What can we learn from studying interactions between organisms of different species?
– © 2007 C. Giffen and J. Danzer When organisms live together, or occupy the same living space, they inevitably compete for a variety of resources. In the animal world, undoubtedly one of the most limiting resources is food. Organisms also compete for physical space or habitat, sunlight (in the case of photosynthetic organisms) and even mates in order to ensure reproductive success. Competition between individuals of a single species is termed intra-specific competition, while any competitive interaction between individuals of different species is termed inter-specific competition. The primary goals of this lab are to (1) introduce you to the concepts underlying competition ecology and (2) allow you to test a hypothesis and make conclusions using actual data collected during the laboratory. To do this you will test the effects of intra- and inter-specific competition on Wisconsin Fast Plants (Rapid-cycling Brassica rapa or RcBR) under different environmental conditions in a laboratory
