Interference Competition

Information about Interference Competition

Trees in this Bangladesh forest are in competition for light.

Competition can be defined as an interaction between organisms or species, in which the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of another. Limited supply of at least one resource (such as food, water, and territory) used by both is required.^[1] Competition both within and between species is an important topic ecology, especially in community ecology. Competition is one of many interacting biotic and abiotic factors that affect community structure. Competition among members of the same species is known as intraspecific competition, while competition between individuals of different species is known as interspecific competition. Competition is not always a straightforward, direct interaction either, and can occur in both a direct and indirect fashion.

According to the competitive exclusion principle, species less suited to compete for resources should either adapt or die out. According to evolutionary theory, this competition within and between species for resources plays a critical role in natural selection.

Types of competition

By mechanism

The following terms describe mechanisms by which competition occurs, which can generally be divided into direct and indirect. These mechanisms apply equally to interspecific and interspecific competition.

Male-male competition in red deer during rut is an example of interference competition within a species.

Interference competition - occurs directly between individuals via aggression etc. when the individuals interfere with foraging, survival, reproduction of others, or by directly preventing their physical establishment in a portion of the habitat.
Exploitation competition - occurs indirectly through a common limiting resource which acts as an intermediate. For example the use of the resource(s) depletes the amount available to others, or they compete for space.
Apparent competition - occurs indirectly between two species which are both preyed upon by the same predator. For example, species A and species B are both preys for predator C. The increase of species A will cause the decrease of species B because the increase of A's would increase the number of predator C's which in turn will hunt more of species B.

Interspecific and intraspecific

Intraspecific competition

Main article: Intraspecific competition

Intraspecific competition occurs when members of the same species vie for the same resources in an ecosystem (e.g. food or nutrients, light or space). For example, two trees growing close together will compete for light above ground, and water and nutrients in the soil. Therefore, getting less resources, they will usually perform less well than if they grew by themselves. Adaptations to such an environment include growing taller (especially in forests), or developing a larger root system.

Interspecific competition

Main article: Interspecific competition

Interspecific competition may occur when individuals of two separate species share a limiting resource in the same area. If the resource cannot support both populations, then lowered fecundity, growth, or survival may result in at least one species. Interspecific competition has the potential to alter populations, communities and the evolution of interacting species. An example among animals could be the case of cheetahs and lions; since both species feed on similar prey, they are negatively impacted by the presence of the other because they will have less food. In fact, lions sometimes steal prey items killed by cheetahs.

Evolutionary strategies

Main article: r/K selection theory

In evolutionary contexts, competition is related to the concept of r/K selection theory, which relates to the selection of traits which promote success in particular environments. The theory originates from work on island biogeography by the ecologists Robert MacArthur and E. O. Wilson^[2].

In r/K selection theory, selective pressures are hypothesised to drive evolution in one of two stereotyped directions: r- or K-selection^[3]. These terms, r and K, are derived from standard ecological algebra, as illustrated in the simple Verhulst equation of population dynamics^[4]:

$\text{[math]}$

where r is the growth rate of the population (N), and K is the carrying capacity of its local environmental setting. Typically, r-selected species exploit empty niches, and produce many offspring, each of whom has a relatively low probability of surviving to adulthood. In contrast, K-selected species are strong competitors in crowded niches, and invest more heavily in much fewer offspring, each of whom has a relatively high probability of surviving to adulthood.

References

1. ^ Begon, M.; Harper, J. L.; Townsend, C. R. (1996) Ecology Blackwell Science.
2. ^ MacArthur, R. and Wilson, E. O. (1967). The Theory of Island Biogeography, Princeton University Press (2001 reprint), ISBN 0-691-08836-5M.
3. ^ Pianka, E. R. (1970). On r and K selection. American Naturalist 104, 592-597.
4. ^ Verhulst, P. F. (1838). Notice sur la loi que la population pursuit dans son accroissement. Corresp. Math. Phys. 10, 113-121.

