Direction:- In the following question a statement of assertion is followed by a statement of reason . Mark the correct choice as:-
A) Both assertion and reason are true and reason is a correct explanation of assertion.
B) Both assertion and reason are true but reason is not the correct explanation of assertion.
C) Assertion is true but reason is false.
D) Assertion is false but reason is true.
Assertion:- Elimination of a competitively inferior species in a closely related or otherwise similar group is known as competitive exclusion principle.
Reason :- If two species compete for the same resource they could avoid competition by choosing different times for feeding or different foraging patterns.

B

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’. If two species compete for the same resource, they could avoid competition by choosing, for instance, different times for feeding or different foraging patterns.