Lec 10 & 11 -Competition:

Competition- organisms that use the same resource in similar ways

which reduces the growth, survival or reproduction of each species
Interspecific competition- competition that harms both species by
limiting the availability of a shared resource that is used in the same
way
Limiting resource- a biotic or abiotic factor that limits the reproduction
and survival and growth of an organism and that can be used up or
delepleted.
Species distribution is influenced by competition. Ex: Tansleys plants
that live in either acidic or calcareous soils when together but can live
in either when alone.
Evolution is influenced by competition. Ex: darwins finches in the
Galapagos compete over seeds so they develop different beak sizes
enabling them to partition the seeds.
Resource partitioning: using a limiting resource in different ways
Ex: Tilmans experiment on competiton for resources using diatoms
that competed for silica. when grown alone, both reached carrying
capacity. One species reduced silica levels to lower level than the
other.
-when grown together, species that lowered silica levels to
lower levels drove the other to extinction because they could tolerate
lower levels of silica
R-star or R* species is the one that can persist at lower resource
concentrations and will drive another species to extinction.
Types of competition (2):
Exploitation: species use the same resource in the same way, indirectly
affects the growth, survival and reproduction of both species since the
resource is being limited. (example is Tilmans diatoms w/silica)
Interference: species directly compete over a resource (ex: the battles
of many top level predators over prey as seen on tv, sessile ex:
barnacles, kudzu vine)
Allelopathy: plant using secondary compounds as in toxins, to harm a
competing species, form of interference competition
Competion is ususally unequal/assymetrical and limits species
distribution and abundance.

Natual experiment: situation in nature that is equivalent in effect to a

controlled removal experiment
Competing species are likely to coexist when they use resources in diff
ways.
Ex: Gauses paramecium (3), grown alone and reached K. Grown
together and one either drove other to extinction if fed in same way, or
both coexisted if one fed on top layer and other on bottom.
Which leads to the competitive exclusion principle: no two species can
occupy the same niche, the superior competitor may drive the inferior
to extinction if they dont change they way they use the resource.
Ex: red/green cyanobacterium. In red light, green cyanobacterium
drives red to extinction, vice versa. In while light, they both coexist.
Natural selection can alter the outcome of competition by competitive
reversal, making the inferior species the superior by unknown
mechanisms or by changing environmental conditions, or by character
displacement by using resources in different ways over time (by
changing morphology; like Darwins finches).
Competition can also be altered by environmental conditions and
disturbances such that the outcome of competition is never fulfilled
before the next disturbance event.
Logisitc > Lotka-Voltera competition model with alpha and beta,
isoclines (4) and alpha<K1/K2<1/beta inequality.
Lec 12 Predation:
3-way feeding relations between predators, herbivores and plants can
cause population cycles.
This gives the Lotka-Volterra predator-prey model: (with dN/dt=rN-aNP,
dP/dt=baNP-mP)
Shows population cycles, predators are usually quarter cycle behind
prey.
Unrealistic property: depends on initial population size
Predators rarely cause extinctions because of 1.Habitat complexity
2.spatial refuge 3.prey switching 4.prey responding to predation
5.evolution
Population cycles difficult to achieve in lab. Ex. Mites that eat 6 spotted
mite, both went extinct. Had to use complex experiment to increase

difficulty of prey being captured by predator, then got population

cycles.
In rotifer and algal species, there was a pop. Cycle but it did not peak
at same time. Instead it peaked when other spp. Was at their lowest
levels. (Asynchronous)
Found evolution to be the cause. However, it was a tradeoff: most
resistant to predator genotypes were poor competitors.
Cycle goes like this: when predator d is high, resistant genotype incr,
when prey is high, resistant genotype is bad competitor, so other
genotype increases, when it does so, predator populations start to rise