• • [ e] Inter-species biological interactions in ecology
Amensalism • Commensalism • Mutualism • Neutralism • Synnecrosis • Predation (Carnivory, Herbivory, Parasitism, Parasitoidism, Cheating) • Symbiosis • Competition

Biological interactions result from the fact that organisms in an ecosystem interact with each other, in the natural world, no organism is an autonomous entity isolated from its surroundings.
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Plantae

Chromalveolata

Heterokontophyta

Haptophyta

Cryptophyta

Alveolata

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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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Fitness (often denoted in population genetics models) is a central concept in evolutionary theory. It describes the capability of an individual of certain genotype to reproduce, and usually is equal to the proportion of the individual's genes in all the genes of the next generation.
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In biology, agricultural science, physiology, and ecology, a limiting factor is one that controls a process, such as organism growth or species population size or distribution.
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Food is any substance, usually composed primarily of carbohydrates, fats, water and/or proteins, that can be eaten or drunk by an animal or human being for nutrition or pleasure.
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Water is a common chemical substance that is essential to all known forms of life.^[1] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor.
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In ethology, sociobiology and behavioral ecology, the term territory refers to any sciographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics (and, occasionally, animals of other species).
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Ecology (also known as Oekologie, Okology, or Oekology^[1],from Greek: οίκος, oikos, "household"; and λόγος, logos
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Community ecology is a subdiscipline of ecology which studies the distribution, abundance, demography, and interactions between coexisting populations. Interactions between populations, determined by specific genotypic and phenotypic characteristics, is the primary focus of
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Biotic means relating to, produced by, or caused by living organisms.

The term biotic may also refer to:

Life, the condition of living organisms,
Biology, the study of life,
Biotic factors in ecology,

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In biology, abiotic components are non-living chemical and physical factors in the environment. These may be classified as light, temperature, water, atmospheric gases, and wind as well as soil and animal (edaphic) and physiographic (nature of land surface) factors.
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In ecology, a community is an assemblage of populations of different species, interacting with one another.

The term is used in various ways with slight differences in meaning. Sometimes it is limited to specific places, times, or subsets of organisms.
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Intraspecific competition is a particular form of competition in which members of the same species vie for the same resource in an ecosystem (e.g. food, light, nutrients, space). This can be contrasted with Interspecific competition, in which different species compete.
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Interspecific competition, in ecology, is a form of competition in which individuals of different species vie for the same resource in an ecosystem (e.g. food or living space).
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In community ecology, the competitive exclusion principle^[1], sometimes referred to as Gause's Law of competitive exclusion or just Gause's Law^[2], is a theory which states that two species competing for the same resources cannot stably coexist.
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An adaptation is a positive characteristic of an organism that has been favored by natural selection.^[1] The concept is central to biology, particularly in evolutionary biology.
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extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point).
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Deconstructing Creole. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
• Croft, W. (2000). Explaining language change: An Evolutionary Approach. London: Longman.
• Mufwene, S.S. (1991). Pidgins, creoles, typology, and markedness. In Byrne, F. & T. Huebner (eds.) 1991).
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Natural selection is the process by which favorable traits that are heritable become more common in successive generations of a population of reproducing organisms, and unfavorable traits that are heritable become less
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This article or section may be confusing or unclear for some readers.
Please [improve the article] or discuss this issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since September 2007.
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aggression refers to behavior that is intended to cause harm or pain. Aggression can be either physical or verbal. Behavior that accidentally causes harm or pain is not aggression. Property damage and other destructive behavior may also fall under the definition of aggression.
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tree is a perennial woody plant. It is sometimes defined as a woody plant that attains diameter of 10 cm (30 cm girth) or more at breast height (130 cm above ground).
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Light is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the eye (visible light). In a scientific context, the word "light" is sometimes used to refer to the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
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macronutrients and those needed in relatively small quantities are called micronutrients.

See healthy diet for information on the role of nutrients in human nutrition.

Types of human nutrients

Macronutrients are defined in several different ways.
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SOiL is a five-piece Hard Rock band from Chicago, Illinois, United States. They formed in 1997 and are still active. They are signed to DRT Entertainment and have released four albums, their most recent being True Self which was released in March 27 2006.
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