Book contents
- Animal Population Ecology
- Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation
- Animal Population Ecology
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Prologue
- 1 Hunting Strategies of Predators as Revealed in Field Studies of Great Tits
- 2 The Paradox of Crypsis: Is it Effective against Visual Predation?
- 3 Logistic Law of Population Growth: What Is It Really?
- 4 Reproduction Curves and Their Utilities
- 5 Generalization of the Logistic Model
- 6 Scramble and Contest Competition: What Is the Difference?
- 7 Regulation of Populations: Its Myths and Real Nature
- 8 Predator–Prey Interaction Processes
- 9 Interspecific Competition Processes
- 10 Observations, Analyses, and Interpretations: A Personal View through the Spruce Budworm Studies
- References
- Index
9 - Interspecific Competition Processes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 April 2021
- Animal Population Ecology
- Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation
- Animal Population Ecology
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Prologue
- 1 Hunting Strategies of Predators as Revealed in Field Studies of Great Tits
- 2 The Paradox of Crypsis: Is it Effective against Visual Predation?
- 3 Logistic Law of Population Growth: What Is It Really?
- 4 Reproduction Curves and Their Utilities
- 5 Generalization of the Logistic Model
- 6 Scramble and Contest Competition: What Is the Difference?
- 7 Regulation of Populations: Its Myths and Real Nature
- 8 Predator–Prey Interaction Processes
- 9 Interspecific Competition Processes
- 10 Observations, Analyses, and Interpretations: A Personal View through the Spruce Budworm Studies
- References
- Index
Summary
In this chapter, I look into one of controversial issues in population ecology: the ‘competitive exclusion principle’ or ‘No two species of similar ecology can coexist or can occupy the same ecological niche’. I build a simple system model to theoretically demonstrate that two competing species may or may not coexist, depending on the combinations of the model’s parameter values. I recognize four categories of parameter combinations, one of which ensures stable coexistence, whereas in the remaining three categories one species is always eliminated. I consider the likelihood of the occurrence of these four categories in a natural environment to contend that the coexistence is not only possible theoretically but would even be the norm among natural populations. I discuss the implication of this perception on the evolution of niche selection by species in natural situations.
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- Animal Population EcologyAn Analytical Approach, pp. 225 - 251Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021