Competition
 All Competitors who persist and survive have a unique
advantage over all others. If they did not, others
would crowd them out. Gauss’s Principle of Mutual
Exclusion.
 The more similar competitors are to each other, the
more severe their competition (Darwin).
 If competitors are different and coexist, then each
must have a distinct advantage over the other. Such
an advantage exists only if differences in the
competitor’s characteristics match differences in the
environment that give those characteristics their
relative value.
 Competitors that coexist over the long term must be in
equilibrium. Such equilibrium can exist only if any
change produces forces that tend to restore the
conditions prior to the disturbance.
 If competitors must each have an advantage, and each
must match different environmental factors, there
must be a point or series of points where the advantage
shifts from one competitor to the other – the
competitive segment boundary.
 There must be as many significant variables or
combinations of variables in the competitive
environment as there are competitive survivors. If this
were not true, it would be impossible for some
competitor to find a combination of factors that would
outweigh the advantages of any other and, therefore,
permit survival.
“Millers magic number 7, + or –2”
“The rule of 4 or 5”
 Since each pair of competitors acts as a constraint on
each other, then the equilibrium point between then
constitutes a segment boundary.
 Failure to maintain a competitive segment and
monopolize the advantage within that segment is
failure to have an advantage over any competitor. The
eventual consequence must be extinction.
 Any change in the environment changes the factor
weighting of environmental characteristics and,
therefore, shifts the boundaries of competitive
equilibrium. Competitors who can adapt best or
fastest gain an advantage from environmental change.
 Any change in the environment that affects any
competitor will have consequences that require
adaptation by all competitors merely to maintain
relative position – “The Red Queen Syndrome”.
 Harsh, severe environments have a limited number of
characteristics which outweigh all others – and a
limited number of interfacing competitors. The richer
and more varied the environment, the greater the
number of potential competitors and the smaller the
potential for advantage – and the more severe the
competition.
 Competition begins with natural resources, converted
to more specialized uses by successive trophic levels –
the food chain.
 Each level of a trophic resource chain is dependent
upon those links below it, and limited by the
continuity, stability, and abundance of each link
below. No one preys on the top predator, but its
supply line is the most fragile. Critical competition is
horizontal, within a level.
 Specialization of function is a prerequisite for
effectiveness. Differentiation is a requirement for
survival. Ecological roles are repeated in form but
never in detail.
 DFF (Darwinian Fitness Factor) = 1.0 for stability.