NATS 1840 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Ecological Niche
8 Feb 2019
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Document Summary
Ecological niche : a species way of life or functional role in a community or ecosystem, involves everything that affects its survival and reproduction. Range of tolerance for various physical and chemical conditions such as temperature. Amounts and types of resources used by the species. The role it plays in energy flow and matter cycling the ecosystem. Niche is like a species occupation whereas a habitat is like their address . Fundamental niche: the full potential range of physical, chemical, and biological conditions and resources it could use if there were no other competition from other species. The niches of species overlap, therefore in an ecosystem there is competition among species for these resources. Realized niche: a species usually occupies only part of its fundamental niche in an ecosystem due to competition. Generalist species: broad niches, they can live in many different places, eat a variety of foods, and tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions.
