Ecosystem Essay
In ecology, the competitive exclusion principle, sometimes referred to as
Gause's law of competitive exclusion or just Gause's law, is a proposition which states that two species competing for the same resources cannot coexist if other ecological factors are the same. When one species has even the slightest advantage or edge over another, then the one with the advantage will dominate in the long term. One of the two competitors will always overcome the other, leading to either the extinction of this competitor or an evolutionary or behavioral shift towards a different ecological niche. An example could be of squirrels in
England. The Red Squirrel is native to Britain but its population has declined due to competitive exclusion, disease and the disappearance of forests in Britain. The
Grey Squirrel was introduced to Britain in about 30 sites between 1876 and 1929.
It has easily adapted to parks and gardens, replacing the red squirrel (Source http:/
/www.redsquirrels.info/). Species can divide up a limiting resource, such as food, water, or habitat (in other words the resource "pie"), by using different slices or even using the same "slice" but in different places (i.e., they are dining in different restaurants, to take the analogy one step further) or at different times ("do you have a table free at eight o'clock?") (Source http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/ library/resource-partitioning-and-why-it-matters-17362658) 3. Carnivores can affect the size of prey populations in a community and determine the places prey can live. Herbivores can affect both the size and distribution of plant populations in a community and determine the places that certain plants can survive and grow. For example: let A represent a carnivore, B represent a herbivore, and C represent plants. If A is abundant in a given area, there will be less B because A hunt B. Since B hunts C, there will be more C where there are more A, because of the lack of B in the
Gause's law of competitive exclusion or just Gause's law, is a proposition which states that two species competing for the same resources cannot coexist if other ecological factors are the same. When one species has even the slightest advantage or edge over another, then the one with the advantage will dominate in the long term. One of the two competitors will always overcome the other, leading to either the extinction of this competitor or an evolutionary or behavioral shift towards a different ecological niche. An example could be of squirrels in
England. The Red Squirrel is native to Britain but its population has declined due to competitive exclusion, disease and the disappearance of forests in Britain. The
Grey Squirrel was introduced to Britain in about 30 sites between 1876 and 1929.
It has easily adapted to parks and gardens, replacing the red squirrel (Source http:/
/www.redsquirrels.info/). Species can divide up a limiting resource, such as food, water, or habitat (in other words the resource "pie"), by using different slices or even using the same "slice" but in different places (i.e., they are dining in different restaurants, to take the analogy one step further) or at different times ("do you have a table free at eight o'clock?") (Source http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/ library/resource-partitioning-and-why-it-matters-17362658) 3. Carnivores can affect the size of prey populations in a community and determine the places prey can live. Herbivores can affect both the size and distribution of plant populations in a community and determine the places that certain plants can survive and grow. For example: let A represent a carnivore, B represent a herbivore, and C represent plants. If A is abundant in a given area, there will be less B because A hunt B. Since B hunts C, there will be more C where there are more A, because of the lack of B in the