7.04 Competition

Ecological competition refers to...

• the struggle between organisms for the same resources within an environment.

• common ancestors passing on their traits to descendent species

• predators hunting prey to survive

• living and non-living factors in an ecosystem

Is this competition?

• No because these are all the same species.

• No because this shows birds having enough resources to survive.

• Yes because the common ancestor is passing on the trait of eating insects.

• Yes because the birds are competing for the resource of food.

Is this competition?

• No because these are all the same species.

• No because this is a predator-prey relationship where the bear hunts the fish.

• Yes because the bear is competing against the fish for food.

• Yes because there is only one bear at the river.

Is this competition?

• No because these are plants and plants have unlimited resources.

• No all five plants shown have equal access to the resource of the sunlight.

• Yes because the middle plant is competing for space to get sunlight (which is needed for plants to survive).

• Yes because the plants are all green.

When competition for a resource (such as food or water) INCREASES, what happens to the size of the population of the organisms using that resource?

• The population will DECREASE because there is LESS of the resources available.

• The population will DECREASE because there is MORE of the resource available.

• The population will INCREASE because there will be LESS of the resource available.

• The population will INCREASE because there will be MORE of the resource available.

Abiotic factors are all ______ in an ecosystem.

Bbiotic factors are all ______ in an ecosystem.

True or false: an ecosystem is made up of INTERACTING abiotic and biotic factors.

• TRUE

• FALSE

List 3 abiotic factors and 3 biotic factors from a FOREST ecosystem.