Question

Justify the following statement with suitable proof/examples:

‘Competitive exclusion occurs in nature.’

Answer 1

According to Gause and other experimental ecologists, when resources are scarce, the competitively superior species eventually drives out the other species (competitive exclusion). For example, after goats were introduced on the Galapagos Islands, the Abingdon tortoise population declined drastically, apparently due to the greater browsing efficiency of goats, leading to exclusion of the tortoise.