Competition

• An organism ecological niche is the role that it plays withing the community of an ecosystem.
• The ecological niche of an organism is a complete description of:

  -The range of abiotic factors it can tolerate

  -the resources in the ecosystem that it is able to use (Like the soil nutrients available to it)

  -its interactions with other organisms. (Biotic factors.)
• All living things compete for resources. The individuals that are better competitors will have a greater chance of surviving to reproduce and pass on their alleles.
• Competition will occur between organisms in an ecosystem when their niches overlap, when they both try to use the same resource, and the resource is in short supply.
• Sometimes members of the same species compete with each other. This is called INTRAspecific competition.
• Sometimes members of different species compete with each other. this is called INTERspecific competition.
• Plants compete for light, space, water and mineral from the soil.
• Animals compete for territory, food, water and mates
• The plants and animals that are the best adapted are most likely to compete successfully.
• Population - All the organisms of one species in a habitat.
• Community- all of the different organisms living in a habitat.
• Ecosystem- A community of organisms along with all of the abiotic factors.