You are here:
LIFE AFTER COMPETITIVE EXCLUSION: AN ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY FOR A COMPETITIVE INFERIOR
Citation:
II, H. AND W. Ambrose, Jr. LIFE AFTER COMPETITIVE EXCLUSION: AN ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY FOR A COMPETITIVE INFERIOR. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-89/417 (NTIS PB90245796), 1989.
Description:
Experimental manipulations in the rocky intertidal have demonstrated that in the absence of predation (Paine 1966, 1974) or physical disturbance (Dayton 1971) a competitive dominant species can monopolize the primary space, thereby excluding competitors. he endpoint of this competition, however, may not be a monoculture if the dominant competitor modifies the environment such that it promotes the existence of competitively inferior species. herefore, an assortment of intraspecific and interspecific interactions may take place after monopolization of the primary space that are not addressed by the "rocky intertidal paradigm" (see Peterson 1979). n this paper we examine the effect of one such interaction, the colonization of secondary space, on the population size and dynamics of an inferior competitor. he mussel Mytilus californianus is the dominant competitor and barnacles the inferior competitors for primary substrate in exposed rocky intertidal systems in the Northeast Pacific (Paine 1974). owever, we frequently observed dense populations of barnacles growing on mussels in intertidal communities. his observation suggested that barnacle populations might not be reduced, and might actually be enhanced by their dominant competitor. e tested this hypothesis by comparing the coverage of barnacles on the secondary space produced by M. californianus to the area of the primary substrate, the maximum coverage that could exist in the absence of mussels. e then contrasted the effects of the use of secondary space on the population biology of inferior competitors with the effects of interference and pre-emptive competition.