Strategies Helpful in Minimizing Competition

Various strategies in nature minimize competition within species, these include:

Ecological Niche

Ecological niche helps facilitate coexistence and minimizes competition among species by specifying the definite roles, resources, and interactions that differentiate each species present in an ecosystem. It includes the range of conditions needed for the species to survive, and its role in the ecosystem. An ecological niche includes:

• The physical space an organism occupies
• The organism’s functional role in the community
• How the organism responds to the distribution of food and competitors
• How the organism alters those same factors.

The niche of an organism is based on its adaptations or traits for survival. For example, the flightless dung beetle (Circellium bacchus) occupies a unique ecological niche. They feed on animal droppings and store them as dung balls in burrows. The concept of an ecological niche is important in ecology because it helps us understand the geographical distributions of species.

Also Read: Ecological Pyramid 

Resource Partitioning

It is a strategy that minimizes competition amongst species by division of resources; it lessens the direct competition for the same limited resources within a shared habitat. This can involve using resources at different times, in different ways, or in different areas. This adaptive strategy encourages biodiversity whilst lessening competitive pressures and facilitating the coexistence of numerous species within an ecosystem. Resource partitioning is an evolutionary adaptation that helps various species coexist in an ecological community. It can reduce competition between species and increase species diversity in a habitat.

Competitive Exclusion Principle, also known as Gause’s law, states that two species that compete for the same resource cannot coexist; over time, one species may outcompete the other, leading to the elimination of the inferior species. In ecology, there are two types of competition: Intraspecies and Interspecies competition. Competition is a vital stage in the sequence of ecological succession. It can benefit the broader ecosystem by promoting biodiversity through niche partitioning.

This article discusses the significance of the competitive exclusion principle and the types of competition that exist in nature, competition-minimizing strategies that species use to efficiently enhance the biodiversity of their ecosystem.