How does competition affect population growth? The genus Paramecium consists of

Question

How does competition affect population growth?

The genus Paramecium consists of unicellular species of protists that live in freshwater environments. Under ideal conditions, sufficient food, water, and space, populations of these species grow rapidly and follow a pattern known as exponential growth. Exponential growth is explosive population growth in which the total number of potentially reproducing organisms increases with each generation. However, populations will not increase in size forever. Eventually, limitations on food, water, and other resources will cause the population to stop increasing.

When a population arrives at the point where its size remains stable, it has reached the carrying capacity of the environment. The carrying capacity is the greatest number of individuals a given environment can sustain. Competition for resources among members of a single species (intraspecific competition) places limits on population size.

Competition for resources among members of two or more different species (interspecific competition) also affects population size. In a classic series of experiments in the 1930s, a Russian ecologist, G.F. Gause, formulated his principle of competitive exclusion. This principle states that if two species are competing for the same resource, the species with a more rapid growth rate will out compete the other. In other words, no two species can occupy the same niche.

In competing populations of organisms, genetic variations that reduce competition are favored through natural selection. Suppose two species (A and B) compete for the same food source. Individuals of species A can also use another food source, which reduces the competition over the food source needed by species B. The individuals of species A that can use another food source survive because they do not have to compete with individuals of species B for that food. In nature, organisms frequently invade unoccupied habitats simply to avoid intense competition. Once the organism is in a new habitat, any variations that allow it to use the available resources will tend to be perpetuated through the population. In this way, the genetic makeup of the population may slowly change, and the species will become adapted to different niches.

Look at this, then determine your hypothesis http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs_2K8/labs/BL_19/index.html

What would your hypothesis be?

Explanation / Answer

The competition in an ecosystem definitely affect population growth. The competition occurs for different verieties of resources such as food, sunlight, space, water etc. The copetition may be interspecific or intraspecific. The intraspecific competition is the competition occurs between organisms within a same species. The competition become intraspecific, when there is different species of organisms.

The competition affects the population size when there is a limitation in the competing resources. If the resource availability is limited, the competition increases within the organisms, which leads to the elimination of some groups and the dominant group or powerful group of organism will stay. The less poweful organisms will be killed and no more available and it will reduce the total population size. The competion become very strong when all the organisms in a nich using the same resource such as food. When the organisms use different resources, the competition become less, which controls the population size for a limit.

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