NEETZoologyOrganisms and Populations
Why might recent studies not fully support Gause’s ‘Competitive Exclusion Principle’?
Options
- AThey show that competitive exclusion is always true
- BThey suggest that species might evolve mechanisms for co-existence rather than exclusion
- CThey prove that all species always exclude each other
- DThey demonstrate that resources are never limiting in nature
Correct answer
B. They suggest that species might evolve mechanisms for co-existence rather than exclusion
Step-by-step solution
Gause’s ‘Competitive Exclusion Principle’ states that two closely related species competing for the same resources cannot coexist indefinitely and the competitively inferior one will be eliminated eventually. This may be true if resources are limited, but not otherwise. More recent studies do not support such gross generalizations about competition . While they do not rule out the occurrence of interspecific competition in nature, they point out that species facing competition might evolve mechanisms that promote c