Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Skripnikov, Andrey

Area of Concentration

Biology and Statistics

Abstract

The competitive exclusion principle is a commonly accepted notion within ecology; it asserts that two species with identical niches can not coexist indefinitely over ecologi- cal time. The Lotka-Volterra model of competition explores this notion by predicting the outcome of competitive events between two species. Using data on two species of parasitoid wasps, Nasonia vitripennis and Melittobia digitata, this model was ap- plied to determine the outcome of interspecific competition. The analysis found the population growth of M. digitata was possibly negatively impacted by the presence of N. vitripennis. Comparatively, the results indicated N. vitripennis was likely to be either not affected by M. digitata or aided by the presence of M. digitata, possibly due to the intraspecific competition between individuals of N. vitripennis having a larger effect than the interspecific competition from M. digitata.

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