Competitive hierarchies

Abstract

How does competition produce organization in communities? Although Chapters 2 and 4 show that competition does control the abundance of species in some communities, to derive general principles we need systematic studies of the way in which entire communities are organized by competition. Here is where field experiments are at their weakest. In natural communities we are presented with mixtures of species in varying abundances, at different developmental stages and with poorly known histories. Rare members of the community will be particularly difficult to study, since there may not even be sufficiently large populations to design proper experiments. This is where laboratory experiments provide a powerful tool. We can raise individuals of all populations that we wish to study, allow them to interact in pairs, threes and so on, and actually map the linkages produced by competition. This map could represent the potential structure upon which all other agents of community organization act. By providing different experimental environments, it would then be possible to test whether the map is deformed by environments in predictable ways.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. G. Orwell (1945)

There is little friendship in the world, and least of all between equals. F. Bacon, Essays

for the poor always ye have with you. Jesus (St. John 12:8)