Editing Competitive exclusion principle (section)

==Prediction==
[[File:Logical deterministic individual-based cellular automata model of interspecific competition for a single limited resource.gif|thumb|[[Cellular automaton]] model of interspecific competition for a single limited resource]]

Competitive exclusion is predicted by mathematical and theoretical models such as the [[Lotka–Volterra equations|Lotka–Volterra model]]s of competition. However, for poorly understood reasons, competitive exclusion is rarely observed in natural [[ecosystem]]s, and many biological communities appear to violate Gause's law. The best-known example is the so-called "[[paradox of the plankton]]".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hutchinson |first=George Evelyn |date=1961 |title=The paradox of the plankton |journal=American Naturalist |volume=95 |issue=882 |pages=137–145 |doi=10.1086/282171 |bibcode=1961ANat...95..137H |s2cid=86353285}}</ref> All [[plankton]] species live on a very limited number of resources, primarily [[solar energy]] and minerals dissolved in the water. According to the competitive exclusion principle, only a small number of plankton species should be able to coexist on these resources. Nevertheless, large numbers of plankton species coexist within small regions of open sea.

Some communities that appear to uphold the competitive exclusion principle are [[Robert H. MacArthur|MacArthur]]'s [[warbler]]s<ref>{{Cite journal |last=MacArthur |first=R.H. |author-link=Robert MacArthur |year=1958 |title=Population ecology of some warblers of northeastern coniferous forests |journal=Ecology |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=599–619 |bibcode=1958Ecol...39..599M |doi=10.2307/1931600 |jstor=1931600 |s2cid=45585254}}</ref> and [[Darwin's finches]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mayr |first=E. |author-link=David Lack |date=September 1947 |title=The Galapagos Finches (Geospizinae). A Study in Variation. David Lock Darwin's Finches. David Lack |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/395800 |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |language=en |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=217 |doi=10.1086/395800 |issn=0033-5770|url-access=subscription }}</ref> though the latter still overlap ecologically very strongly, being only affected negatively by competition under extreme conditions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=De León |first1=LF |last2=Podos |first2=J |last3=Gardezi |first3=T |last4=Herrel |first4=A |last5=Hendry |first5=AP |date=Jun 2014 |title=Darwin's finches and their diet niches: the sympatric coexistence of imperfect generalists |journal=J Evol Biol |volume=27 |issue=6 |pages=1093–104 |doi=10.1111/jeb.12383 |pmid=24750315 |doi-access=free}}</ref>