INTRODUCTION
The concept of ecological niche can be considered as one of the most important theoretical background in ecology. This was developed over several decades by various researchers in the world. The development process of the niche concept primarily tried to answer basic observational questions such as why does an organism perform as it does? why does it live where it lives? why does it eat what it eats? how do organisms interact with one another? which organisms can coexist with one another? why are some species abundant and others rare? why are some species widespread and others localized? what determines how many kinds of organisms will coexist through space and time? how do ecological interactions influence a species’ evolutionary routes? what consequences does the presence of a species have on ecosystem-level process and function?(Chase & Leibold, 2003), are several questions out of many others. Although, answers to above questions clarified through various researches have been done all around the world, the niche concept remains one of the most puzzling, and yet important subject in ecology.
The understanding of the niche concept is an important component in any ecological studies, ranging from the study of individual species behavior, morphology and physiology to community level species participation in ecosystem structuring and functioning. The history of the use of initial niche concept can be traced down from Darwin’s (1859) and Wallace’s (1876) pioneer writings on natural selection and evolution where they implicitly refer to species roles in the environment as sited by Chase and Leibold (2003). Furthermore, it is possible to identify several naturalists who discussed concepts related to a species niche, but C...
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...36) which is in some instances referred by “Volterra-Gause principle” (Chase & Leibold, 2003; G.E. Hutchinson, 1978).
Revolutionary definition and quantification of the niche concept was done by Hutchinson following all of above mentioned early uses, simulations studies and defining efforts. As stated by Chase and Leibold (2003), Hutchinson’s niche definition first presented in 1944 stating that “The term niche (in Gause’s sense, rather than Elton’s) is here defined as the sum of all the environmental factors acting on the organism; the niche thus defined is a region of an n-dimensional hyper-space.” G. E. Hutchinson (1957), now referred as classic paper in ecology “concluding remarks” presented at the Cold Springs Harbor Symposium of Quantitative Biology, further refined his original idea and transformed “n-dimensional hyper-space” to “n-dimensional hypervolume”.
Williams, A. B. (1936). The composition and dynamics of a beech-maple climax community. Ecological monographs, 6(3), 317-408.
In other words, a fundamental niche is where an organism can use all the resources (food, shelter, light, etc.) it needs to survive and reproduce without the interference from other species. This takes ideas from Elton because it states that food is an important part of a niche. However, Hutchinson also introduced the realized niche, the actual niche that an animal is restricted to because of outside forces such as predators and competition (Hutchinson, 1957). This is similar to Grinnell’s idea because the California Thrasher could live outside the chaparral zone because it has a diverse diet, but its realized niche is the chaparral zone because it is restricted there because of predators. Because of this, niches aren’t easy to define in nature because scientists can figure out what the ideal niche would be for an organism but multiple outside forces can make it difficult to determine its realized niche. In recent years, niche theory has not been restricted to ecology and in fact can be applied to cancer research. Studies have found that stem cells differentiate into cancer stem cells causing Cancer in
Burton, Robert, ed. Nature's Last Strongholds. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. Print.
For a species to survive and flourish within a given environment, it not only needs to replace itself but also all the other species around it exclusively. Hence, if one species completely replaces another species, the result is a single dominant species, a monoculture (source 2). According to Gause’s law, every species in a given environment occupies different niches for survival. Therefore, two separate species competing for similar resources cannot fundamentally coexist (source Gause). This is known as the competitive exclusion principle. When comparing animal niche’s to that of different autotrophic plants, one can rather easily differentiate adequate ecological niches for the animal species merely based on food-requirements (P.J. Grubb). On the contrary, many autotrophic plants contradict the competitive exclusion principle by sharing similar ecological niches such as sunlight, carbon dioxide, water, and alike mineral nutrients (p.j. grubb).
Bateson, P. K. N. .., 2013. Tinbergen’s four questions:an appreciation and an update. Trends in Ecology & Evolution , pp. 1-7.
Biodiversity is influenced by landscape fragmentation at various scales of space and time. The extinction of ecosystem types and component species may cause an increased patchiness of the landscape, resulting in lower population sizes and decreased connectivity. As a result, inhabitants may experience decreased dispersal abilities and lowered gene flows between populations.
Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to investigate the various components of different ecosystems in a smaller representation and study the conditions required for the ecosystem’s sustainability as well as the connections between
Mills, Scott L., Daniel F. Doak, and Michael E. Soule. "The Keystone-species Concept in Ecology and Conservation." BioScience 43.4 (1993): 219-25. Apr. 1993. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.
For example the canopies of kelp provide shelter for many organisms . Because the kelp is able to float, it creates a canopy. This canopy has warm temperatures and slow water currents, providing a home to defenseless young. This is important because the kelp is able to protect many organisms from predators and rough storms (6). Kelp is also the base of the food chain. Since kelp is the base of the food chain many organisms eat kelp and other animals eat them.This is important because without the kelp all the primary consumers would starve having no other food source (5). Finally each part of kelp is home to a different species. Because each part of kelp is home to a different species, many species breed in them. This is important because if the kelp where gone there would be no place for the organisms to breed downsizing their population (4). Overall kelp is providing food and shelter to many
Mating is more likely to happen between geographical neighbors than with organisms in different parts of the population’s range. A new niche for an existing population. plants adapting to contaminated soil, resulting in a new flowering time. Sympatric: When a new species evolves from another species while still inhabiting the same geographic region.
Zacherl, Danielle. “Biology 171 Evolution and Biodiversity.” National Association of Research in Science Teaching 2007 Annual Meeting, New Orleans LA. (2007):n. page. Print.
On the first level, when foreign, but previously non-invasive species is first introduced to a new area, the new species may play a role in a community that was previously unfulfilled; it may fill a vacant niche in the ecosystem. Originally this new species may be seen as a useful contributor to its new surroundings because it has only (temporarily) increased biodiversity in the area (Meinesz, 2003).
One of the reasons for loss in biodiversity is alteration of habitats. A habitat is the natural environment in which a species of living organism lives. If the habitat of a species is changed, it will cause the species to die or migrate to other places where it can find its natural habitat. There are many ways in which the habitat of plants and animals can be altered. One of them is land use changes. Since the beginning of human life, human beings have been changing land use for farming. Large areas of forests have been cleared by humans to increase the area of farming to satisfy their growing needs. Many biodiversity-rich landscape characteristics have been lost due to intensive farming (Young, Richards, Fischer, Halada, Kull, Kuzniar, Tartes, Uzunov & Watt, 2007). For example, traditional farming was replaced by private farms in Europe after the First World War causing an immense change in land use patterns. Another major proble...
Biodiversity is so important that if any chain or link is disturbed then the whole system will come to a halt. Biodiversity also boosts ecosystem productivity and if it declines automatically our ecosystem also declines as both are interdependent upon each other, where all the species play an essential role in the way ecosystem functions, so local and global species loss could threaten the stability of the ecosystem services on which humans depend. This is an interesting topic as well as a global issue concerning the whole human civilization and their existence. . The said issue as well as many other issues regarding our natural processes cannot be neglected as our present and future depends entirely on the sustainability and growth of this ecosystem and biodiversity. Our ecosystem completely depends on the way biodiversity functions. This is the reason I have chosen this topic and gathered information about how it e...
The Web. 19 May 2014. Marinelli, Janet. A. Homegrown Biodiversity. National Wildlife Federation, 1 Apr. 2006.