Britannica
Sources used in this answer
How does competition between species affect their ability to coexist?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
community ecology
Energy transfer and heat loss along a food chain.
In community ecology, competition occurs when organisms utilize the same limited resources, such as food or space, which can hinder their ability to coexist. Because no species benefits from this interaction, they often evolve to avoid, tolerate, or exclude one another.123
Mechanisms of Coexistence
Species can coexist by minimizing competition through several strategies:
- Niche Partitioning: Species may specialize in different niches, such as varying their feeding patterns, activity periods, or microhabitats (e.g., living in different parts of a tree or being active at different times of day).14
- Character Displacement: Through natural selection, species may evolve physical differences—such as variations in body size or bill shape—to reduce competitive overlap.5
- Regional Distribution: While one species may outcompete another locally, they may coexist regionally if populations are distributed across diverse environments where different species hold a competitive advantage.5
Ultimately, if species requirements are too similar, coexistence becomes unlikely, often leading to local extinction of the weaker competitor or forcing it into a marginal area.15