BIOL 180 Chapter Notes - Chapter 55: Intraspecific Competition, Niche Differentiation, Character Displacement
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BIOL 180 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Individuals in a population can interact with individuals of other species, forming complex assemblages called communities: community - all of the species that interact in a certain area. Species in community interact constantly: organisms eat each other, exchange nutrients, compete for resources, and provide habitats for each other. In many cases, population"s fate is tightly linked to other species that share its habitat. Of four types of interactions this is the least studied. Challenging to study because absence of fitness benefits/costs (0) can be difficult to quantify: example: Army ants scavenging for food (small insects/other small vertebrates) Birds benefit, have no effect on the ants. Insects that jump out of the way or escape from the ants are picked up by antbirds. Lowers fitness of individuals involved for simple reason: when competitors use resources, those resources are not available to help other individuals survive better and produce more offspring.
