An Urban Example for Teaching Interspecific Competition

Abstract

Although ecology appears less abstract than molecular biology, beginning students, especially those with highly urbanized backgrounds, often have difficulty relating to competition among wood warblers, barnacles, or any of the other examples we typically use in courses. Kangas and Risser (1979) analyzed packing and phylogeny of fast-food restaurants (FFRs). Their premise was that the theory of ecological competition as it is used to explain both community structure and specialization within also can be applied to the problem of coexistence among FFRs. Using their analogy, I have devised and successfully used a simple laboratory exercise that has two main objectives: 1) to teach competition theory to beginning college students (biology majors and nonmajors) by using familiar species, and 2) to start students thinking about the urban environment from an ecological perspective. In this exercise FFRs are analogous to and compete for consumers' money. I have limited my definition of FFR to those restaurants where 1) service is quick, 2) carryout is available, and 3) neither waiters nor waitresses come to the table. This definition eliminates some establishments but reduces the species to a manageable number. I begin by defining competitive exclusion by stating that if two noninterbreeding populations occupy the same niche (defined as a comTABLE 1. Generic Categories for Entrees and Side Orders of Fast-Food Restaurants.