IB Biology SL B4.2.13 Competitive Exclusion Questions

Explore how niche overlap leads to competition for limiting resources and how Gause’s Paramecium experiments demonstrate competitive exclusion in IB Biology SL B4.2.13.

Exam points

Explain how niche overlap and competition for a shared limiting resource can result in competitive exclusion.
Describe Gause’s Paramecium experiments as evidence that P. aurelia can outcompete P. caudatum in mixed culture.

[Maximum number: 2]

Ecologists studied the distribution of five species of insectivorous wood warblers of the genus Dendorica living on different parts of coniferous trees in mature forests.

Figure for Question IB Biology SL B4.2.13 Competitive Exclusion Questions question 1 — IB Biology SL

Outline the principle of competitive exclusion

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a	no two species can occupy the same niche;
b	competition between them would cause one species to drive the other out OR one of the two species would need to adapt and evolve accordingly;

IB Biology SL B4.2.13 Competitive Exclusion Questions question 1