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Competition02:34

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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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A complete procedure of testing a hypothesis about a population mean when the population standard deviation is unknown is explained here.
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During the 1950s, the landmark Robbers Cave experiment demonstrated that when groups must compete with one another, intergroup conflict, hostility, and even violence may result. At the Oklahoman summer camp, two troops of boys—termed the Rattlers and the Eagles—took part in a week-long tournament. During this time, their negativity culminated in derogatory name-calling, fistfights, and even vandalism and destruction of property. However, this work also revealed that such tension...
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Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.
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Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 17, 2026

Testing Visual Sensitivity to the Speed and Direction of Motion in Lizards
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City lizards are more social.

Avery L Maune1, Tobias Wittenbreder1, Duje Lisičić2

  • 1Department of Behavioural Ecology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Biology Letters
|September 23, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Urbanization increases social connections in common wall lizards, even in less gregarious species. Spatial constraints and varied resources in cities may enhance social tolerance, aiding urban adaptation.

Keywords:
Podarcis muralisreptileruralsocial networkssocialityurban ecology

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Urban Ecology
  • Animal Behaviour

Background:

  • Global urbanization is increasing, altering animal habitats and social interactions.
  • Urban environments present unique challenges and opportunities for wildlife, yet effects on less gregarious species are poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how urbanization influences social behavior in the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis).
  • To determine if urban habitats reshape social networks and interactions in a territorial species.

Main Methods:

  • Constructed social networks using proximity-based association data from urban and non-urban lizard populations.
  • Compared social network metrics (connections, associations) between urban and non-urban populations.
  • Assessed the influence of population density on social differences.

Main Results:

  • Urban lizards exhibited significantly more social connections and stronger associations compared to non-urban lizards.
  • The number of observed associations was higher in urban populations.
  • These social differences persisted regardless of population density variations.

Conclusions:

  • Urbanization can profoundly alter social behavior, even in species not typically considered highly social.
  • Spatial constraints and resource heterogeneity in urban areas may promote increased social tolerance.
  • Shifts in social strategies appear to be a key factor enabling species persistence in urban landscapes.