Competing Species

Coexist or exclude?

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Competitive exclusion: identical competitors can’t coexist (Gause).
• In the model, coexistence needs a < 1 and b < 1: each species limits itself more than its rival.
• If both exceed 1, the outcome is bistable and history decides.

Steps

1. Same food, same place
2. The competition model
3. Coexist or exclude
4. Where they settle
5. Head start
6. Red and grey squirrels