Resource Competition

Question 1

What are trophic interactions?

Answer 1

Relationships that are about feeding

Question 2

What are reproductive interactions?

Answer 2

Relationships that are about reproduction

Question 3

What are habitat-related interactions?

Answer 3

Relationships that are about species creating habitat

Question 4

What are the two types of competition?

Answer 4

Intraspecific and interspecific

Question 5

What is intraspecific competition?

Answer 5

Between individuals of the same species

Question 6

What is interspecific competition?

Answer 6

Between individuals of different species

Question 7

How does intraspecific competition influence population dynamics?

Answer 7

Responsible for a decline in population growth in the logistic growth model

Question 8

What is interference competition?

Answer 8

Direct aggressive interaction between individuals
Both animals and plants
Most common in animals

Question 9

What is exploitative competition?

Answer 9

Indirect competition to secure resources first
Both animals and plants
Most common in plants
Two interacting individuals deplete the resource to their own benefit
Resources become limiting, the two start to compete by increasing uptake efficiency and depleting the resource

Question 10

Is competition more common in plants or animals?

Answer 10

Plants
They exist in higher densities than animals
Plants are sessile and cannot move out of the way

Question 11

What is Grime’s proposal for competition at high resource availability?

Answer 11

High productivity
High competition

Question 12

What is Grime’s proposal for competition at low resource availability?

Answer 12

Low productivity
Low competition

Question 13

What is Tilaman’s proposal for competition at high resource availability?

Answer 13

High productivity
Strong competition

Question 14

What is Tilman’s proposal for competition at low resource availability?

Answer 14

Low productivity
Low competition above ground, high competition below ground

Question 15

What is the competitive exclusion principle?

Answer 15

Two species with the same niche cannot co-exist indefinitely

Question 16

When does competitive exclusion not occur?

Answer 16

When disease and predation are the bigger limiting factors
In extreme or highly variable environments

Question 17

How does competition act as a selective force in evolution?

Answer 17

Increased frequency of the most competitive individuals and increased frequency of individuals that avoid competition

Question 18

What is character displacement?

Answer 18

Changes in the characteristics of a species’ population as a consequence of natural selection for reduced competition in regions where species co-occur

Question 19

What is a species complex?

Answer 19

Set of species that are morphologically similar and can occupy overlapping ranges, but show reproductive isolation

Question 20

What is a benthic species?

Answer 20

Live at the bottom of a water body, have few, short gill rakers, wider gape

Question 21

What is a limnetic species?

Answer 21

Occupy the open upper zone of a water body, have many long gill rakers, narrow gape

Question 22

What criteria must be met to test if character displacement occurred?

Answer 22

Chance should be ruled out
Phenotypic differences must have a genetic basis
Phenotypic differences in sympathy should result from evolutionary shifts
Phenotypic differences should relate to resource use
Sites of sympathy and allopatry should be similar
Should be evidence that similar phenotypes compete for resource