Question

Which of the following illustrates intraspecific competition? A sea gull swooping down to snatch a fish from the water's surface Male red-winged blackbirds defending limited nesting sites from other males A butterfly feeding on the nectar of a daffodil flower A tick and a flea sharing a dog's back

Answer 1

Answer: Male red-winkled black birds defending limited nesting sites from other males.

Explanation: Intraspecific competition is defined as a competition between two individuals from the same species. There are two types of intraspecific competition which are interference intraspecific competition and exploitation intraspecific competition. For the purpose of the answer provided above, interference intraspecific competition is discussed.

In interference intraspecific competition, the species establish hierarchies through aggressive behavior in which one or more individuals within the population holds a dominant status over the others. These individuals limit or prevent access of more subordinate individuals to a resources through direct interactions.

Here, only those individuals who are dominant or holds territories will increase their production success. Example of this is in when two winkled black birds establishes a territory of nesting sites, thus limits the access of this nesting sites thereby defending the nesting sites from other males.