Interspecific

Competition
Nama Anggota Kelompok:
Lisa Dwi Ningtyas (3415151885)
Ida Lestari (3415150611)
Ockti Isnayni Darise (341515)
Dhia Rahid (341515)
 Interspecific Competition Involves Two or
More Species
• interspecific competition is
relationship that affects the
populations of two or more
species adversely (– –).
Because of competition, one or
more of these species may
broaden the base of their
foraging efforts. Populations of
these species may be forced to
turn away from acorns to food
that is less in demand.
• Like intraspecific competition, interspecific competition takes two forms:
exploitation and interference (see Section 11.3).
• As an alternative to this simple dichotomous classification of competitive
interactions, Thomas Schoener of the University of California, Davis
proposed that six types of interactions are sufficient to account for most
instances of interspecific competition:
(1) consumption
(2) preemption
(3) overgrowth
(4) chemical interaction
(5) territorial
(6) encounter
(1) consumption
Consumption competition occurs when individuals of
one species inhibit individuals of another by consuming
a shared resource, such as the competition among
various animal species for acorns.
(2) preemption
Preemptive competition occurs primarily among sessile
organisms, such as barnacles, where the occupation by
one individual precludes establishment (occupation) by
others.
(3) overgrowth
Overgrowth competition occurs when one organism
literally grows over another (with or without physical
contact), inhibiting access to some essential resource.
(4) chemical interaction
In chemical interactions, chemical growth inhibitors or
toxins released by an individual inhibit or kill other
species. Allelopathy in plants, in which chemicals
produced by some plants inhibit germination and
establishment of other species, is an example of this
type of species i nteraction.
(5) territorial
Territorial competition results from the behavioral
exclusion of others from a specific space that is
defended as a territory (see Section 1 1.10).
(6) encounter
Encounter competition results when nonterritorial
meetings between individuals negatively affect one or
both of the participant species. Various species of
scavengers fighting over the carcass of a dead animal
provide an example of this type of interaction.
 There Are Four Possible Putcomes of
Interspecific Competition
In the early 20th century, two mathematicians—the American Alfred
Lotka and the Italian Vittora Volterra—independently arrived at
mathematical expressions to describe the relationship between two
species using the same resource. Both men began with the logistic
equation for population growth that we developed earlier ( Chapter
11) :
Laboratory Experiments Support the Lotka-
Volterra Equations
(a) Species 1 (b) Species 2

(c) Species 1 wins (d) Species 2

wins

(d) Competition (f) Coexixtence

can go either
way
Studies Support the Competitive Exclusion Principle
• The competitive exclusion principle, which states that “complete
competitors” cannot coexist. Complete competitors are two species (non-
interbreeding populations) that live in the same place and have exactly
the same ecological requirements
• The competitive exclusion principle involves assumptions about the species
involved as well as the environment in which they exist. First, this principle
assumes that the competitors have exactly the same resource requirements.
Second, it assumes that environmental conditions remain constant.
• Variety of factors affecting the outcome of interspecific
competition, including environmental factors that directly
influence a species’ survival, growth, and reproduction but
are not consumable resources (such as temperature or pH);
spatial and temporal variations in resource availability;
competition for multiple limiting resources; and resource
partitioning.
Competition Is Influenced by Nonresource Factors

Figure 14.3 Competition between two species of diatom,

Asterionella formosa (Af) and Synedra ulna (Su), for silicate
(Si).
(a, b) Grown alone in a culture fl ask, both species reach a
stable population that keeps silicate at a constant low level.
Synedra draws silicate lower. (c) When the two are grown
together, Synedra reduces silicate to a point at which
Asterionella dies out.
• The late Fakhri Bazzaz of Harvard
University examined the responses of a
variety of annual plants that dominate
during the early stages of old-field
succession (colonization following
disturbance) to variations in air .
• Species differed significantly in the
range of temperatures over which
maximum rates of seed germination
occurred ( Figure 14.4 ).
• These differences among species in
germination rates directly affect
patterns of seedling establishment,
subsequent competition for resources,
and the structure of old-field
communities during the early stages of
colonization and recovery.
 Temporal Variation in the
Environment Influences Competitive
Interactions

