Interspecific Competition

Question 1

What is a community?

Answer 1

A group of different organisms that live in the same ecosystem and live in the same time frame

Question 2

What are the ecological networks?

Answer 2

Mutual

Parasite/host networks

Tropic networks- foodwebs

Question 3

Bottom up vs bottom down?

Answer 3

Bottom up: Lower trophic levels regulate the community

Bottom down: High trophic levels regulate the community

Question 4

Assembly rules

Answer 4

1) remove a species
- how does the community restructure
- which species will increase/decrease as a result

2) Reconstruct the colonization sequence
-rebuild rejuvenate a species eg) sturgeon
- important for restoration ecology
Eg) speckled belly lichen

Question 5

Explain the competitive exclusion principle

Answer 5

Two species that require the same resources/requirements cannot coexist

• “There can only be one”
• problems with invasive - spartina Angelica

Question 6

What are the two possible outcomes of interspecific competition?

Answer 6

1) Competitive exclusion
- one species has a competitive edge over the other in regards to acquiring resources
- Losing species will migrate to a new area or adapt new survival techniques to mitigate competition

2) Resource partioning
- process of niche evolution

Question 7

What is a niche?

Answer 7

Fundamental role of a species in its respective community

Fundamental niche:Full range of variables which an organism adapts

Realized niche: conditions in which an organism actually exists

-restricted by competition,etc