1. Competition
Make sure you understand the essential question by the end, if not, come see me later about it!
EQ: Why do animals and plants compete and how does it effect what strategies they use to outcompete another organism?

2. Humans vs. Other organisms competition
What happens to the loser in a human competition?
What happens to the loser in a competition between organisms?
Humans and other organisms view competition in very different ways. In many cases, when humans compete, they are competing for fun and although they may feel sad, angry, depressed, when they lose, at the end of the day, they get to go home to compete another day. Other organisms when they lose a competition end up hungry, or in a position where they may die. If they lose enough competitions the end result is death. This raises the stakes in competition and many organisms will do whatever it takes to win (there is no cheating, or referees to make sure competition is friendly for animals).

3. Why do organisms even compete?
There are a limited number of resources.
What are some examples of limited resources?
Mates
Food/Water/Nutrients
Shelter/Territory/Space
Make sure to understand that the reason organisms compete is because there is a limited number of resources. It is not just for fun! The list above is the most important resources for you to learn in this class when we talk about competition.

4. Competition for Food When does it begin?
Does it happen between organisms of the same species or different species?
What about plants?
Competition starts at birth or even sooner for most organisms. Remember the dead baby bird in the Queen of Trees movie. It happens between organisms of the same species (like the birds) and oftentimes the runt of the litter does not survive. Charlotte is not there to come along and save Wilbur (reference from Charlotte’s Web) in real life. Organisms of different species also compete for the same resource. It is only considered competition if they are competing for the SAME resource, so a wolf and a bear fighting over an elk carcass would be competition. The following example is NOT considered competition (an elk fighting for its life while a wolf is fighting to eat the elk for food). If two elk were competing over the same resource (like trying to impress the ladies) that is the SAME resource. Plant make their own food, but they compete with other plants for light and also for water. This can cause a plant to bend towards the light and root systems to try and overtake areas of ground before other plants do to get more water. This is one reason why we weed vegetable gardens, we do not want the weeds to outcompete the plants we do want. We often think of plants being timid organisms, but they are also vicious competitors and will box out other organisms from being able to get sunlight or water. If we could show plant growth sped up, it would show many of these things.

5. Competition for Mates
What are some strategies humans use to compete for attention from another human?
Classroom lists included:
Dressing up, cologne or perfume to smell good, fighting over a potential girl or guy, showing off to prove how cool we are, dancing, buying gifts to show we can take care of them, pick up lines, playing hard to get, teasing each other, and many others.

6. Competition for Mates Only happens between the same species
Strategies of Males vs. Females
Males
Females
Males and Females have very different strategies! Some animals mate for life, but many organisms exhibit mating behavior to try to attract mates. Many females in the animal kingdom are looking to mate with the organism that has proven to be genetically superior to all other organisms. The following videos on the next pages will exhibit the showing strength, or impressing in other ways (courtship dances and displays). Females in the animal kingdom do not go home to their parents and tell them, I know he is not very strong and he doesn’t look very good, but he is a “nice guy” and he really loves me. Females will not waste time with “Mr. Weak Sauce!” Some females only reproduce every few years and they may end up having to spend a couple years with their new born baby, so their investment into this baby is very high and they do not want to chance putting all this effort into a baby that will not be able to survive. They only want the best! That is why in the next video, you will see that the female elk form a harem and all congregate around the most dominate male because they want to mate with the strongest. Males on the other hand want to mate with as many females as possible. Many of them in the animal kingdom do not stay around for the parenting portion of it, so they want to have as many kids as possible in order to continue to pass on their genetics. They take the approach of the more I have the better off I am. They hope to achieve a higher survival rate by sheer volume of kids.

7. Competition for Mates
Elk Video Here

8. Sage Grouse Video Here
Sage Grouse participate in what is called a lek. These are basically glorified dances or stomps for them where the men show off for the ladies. Notice the ladies that come across after 2 minutes. They are more drab in color and features compared with the males. This is standard in the animal kingdom. Why do you think that is?

9. Bird Courtship Display video
Think humans created original dance moves? Notice how many moves look similar to moves you see exhibited by the birds, even the moonwalk.

10. Marking our territory
Humans mark our territory much like animals mark their territory. Although they are different methods of marking territory, the message is the same.

11. Competition for Territory
Competition for territory can also involve organisms of the same species and even the same family. The first picture is of a momma bear and its baby cub. The cub will stay with its mother for around two years and learn everything it needs to survive. About two years old, the bear is like a teenager and eats everything in the home. Momma has to send the bear off to find its own territory or there will not be enough food for them to both survive. Sometimes the bear cub challenges the mother and the mother is forced to go find a new territory or the mother will not survive.

12. Barnacles competing for Space
Barnacles only move when they are larva. They are looking for a place to attach. If there is not a space for them to attach and they have to attach to the sandy bottom of the ocean, they will not survive because the sand moves and they are tossed about, etc. Sometimes as seen on the far right barnacles will attach to whales or other ocean organisms. This creates a symbiotic relationship where the barnacles benefit because they now gain movement (on the back of the whale) and the whales don’t really benefit or get harmed (it is similar to a human having a mole).

13. Do plants compete for space?
Plants need a place to attach. If a plant is already growing in a crack then other plants are not able to take hold or they will not be able to outcompete for space with the other plant. We talked about how some plants reduce competition for space by sending their “baby plants” out through fruit which is carried away from them by the animal. This means they will not grow underneath them and try to take away nutrients from them. This is an example of mutualism which we will also talk about later. We also talked about vegetable gardens and why they have directions on seed packets to plant seeds a certain spacing apart. If they are planted too closely then they are not able to grow as well or at all.