Character displacement and ecological exclusion, Biology

Assignment Help:

Consider two species of organisms, species A and species B. Species A has a population in a community. Another population species B arrives into the same community, rather suddenly, being brought into the community by man (there could be other ways by which the new species can enter into a community). Let us assume that the food organisms of the two species are identical (it can be insects or seeds etc.). The range of food particle size fed upon by each individual species falls into a normal curve. By normal curve we mean that there is a variation in the given trait, for example size of the seeds or insects in this case, or beak sizes which are all distributed in such a way that the largest number of individuals in the population has optimum or mean size or measurement and a very few individuals have extreme sizes or measurments. The normal distribution as shown in Figure takes the fo!m of a bell shaped curve. You could observe from Figure that there is a significant overlap in the normal curves of food capturing devices (mouth, beak or tooth sizes) of species A and B. The region of overlap implies that the members of the two species have to compete for their food over a larger area in the community. Essentially, there is an ecological interspecific cornpetiton for food. You may also note in the figure that some food particles (food particles of both large and small sizes) are out of the reach of each species. Although the population as a whole can feed on a range of food particle size, any individual in the community is restricted in the size of the food particles it can feed on.

Assuming that the number of food particles of each size is the same, then individuals outside the region of overlap have better accessibility to the food particles and thcy may have to expend only less energy in acquiring them. Compare these individuals with those which lie within the region of overlap. They have not only to compete with conspecific individuals for their food, but with those of the other species as well. The net result is that the individuals outside the region of overlap have more energy for reproduction, and naturally will tend to leave more offsprings to thc next generation. These offsprings will essentially carry the alleles of their parents including those involved in the determination of food particle size. The effect of this natural selection.


Related Discussions:- Character displacement and ecological exclusion

Antibodies, Antibodies Antibodies are important.tools for detecting and...

Antibodies Antibodies are important.tools for detecting and localising specific molecules in the cells due to their high specificity. The first requirement for this is to produ

What is nidation, What is nidation? In which phase of the menstrual cycle d...

What is nidation? In which phase of the menstrual cycle does nidation occur? Nidation is the implantantion of the embryo in the uterus. Nidation happens around the 7th day afte

What do you mean by hypertension, Q. What do you mean by Hypertension? ...

Q. What do you mean by Hypertension? Hypertension is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. It is the most common public health problem and often referred to

Perception of light - floral induction, Perception of Light - Floral Induct...

Perception of Light - Floral Induction Stimulus Leaves are found to be organs that perceive light 'stimulus', K.C. Hamner and J. Bonner showed in 1938 that even if all the lea

How different is the gametogenesis in men and in women, Q. Concerning event...

Q. Concerning events during the periods of life how different is the gametogenesis in men and in women? The formation of spermatogonia in men takes place during the embryonic p

Human imapct on the environment, list the long-term and short-term effects ...

list the long-term and short-term effects of forest destruction (a)on hillsides,(b)in the tropics?

The skin, what is vaso-constriction

what is vaso-constriction

Which terrestrial vertebrate group is extremely rare, Which terrestrial ver...

Which terrestrial vertebrate group is extremely rare in deserts? Amphibians are terrestrial vertebrates extremely rare in desert environments (although there are a some species

Chemical methods of estimating available nutrients, Chemical Methods of Est...

Chemical Methods of Estimating Available Nutrients  Water soluble forms of nutrients are available to plants but forms other than water soluble may also become available to pla

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd