NEET Practice Questions (MCQs) with Answers & Solutions

The text states: 'Therefore, competition is best defined as a process in which the fitness of one species (measured in terms of its ‘r’ the intrinsic rate of increase) is significantly lower in the presence of another species.' While options 1 and 2 describe aspects of competition, option 3 provides the most precise and comprehensive definition given in the context.

The text clearly states: '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'.

The text defines 'competitive release' as: 'A species whose distribution is restricted to a small geographical area because of the presence of a competitively superior species, is found to expand its distributional range dramatically when the competing species is experimentally removed.'

The text mentions: 'Connell’s elegant field experiments showed that on the rocky sea coasts of Scotland, the larger and competitively superior barnacle Balanus dominates the intertidal area, and excludes the smaller barnacle Chathamalus from that zone.'

The text provides this as 'persuasive circumstantial evidence' for competitive exclusion: 'The Abingdon tortoise in Galapagos Islands became extinct within a decade after goats were introduced on the island, apparently due to the greater browsing efficiency of the goats.'

The text explicitly states: 'resources need not be limiting for competition to occur; in interference competition, the feeding efficiency of one species might be reduced due to the interfering and inhibitory presence of the other species, even if resources (food and space) are abundant.'

The summary section states: 'Depending on the outcome, these interactions between two species are classified as competition (both species suffer)...' and also earlier mentions 'both lose in competition in their interactions with each other.'

The text states: 'When Darwin spoke of the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest in nature, he was convinced that interspecific competition is a potent force in organic evolution.'

The text notes: 'In general, herbivores and plants appear to be more adversely affected by competition than carnivores.'

The text states: 'Firstly, totally unrelated species could also compete for the same resource. For instance, in some shallow South American lakes, visiting flamingoes and resident fishes compete for their common food, the zooplankton in the lake.'