Question

Gause's principle of competitive exclusion states that -

• A. Competition for the same resources excludes species having different food preferences
• B. No two species can occupy the same niche indefinitely for the same limiting resources
• C. Larger organisms exclude smaller ones through competition
• D. More abundant species will exclude the less abundant species through competition

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

• Gause's principle, also known as the Competitive Exclusion Principle, is based on experiments conducted by Russian ecologist G.F. Gause.
• It states that if two species compete for exactly the same resources (same ecological niche), one will be better adapted and will eventually outcompete and exclude the other.
• This leads to one of the following outcomes:
  • Extinction of one species, or
  • Evolutionary shift in one species to exploit a different niche (resource partitioning).

Incorrect options: 

• Option 1: Gause's principle doesn’t focus on food preference but on shared niches and resources.
• Option 3: Size is not the deciding factor in competitive exclusion.
• Option 4: Abundance alone doesn't determine competitive outcome — it's about resource utilization efficiency.

Hence, the principle emphasizes that two species cannot stably coexist if they compete for the exact same limiting resource.