As indicated above, ecologists have long thought that competition between species was important in communities.
For example, although he often focused on competition within species, Darwin (1859) also argued that competition between species could influence both ecological and evolutionary processes.
Darwin recognized that interspecific competition could lead to two possible outcomes. At one extreme, if a dominant species prevents another species from using essential resources, the inferior species may become locally extinct, aprocess known as competitive exclusion. We saw this result in the diatom example tested in a laboratory setting (see Figure 14.6). However, in reality, most species show some sort of competitive coexistence, or the ability to coexist with one another despite sharing limiting resources. Let's consider some general features of competition that lead to either competitive exclusion or competitive coexistence.
More on the topic As indicated above, ecologists have long thought that competition between species was important in communities.:
- Ecologists may use subsets of species to define communities
- Ecologists often delineate communities by their physical or biological characteristics
- CONCEPT 19.1 Species diversity differs among communities as a consequence of regional species pools, abiotic conditions, and species interactions.
- The outcome of competition between species can be changed by a broad suite of factors, including features of the physical environment, disturbance, and interactions with other species.
- CONCEPT 16.2 Species diversity and species composition are important descriptors of community structure.
- Competition for resources is common in natural communities
- Species within communities differ in their commonness or rarity
- Competition between species in theory and reality
- In the Case Study at the opening of this chapter, we saw lower hantavirus prevalence in small-mammal communities with higher species diversity than in those with lower species diversity (see Figure 19.2).
- Species diversity is an important measure of community structure
- Competition can occur between closely or distantly related species
- Overexploitation of species has large effects on ecological communities
- 19 Species Diversity in Communities
- suttonella ornithicola sp. NOV. INFECTIONS OF SPECIES OF TIT AND LONG-TAILED TITS
- The physical environment can affect competition and ultimately the distribution of species
- CONCEPT 16.1 Communities are groups of interacting species that occur together at the same place and time.
- CONCEPT 13.5 Parasites can alter the outcomes of species interactions, thereby causing communities to change.
- CONCEPT 19.2 Resource partitioning is theorized to reduce competition and increase species diversity.
- CONCEPT 14.1 Competition can be direct or indirect, vary in its intensity, and occur between similar or dissimilar species.
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