Lecture 7: Community ecology, Mostly competition Flashcards
interspecific competition
competition for resources between different species
intraspecific competition
competition for resources within the same species
interference competition
physically restricting another species from a portion of habitat
exploitative competition
individuals interact indirectly as they compete for common resources, like territory, prey or food, the use of the resource to this individual will leave less for the other individuals
Lotka-Volterra model formula for inter specific competition?
dN/dt=r1N1(1-N1/K1-alpha12N2/K1)
dN2/dt=r1N2(1-N2/K2-alpha12N1/K2)
what is the Lotka-Volterra model used for?
to describe the dynamics of ecological systems in which two species interact, one a predator and one its prey
competitive exclusion
when two species live together one species ends up excluding the other
character displacement
evolutionary change that occurs when two similar species inhabit the same environment
species coexistence
two species exist together in the same place at the same time
paradox of the plankton
situation in which a limited range of resources supports an unexpectedly wide range of plankton species, apparently contradicting the competitive exclusion principle which state that when two species compete for the same resource, one will be driven to extinction.
resolving the paradox of the plankton
in reality most species are kept below the carrying capacity from predator, weather, disease