1 Introduction. - 1. 1 Resources. - 1. 2 A paradigm of population growth. - 1. 3 Competition and resources. - 1. 4 Classical competition theory. - 1. 5 Concluding remarks. - 2 Theoretical and experimental foundations. - 2. 1 Introduction. - 2. 2 Chemostat models. - 2. 3 Competition for a single abiotic resource. - 2. 4 Competition for two abiotic resources. - 2. 5 Concluding remarks. - 3 Experimental studies of resource competition. - 3. 1 Introduction. - 3. 2 General overview. - 3. 3 Microorganisms. - 3. 4 Higher plants. - 3. 5 Metazoa. - 3. 6 Concluding remarks. - 4 Critiques. - 4. 1 Introduction. - 4. 2 The logical structure of theory and experimentation. - 4. 3 Critiques of resource competition theory. - 4. 4 A look ahead. - 5 Nonequilibrium resource competition. - 5. 1 General notions. - 5. 2 Experimental and theoretical studies of plankton. - 5. 3 Competition for biotic resources. - 5. 4 Other approaches. - 5. 5 Remaining issues. - 6 Competition within food webs. - 6. 1 Introduction. - 6. 2 A resource-dependent food web. - 6. 3 Special cases of the resource-dependent food web. - 6. 4 Remaining issues. - 6. 5 Conclusions. - 7 Spatial heterogeneity. - 7. 1 Introduction. - 7. 2 General approaches. - 7. 3 Island or site-based models. - 7. 4 Continuum models. - 7. 5 Stepping-stone models. - 7. 6 Empirical and theoretical challenges. - 7. 7 Conclusions. - 8 Competition for light. - 8. 1 Introduction. - 8. 2 The vertical nature of light supply consumption and photosynthesis. - 8. 3 Horizontal aspects of competition for light. - 8. 4 Temporal aspects of competition for light. - 8. 5 Conclusions and remaining issues. - 9 Resource competition and evolution. - 9. 1 Introduction. - 9. 2 Purely phenotypic approaches. - 9. 3 Genetic approaches. - 9. 4 Conclusions and remaining issues. - 10 Applications. - 10. 1 Introduction. - 10. 2 Water quality management. - 10. 3 Medicine. - 10. 4Conservation. - 10. 5 Conclusions and remaining issues. - 11 Conclusions. - 11. 1 Introductory remarks. - 11. 2 The current status of resource competition. - 11. 3 Concluding remarks. - References. Language: English