Practice question

“K1/α12 > K2 and K2/α21 < K1” for which of the following matches competitive exclusion. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. Niche differentiation reduces overlap by separating species along resource, space, or time axes. Such partitioning can stabilize coexistence when each species performs relatively better under the conditions it uses most strongly. The remaining alternatives—“K1/α12 K1”, “K1/α12 > K2 and K2/α21 > K1”, “K1/α12 < K2 and K2/α21 < K1”—refer to different states, processes, or scales and therefore do not express the same causal relationship. Habitat describes where an organism occurs; niche additionally describes how it obtains resources and affects or responds to other organisms. Distribution therefore provides evidence about a niche but is not identical to it. The cited framing is therefore most useful when treated as a conditional biological claim, with assumptions about scale and environmental context kept explicit.