Question

In some shallow South American lakes, visiting flamingoes and resident fishes compete for their common food, the zooplankton in the lake. This is an example of _______________________.

• A. intraspecific competition
• B. interspecific competition
• C. predation
• D. parasitism

Answer 1

The correct option is B interspecific competition

Competition is a type of population interaction in which the fitness of one species is significantly lower in the presence of another species. It occurs when two species compete for the same resources that are limiting and has a negative effect on both the interacting species (-/- interaction).

It is of two types viz. interspecific and intraspecific competition.
Intraspecific competition refers to the competition between organisms belonging to the same species. For example, the alpha male silverback gorilla fights off any other male that wants to mate with the females in his troupe.

Interspecific competition is the competition between organisms belonging to two different species. In the given example, flamingoes and fishes, which belong to two different species, are said to be competing for the same resource, their common food, the zooplanktons. Zooplanktons are small floating animals that drift with water currents.

Predation is a type of interaction where organisms belonging to one species (the predator) kill and eat organisms belonging to another species (its prey). Example: Tiger preys on the deer

Parasitism is a type of population interaction between two living species in which one organism (the parasite) lives on and derives nutrition from another specific organism (the host). Example: The human liver fluke that is a parasite of the liver in humans.