JD L2 Flashcards
(9 cards)
What is interspecific competition?
Competition that takes place between different species
Two principal ways interspecific competition occurs
- Exploitation competition - species compete indirectly through utilization of a shared resource
- Interference competition - species compete directly, confrontation is antagonistic, includes mobile and sessile organisms
What does the Lotka-Volterra model demonstrate?
The impact of interspecific competitions
What is a niche?
The unique set of habitat resources a species requires as well as its effects on an ecological system
What is niche partitioning?
The differentiation of niches that enables similar species to coexist
What is character displacement?
The tendency for two species to diverge in morphology and thus resource use because of competition
What is Gause’s Law?
Also known as the competitive exclusion principle, it contends that to exist in a stable environment two competing species must differ in their ecological niche
Fundamental vs. realised niche
Fundamental - physiologically optimal range of conditions where a species can survive
Realised- where the species actually lives
Competitive exclusion results in 3 possible outcomes. List them
- Supremacy
- Extinction
- Evasive or adaptive change
