, see Glossary of cell biology, Glossary of genetics, Glossary of evolutionary biology, Glossary of ecology ...
Intraguild predation is common in nature and widespread across communities and ecosystems. [2] Intraguild predators must share at least one prey species and usually occupy the same trophic guild, and the degree of IGP depends on factors such as the size, growth, and population density of the predators, as well as the population density and behavior of their shared prey. [1]
Apparent competition is generally associated with inter rather than intraspecific competition, whereby two different species share a common predator. An adaptation that makes one species less likely to be eaten results in a reduction in fitness for the other prey species because the predator species hunts more intensely as food has become more ...
Competition among plants for light is size-asymmetric because of the directionality of its supply. [2] Higher leaves shade lower leaves but not vice versa. Competition for nutrients appears to be relatively size-symmetric, [9] although it has been hypothesized that a patchy distribution of nutrients in the soil may lead to size asymmetry in competition among roots.
Coexistence theory attempts to explain the paradox of the plankton-- how can ecologically similar species coexist without competitively excluding each other?. Coexistence theory is a framework to understand how competitor traits can maintain species diversity and stave-off competitive exclusion even among similar species living in ecologically similar environments.
Understanding the differences between the R* theory and its major alternative the CSR triangle theory is a major goal in community ecology for many years. [6] [7] Unlike the R* theory, the CSR theory predicts that competitive ability is determined by relative growth rate and other size related traits.