• One species can exclude another when it exploits a shared,

limiting resource more effectively; the result is an increase
in that species’ population at the expense of its competitor.
• When environmental conditions vary through time, the
competitive advantages also change. As a result, no one
species will reach sufficient density to displace its
competitors.
• Peter Adler (Utah State University) and colleagues for a prairie grassland
site at Hays, Kansas, in the Great Plains region of North America. Adler
and colleagues examined the role of interannual climate variability on
the relative abundance of prairie grasses over a period of 30 years
(1937–1968).
• The researchers found that year-to-year variations in climate correlated
with interannual variations in species performance. The year-to-year
variations in the relative competitive abilities of the species functioned
to buffer species from competitive exclusion.
• Periods of drought or extreme temperatures may depress populations
Competition Occurs for
Multiple Resources
• In many cases, competition between species involves multiple
resources; and competition for one resource often influences an
organism’s ability to access other resources.
• One such example is the practice of interspecific territoriality, where
competition for space influences access to food and nesting sites.
• Strong interspecific territorial disputes likewise occur among brightly
colored coral reef fish.
• Competition among plants provides many examples of how
competition for one resource can influence an individual’s ability to
exploit other essential resources, leading to a combined effect on
growth and survival.
In the monocultures, plants were grown in pots, allowing for the canopies (leaves) and roots to intermingle. In the
two-species mixtures ( Figure 14.6 ), three different approaches were used: (1) plants of both species were grown
in the same pot, allowing their canopies and roots to intermingle; (2) plants of both species were grown in the
same pot but with their canopies separated; and (3) the plant species
were grown in separate pots with their canopies intermingled.
• When the roots were allowed to intermingle, the biomass (dry weight of
plant population) of skeletonweed was reduced by 35 percent compared
to the biomass for the species when grown as a monoculture.
• The biomass was reduced by 53 percent when the canopies were
intermingled. When both the canopies and roots were intermingled, the
biomass was reduced by 69 percent, indicating an interaction in the
competition for aboveground and below ground resources.
• In a series of field studies, James Cahill of the University of Alberta
(Canada) examined the interactions between competition for
aboveground and belowground resources in an old field grassland
community in Pennsylvania.
• Cahill grew individual plants with varying degrees of interaction with the
roots of neighboring plants through the use of root exclusion tubes made
of PVC pipe.
• The results of his experiments show a clear pattern of interaction
between above ground and belowground competition. In general,
increased competition for belowground resources functions to reduce
growth rates and plant stature, the result of which is reduced
competitive ability for light (aboveground resource).
Relative Competitive Abilities
Change along Environmental
Gradients
• Mike Austin and colleagues at the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization (CSIRO) research
laboratory in Canberra, Australia, have
conducted several greenhouse studies to
explore the changing nature of
interspecific competition among plant
species across experimental gradients of
nutrient availability.
Two important results emerged from the experiment. First, when grown in mixture, the response of
each species along the resource gradient differed from the pattern observed when grown in
isolation. Second, the relative competitive abilities of the species changed along the nutrient
gradient.
The relative competitive abilities of species for nutrients are influenced by the ability of plant species to
tolerate a gradient of increasing physical stress relating to waterlogging, salinity, and oxygen availability in the
soil and sediments
Interspecific Competition Influences the
Niche of a Species Earlier
• A species compresses or shifts its fundamental niche when
competition forces it to restrict its type of food or habitat.

• In some cases, the realized niche may not provide optimal conditions
for the species.

• In the absence of competition, the species may experience

competitive release, thus expanding its niche.
Example of niche expansion in a population of
three-spine stickleback (Gasterosteus
aculeatus) with the removal of its competitor,
juvenile cut-throat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki).

Total population niche width represents the

diversity of prey species in the diet of the
stickleback.

When food competition from trout was

removed, the diversity of the prey consumed
by stickleback increased signifi cantly.

Each of the five lines represents the average

response of stickleback in one of the five
experimental treatment blocks
Response of Stipa
neomexicana plants in
three different habitats
(ridge crest, midslope,
and lower slope). Results
of both treatment
(neighboring plants
removed) and control
(neighbors not
removed) plants are
shown for (a) seedling
survival, (b) mean
growth rate, and (c)
flowers produced per
plant. Under natural
conditions, distribution
of Stipa is restricted to
the ridge-crest habitats
due to competition from
other grass species.
Coexistence of Species Often Involves
Partitioning Available Resources
• Many species that share the same habitat coexist by partitioning
available resources.

• When each species exploits a portion of the resources unavailable to

others, competition is reduced.

• Resource partitioning is often viewed as a product of the c oevolution

of characteristics that function to reduce competition.
• Interspecific competition can reduce the fitness of individuals.

• If certain phenotypes within the population function to reduce competition

with individuals of other species, those individuals will encounter less
competition and increased fi tness.

• The result is a shift in the distribution of phenotypes (characteristics)

within the competing population(s).

• When the shift involves features of the species’ morphology, behavior, or

physiology, it is referred to as character displacement.
Apparent character displacement in beak
size in two populations of Galápagos
finches—the medium ground finch
(Geospiza fortis ) and the small ground
finch ( G. fuliginosa ).

(a) On the large island of Santa Cruz,

where the two finch species coexist,
distribution of beak sizes (phenotypes) for
these species does not overlap. Average
beak size is significantly larger for G. fortis
than for the smaller G. fuliginosa. In
contrast, on the smaller islands of
(b) Daphne Major and

(c) Los Hermanos, where the two species

do not co-occur, distribution of beak sizes
for these species is intermediate and
overlapping.
Competition Is a Complex Interaction
Involving Biotic and Abiotic Factors
• Competition is a complex interaction that seldom involves the
interaction between two species for a single limiting resource.

• Competition involves a variety of environmental factors that directly

influence survival, growth, and reproduction—factors that vary in
both time and space.
• For example, removing (neighboring) plants from a location may
increase light reaching the soil surface, soil temperatures, and
evaporation.

• The result may be reduced soil moisture and increased rates of

decomposition, influencing the abundance of belowground resources.

• These sometimes “hidden treatment effects” can hinder the

interpretation of experimental results.