Ecology: Competition

Interspecific and Intraspecific competition

• Competition in ecology is the struggle between organisms to survive as they attempt to use the same limited resources.
• Interspecific competition is a form of competition between different species of the same ecological area. Examples include prey animals competing for the same food resources or different trees competing for sunlight in a dense forest.
• Intraspecific competition occurs between the same species, and is often more significant because they require precisely identical resources. This kind of competition can directly influence an organism's ability to reproduce and survive.

Factors affecting competition

• Organisms compete for a number of resources including food, water, space, light, and mates.
• The availability of these resources determines the carrying capacity of a region, the maximum number of organisms an ecosystem can sustain.
• Predation, the hunting of one organism by another, can also be a contributing factor to competition as organisms may compete to evade predators.
• Environmental changes, both natural and man-made, can greatly affect resource availability and thus competition levels.

Adaptations and Survival

• Organisms may evolve adaptations to improve their competitive ability. For example, plants may develop deeper root systems to access more groundwater, and animals might develop better camouflage to hide from predators.
• Organisms with advantageous traits are more likely to survive the competition for resources, reproduce, and pass on their traits to the next generation, a process known as natural selection.
• Over time, this may lead to the development of new species, known as speciation.

Effects of Competition

• Competition can lead to the extinction of species if one species is better adapted to compete for resources.
• It can also lead to niche differentiation, where competing species each adopt different behavioural or physical characteristics to reduce competition.

Human Impact

• Humans have a significant impact on biological communities and competition due to factors like deforestation, pollution, over-hunting, and climate change.
• These influences can create imbalance in populations and increase competition for dwindling resources.
• Mitigation strategies, such as conservation and regulation of resource use, can help manage the effects of human activity on ecological competition.