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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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What is Natural Selection?01:32

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Natural selection is an evolutionary process in which individuals with survival-promoting traits reproduce at higher rates. These favorable traits become more common within a population or species. Naturally selected traits initially arise via random genetic mutations. In order for selection to occur, there must be variation within a population, the trait controlling the variation must be heritable, and there must be an evolutionary advantage for variation in the trait.
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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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Ecological Niches02:02

Ecological Niches

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All organisms have a position within an ecosystem. The complete set of living and nonliving factors—including food resources, climate, and terrain—that define the position of a given organism are collectively referred to as the organism’s ecological niche.
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Evolutionary Psychology01:20

Evolutionary Psychology

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Evolutionary psychology explores the origins of human behavior and mental processes by framing them within the context of natural selection, a theory famously propounded by Charles Darwin. This field asserts that many behaviors common across human societies — ranging from instinctive fear reactions to complex social interactions — arose as evolutionary adaptations. These adaptations enhanced the survival and reproductive success of our ancestors, thereby becoming embedded in the...
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Natural Selection and Adaptation01:15

Natural Selection and Adaptation

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Natural selection, a fundamental concept in evolutionary biology, is the mechanism by which evolution is driven, favoring organisms that are best adapted to their environments. This process enhances their chances of survival and reproduction. Adaptation, a key outcome of this process, involves genetic modifications that optimize an organism's functionality under specific environmental challenges, such as extreme cold or thinner air at high altitudes.
Beyond physical adaptations,...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 25, 2025

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli
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The evolution of competitive ability for essential resources.

Joey R Bernhardt1, Pavel Kratina2, Aaron Louis Pereira1

  • 1Aquatic Ecology Department, Eawag, Überlandstrasse 133, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|March 24, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Species rapidly evolved competitive traits in response to resource limitation, challenging assumptions of trade-offs. These adaptations significantly altered predicted competition outcomes, highlighting the importance of contemporary evolution in ecological dynamics.

Keywords:
Chlamydomonas reinhardtiiR*coexistence theorycompetitioneco-evolutionary dynamicsresource competition theory

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Microbial Ecology

Background:

  • Resource competition is a fundamental ecological interaction driving species coexistence and biodiversity.
  • Species' minimum resource requirements (R*s) link individual physiology to competition outcomes.
  • Understanding the evolutionary capacity of competitive traits under resource limitation is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the extent to which species' competitive traits can evolve in response to resource limitation.
  • To test for trade-offs between competitive abilities for different resources.
  • To assess the impact of evolved competitive traits on predicted competition dynamics.

Main Methods:

  • An evolution experiment exposing *Chlamydomonas reinhardtii* to diverse resource limitation and salt stress environments for ~285 generations.
  • Common garden experiments to quantify competitive abilities for essential resources (nitrogen, phosphorus, light) in ancestral and descendant populations.
  • Analysis of correlations between changes in resource requirements to identify evolutionary constraints.

Main Results:

  • Competitive abilities for phosphorus consistently improved across all populations.
  • Competitive abilities for nitrogen and light showed varied responses (increases and decreases) across populations.
  • No detectable costs (trade-offs) were found for improvements in competitive ability for a single resource; improvements were often positively correlated.

Conclusions:

  • Contemporary evolution of competitive traits can occur rapidly and without trade-offs.
  • Evolved competitive traits significantly alter predictions of competition outcomes, even over relatively short timescales.
  • Ecological models predicting community dynamics must incorporate contemporary evolutionary change, especially across environmental gradients.