14.1 Habitat And Niche
KEY CONCEPT
Every organism has a habitat and a niche.
14.1 Habitat And Niche
A habitat differs from a niche.
- habitat
~ the place in which an organism lives /where it lives
~ includes the area’s biotic (living = trees, other
animals) and abiotic (nonliving = water, temperature)
factors
14.1 Habitat And Niche
- an ecological niche:
~ includes all of the
factors that a species
needs to survive,
stay healthy, and
reproduce
14.1 Habitat And Niche
~ it also includes the organism’s living conditions/
how it uses its space:
- food: where it is placed in the food web
- abiotic conditions: the climate in which it is best
suited
- behavior: the time of day it feeds and the place it
feeds
14.1 Habitat And Niche
Habitat
African savanna
Niche
its habitat and how it
uses it
14.1 Habitat And Niche
* Competition for resources
- species can share habitats and resources, but
competition occurs when species use resources in the
same way
14.1 Habitat And Niche
- competitive exclusion principle = states that two species
that compete for the same resources cannot coexist
~ there are 3
possible outcomes
to competitive
exclusion:
14.1 Habitat And Niche
1. the species that is better suited to the niche will
remain and the other species will be forced to find
another niche or will become extinct
14.1 Habitat And Niche
2. the niche will be divided
3. the two species will further diverge
14.1 Habitat And Niche
• Ecological equivalents = species that occupy similar
niches but live in different geographical regions
(communities).
Madagascar
South America
mantella frog
poison dart frog