You notice that in forests with two species of woodpeckers, one is restricted to the tops of trees and the other is restricted to the lower trunks. However, in forests with only one woodpecker species, that species occurs on both the tops of trees and the lower trunks. What would you call the phenomenon occurring in the forests with two species?

Question

Jocelynn Gallagher

Biology

13 June, 21:51

You notice that in forests with two species of woodpeckers, one is restricted to the tops of trees and the other is restricted to the lower trunks. However, in forests with only one woodpecker species, that species occurs on both the tops of trees and the lower trunks. What would you call the phenomenon occurring in the forests with two species?

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Answers (1)

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Clay David · Answer 1

The phenomenon is called: Ecological character displacement.

Explanation:

W L Brown and E O Wilson was the first who explained the theory of ecological character displacement. This theory explains that the two similar species using the same resources, likely to compete strongly for the same resources. The competition leads to competitive exclusion. The stronger ones may survive and weaker one will be eliminated. This is the one possibility. The other possibility is that in each population, those individuals whose phenotype allows them to use resources not used by members of the other species. The result may be that the populations diversify its external features (phenotype) and use of resources. This will reduce resource competition and will permit coexistence.