Occurs when resources are limited and multiple organisms seek the same resource; can be within or between species.

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Competition occurs when resources are limited and more than one organism seeks the same resource, and it can happen within a species (intraspecific) or between species (interspecific). The scenario described matches this exactly: scarce resources lead to a direct struggle as multiple individuals vie for access.

Resource partitioning is what species do to reduce competition by using different resources or using the same resources at different times or places—it's a strategy that lessens competition, not the initial struggle itself. An exploitative interaction is a broader term that includes any situation where one organism benefits at another’s expense by using shared resources, which can cover predation or parasitism as well as competition, but the clearest description of organisms contending for the same limited resource is classic competition. Population distribution is about where organisms are found, not the interaction over shared resources.