THE GEOGRAPHIC area inhabited by a species is constrained by its ecological niche, the multidimensional set of environmental variables that determines where members of a species can survive and maintain viable populations (Grinnell 1917). Individual organisms have the physiological capacity to inhabit any geographic location characterised by physical parameters within the constraints of the spe...

1 Mathematical indices, formed by combining several primary measures, can help researchers summarize, interpret and display results from plant competition experiments. This essay compiles and discusses more than 50 indices that have been used in studies of plant competition. 2 Indices allow researchers to quantify and express several attributes of plant competition, including competition intens...

The end of last century did not only see an enormous increase in the importance of software, but also an increase in competition on the marketplace. Competition is now global and the increase in competition has lead to an ever faster changing environment for software-developing companies, among others. This trend is not likely to fade in a foreseeable future. In order to cope with a changing ma...

security building processes after world war ii, were under the influence of realistic thoughts. this was considered a reaction to idealistic and institutional approaches. critical school attempted to criticize classical and structural realism. new security theoreticians emphasize on extended subjects and diverse threats and believe it to be beyond the competition of countries. they believe that...

A micro-competition system is designed for simultaneous quantification of multiple glycans on intact cell surfaces, by integrating two-surface–one-molecule competition with surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The micro-competition is achieved among multiple-polysaccharide-coated gold nanostars functionalized silica bubbles, target cells and gold nanoprobes at a micron scale. The gold nano...

Recent theory supports the long-held proposition that coexistence is promoted by species-specific responses to a spatially varying environment. The underlying coexistence mechanism, the spatial storage effect, can be quantified by the covariance between response to the environment and competition. Here, "competition" is generalized to encompass similar processes such as facilitation and apparen...

There is a growing awareness that biodiversity not only drives ecosystem services but also affects evolutionary dynamics. However, different theories predict contrasting outcomes on when do evolutionary processes occur within a context of competition. We tested whether functional diversity can explain diversification patterns. We tracked the survival and diversification of a focal bacterial spe...