Competition

Competition is the type of interaction in which both species involved are, in some sense, at a loss. It can occur between completely unrelated species that happen to compete for the same resource -- for example, in the shallow coastal creeks along Mumbai's west coast, visiting flamingos and resident fish both compete for the same food source, zooplankton. Importantly, resources do not always have to be genuinely scarce for competition to occur: in competition, the feeding efficiency of one species can be reduced simply by the interfering or inhibitory presence of another species, even where food and space remain abundant -- for instance, leopards avoid hunting in close proximity to a lion pride (Fig. 13.9), even though food may not be limiting overall. Competition is therefore best defined as any process in which the fitness of one species is significantly lowered by the mere presence of another species. …