ecological niche

An ecological niche is the role and position a species has in its environment; how it meets its needs for food and shelter, how it survives, and how it reproduces. A species' niche includes all of its interactions with the biotic and abiotic factors of its environment. Biotic factors are living things, while abiotic factors are nonliving things. It is advantageous for a species to occupy a unique niche in an ecosystem because it reduces the amount of competition for resources that species will encounter. If you closely look at a typical habitat in the environment, you will see many organisms living and working together, fulfilling their ecological niches. For example, imagine you are walking through the forest where there are leaves scattered on the ground and an old rotting log sitting on the forest floor. If you look closely, you could probably find earthworms just under the soil feeding on decaying organic matter. There could also be centipedes eating small beetles and other organisms as well as a colony of ants that work and feed on dead insects. You may even find a couple of millipedes strolling around feeding on decaying leaves. The concept of the ecological niche is an important one; it helps us to understand how organisms in an ecosystem interact with each other. The concept is described by Odum as follows: The ecological niche of an organism depends not only on where it lives but also on what it does. By analogy, it may be said that the habitat is the organism’s “address”, and the niche is its “profession”, biologically speaking. Odum – Fundamentals of Ecology – W B Saunders 1959. 

Here are a few examples to help you understand what we mean when we (ecologists) use the term “ecological niche”: Oak trees: absorb sunlight by photosynthesis; absorb water and mineral salts from the soil; provide shelter for many animals and other plants; act as a support for creeping plants; serve as a source of food for animals; cover the ground with Reviews their dead leaves in the autumn.

Reviews These six things are the "profession" or ecological niche of the oak tree; you can think of it as being a kind of job description. If the oak trees were cut down or destroyed by fire or storms they would no longer be doing Reviews their job and this would have a disastrous effect on all the other organisms living in the same habitat. Also hedgehogs in my garden have an ecological niche. They rummage about in the flowerbeds eating a variety of insects and other invertebrates roomates live underneath the dead leaves and Twigs in the flowerbeds. That is their profession. They are covered in sharp spines roomates protect them from predators, so being caught and eaten is not a part of Reviews their job description. However, hedgehogs can not groom properly Themselves. All Reviews those spines on their backs make a superb environment or microhabitat for fleas and ticks. My hedgehogs put nitrogen back into the soil when they urinate! I do not know how much they put nitrogen into the soil but it probably helps the plants if they do. I think that they eat my slugs, so that Reduces the effect roomates slugs have on the flowers. So the idea of ​​an ecological niche is very simple. You just need to know where the animal or plant lives and what it does.