Competition and coexistence: the contribution of modelling to the formation of ecological concepts

Abstract

Abstract Competition is a basic concept in ecology and plays a fundamental role in the consistency of established ecological theory. This paper refers to the roundtable discussion held at the 1992 ISEM Conference in Kiel (Germany) and reflects the current state of discussion about this concept. The authors conclude that (1) competition originates as an abstract term from social and economic experience, (2) the competitive exclusion principle and its theoretical implications are founded on assumptions of spatial homogeneity, and that (3) this concept therefore lacks the consistency required to achieve a practically valid and generally applicable theory for the interpretation of ecological interactions in the field. In contrast to the central position of competition in theory, empirical investigations support the view that it only plays a minor role in community dynamics and evolution. However, to abandon competition as the fundamental concept in population ecology substantially reduces the achievable degree of generality in ecological theory. As a result, theory will become more domain-specific, whereas unifying principles may be established on meta-levels of theory.