Given below are two statements:
Statement I: In general, carnivores appear to be more adversely affected by competition than herbivores and plants.
Statement II: More recent studies on competition point out that species facing competition might evolve mechanisms that promote co-existence rather than exclusion.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Statement I is false but Statement II is true.
Competition is one of the interactions between populations. NCERT says which groups seem to suffer more from it, and also notes that later studies found that competing species can find ways to live together.
Statement I: In general, carnivores appear to be more adversely affected by competition than herbivores and plants. — False. The two groups have been swapped. It is herbivores and plants that appear to be more adversely affected by competition than carnivores.
Statement II: More recent studies on competition point out that species facing competition might evolve mechanisms that promote co-existence rather than exclusion. — True. Recent studies do not support the broad idea that the weaker competitor is always eliminated. One such mechanism is resource partitioning, as in the five closely related warbler species that MacArthur found living on the same tree by foraging in different ways.
NCERT Extract:
Competition – “… In general, herbivores and plants appear to be more adversely affected by competition than carnivores. Gause’s ‘Competitive Exclusion Principle’ states that two closely related species competing for the same resources cannot co-exist indefinitely and the competitively inferior one will be eliminated eventually. This may be true if resources are limiting, but not otherwise. More recent studies do not support such gross generalisations 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 co-existence rather than exclusion. One such mechanism is ‘resource partitioning’.”