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Related Concept Videos

Competition02:34

Competition

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When organisms require the same limited resources within an environment, they may have to compete for them. Competition is a net-negative interaction. Even if two competing individuals or populations do not interact directly, the overall fitness of both competitors is lowered as a result of not having full access to the limited resource.
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Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
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Limits to Natural Selection01:38

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Organisms that are well-adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. However, natural selection does not lead to perfectly adapted organisms. Several factors constrain natural selection.
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Genetics of Speciation02:16

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Speciation is the evolutionary process resulting in the formation of new, distinct species—groups of reproductively isolated populations.
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Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...
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Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli
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Asymmetric competition impacts evolutionary rescue in a changing environment.

Courtney L Van Den Elzen1,2, Elizabeth J Kleynhans1, Sarah P Otto3

  • 1Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4.

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Summary

Interspecific competition dynamics change with resource and competition asymmetries. Asymmetries can alter extinction risk and evolutionary trajectories, challenging assumptions about species survival in changing environments.

Keywords:
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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Theoretical Ecology

Background:

  • Interspecific competition significantly impacts species' evolutionary responses to environmental change.
  • Previous models assumed symmetric resource distribution and competition, predicting extinction for the species lagging behind resource peaks.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how asymmetric resource availability and competition affect species coexistence and extinction dynamics.
  • To explore the evolutionary trajectories of competing species under changing environmental conditions.

Main Methods:

  • Mathematical modeling of interspecific competition with asymmetric resource distributions.
  • Analysis of species' evolutionary responses and extinction probabilities.

Main Results:

  • Asymmetric conditions can promote species coexistence and even lead to the extinction of the initially leading species.
  • Observed trait evolution in opposition to environmental change due to competitive release dynamics.
  • The rate of trait evolution does not solely determine a species' extinction risk.

Conclusions:

  • Asymmetries in competition and resources are critical factors in determining species survival and evolutionary fates.
  • Species' apparent tracking of environmental change or preadaptation may not predict their success in a dynamic world.