BIO120H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Interspecific Competition, Niche Differentiation, Limiting Factor
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BIO120H1 Full Course Notes
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Resource partitioning and why it matters: answers how similar species can coexist in the community by staying out of the way of each other + reducing interspecies competition by using resources differently. 2 species can"t coexist on same limiting resource if they use it in the same way: superior competitor always wins. Specializing in use of resources limits competition with others, and stops the best competitor in similar species from out-competing. Divide resources by using: different slices, same slices in different places, same slices at different times. How do potential competitors partition resources in nature. Differences in morphological adaptions allow different resource use. Different species can be better adapted to specific forms of resource. Easy to find differences in how animals use resources, not animals. Coexisting plants differ in forms of n that they prefer, rooting depth and light use optima.
