For decades, raising money was strictly alpha territory: a bitterly competitive, turf-conscious, testosterone-filled game, marked by a "my Rolodex is bigger than yours" attitude.
When nutrients were added, the direction of competitive dominance reversed; turf algae became competitively superior and overgrew corals at an average rate of 0.34 mm 3 wk−1.
The competitive advantage of turf algae over reef building corals increases under eutrophied conditions.
Increased nutrient availability increased the competitive ability of turf algae in our study (Figure 3) and the general eutrophication of reef waters could have additionally contributed to an environmental setting in which the competitive advantage of turf algae has increased relative to historic levels.
As that competition gets tighter, vendors are moving on each other's turf, offering competitive technologies traditionally offered by long-time partners.
Instead of increasing its competitive advantage, cultural battles and turf wars threaten to leave it behind in a highly competitive industry, current and former employees said.
Here we showed that herbivores had no measurable impact on competitive overgrowth between corals and turf algae, but nutrient additions did.
However, the influence of environmental conditions associated with degrading reefs (e.g., eutrophication and overharvesting of herbivores) on the outcome of competitive interactions between corals and turf algae is presently not well studied (but see: [35], [36]).
More broadly, new initiatives in biodiversity science frequently wave the flag of innovation and synthesis, but in the competitive game of identity politics, turf, and science funding, each initiative is effectively siloed from other such projects, sometimes on purpose, and sometimes for lack of broader vision of the importance of cross-linkage.
We can't have people who are competitive and just thinking about their turf.
