The Negative Effects Of Intraspecific Competition
812 Words4 Pages
Species interact with each other in the natural world. Two ways species interact are through competition or cooperation. In this study, the average needle length of Red Pines, Pinus resinosa, was compared to the distance to the nearest tree to see if the trees were interacting via competing or cooperation. It was found that the average needle length was longer when distance between the nearest tree was the closest.
Introduction
In nature, competition is common. Competition occurs between two species or the same species that require the same resource(s) to live. These resources are not overly abundant so that there are plenty to go around, therefore, there are a limiting amount of these resources. The competitors need these resources to survive, grow, and reproduce. Consequently, competition has a negative effect on both competitors because neither has the opportunity to get what they would if they were alone (Ricklefs & Relyea, 2013). There are two main type of competition: intraspecific and interspecific. Intraspecific is competition between the same species while interspecific is between different species. Although both play a role in the ecosystems on the Earth, we will focus on intraspecific competition. The negative effects of intraspecific competition are many. When the density of the species population is high there are fewer resources such sunlight, water, and soil nutrients that a tree need to survive. The higher the density, the higher decline in