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Competition

Competition

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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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 13, 2025

Monitoring Spatial Segregation in Surface Colonizing Microbial Populations

Monitoring Spatial Segregation in Surface Colonizing Microbial Populations

Published on: October 29, 2016

Interplay between morphology and competition in two-dimensional colony expansion.

Daniel W Swartz¹, Hyunseok Lee¹, Mehran Kardar¹

¹Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.

Physical Review. E

|October 18, 2023

Summary

The fate of mutations in growing populations depends on expansion and competition. This study integrates Fisher and Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equations, revealing three distinct fitness regimes for spatial competition.

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Last Updated: Jul 13, 2025

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Published on: January 18, 2014

Area of Science:

Evolutionary dynamics
Mathematical biology
Population genetics

Background:

Mutation fate in growing populations is determined by competitive ability and colonization.
Understanding spatial competition is crucial for population dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a unified theory integrating mutant competitive ability and colonization for spatial competition.
To analyze the interplay between expansion rates and competitive fitness in population growth.

Main Methods:

Coupling the Fisher equation (one-dimensional competition) with the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation (front shape model).
Solving the integrated equations to identify different dynamic regimes.

Main Results:

Identified three distinct regimes governing mutant fate in spatial competition.
These regimes are controlled by expansion rates, competitive abilities, or a combination of both.

Conclusions:

The integrated framework provides a simplified yet comprehensive approach to studying spatial competition dynamics.
This model offers insights into how mutations establish and spread in expanding populations.