Biology 1001A Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Garter Snake, Evolutionary Arms Race, Myxoma Virus
7 Dec 2016
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Competition: both may incur costs: some limiting resource that both species need, ex. carnivores competing for prey, among trees competing for sunlight, trees close together grow very tall to reach the canopy and get sunlight. Evolutionary arms race: adaptations and counter adaptations: ex. garter snake and newt. Newt is highly toxic but garter snakes can eat them. Puts a section pressure on the newts to become more toxic which in turn puts a pressure on the snakes to evolve greater toxin resistance (a cycle) Improved equipment for survival doesn"t equal improved success: lions and wildebeest. Arms race may keep escalating until costs of continuing to escalate outweigh the bene ts (red queen equilibrium: evolution stops if both sides reach this at the same time. Life-dinner principle: the pressure for the prey to escape is greater than the pressure for the predator to catch it. Prey has to escape every time to survive.
