What does the conceptual framework of ecological niche have to offer us?
Part I of II
Ecological niche:
The status or role of an organism in its environment.
An organism’s niche is defined by the types of food it consumes, its predators, temperature, tolerances, etc.
Two species cannot coexist stably if they occupy identical niches.
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The status or role an organism plays in its environment is usually set first and then the organism develops to fill the niche – not the other way around.
Plants use sunlight to convert the sun’s energy into stored food to be used later when the sun is not shining.
Plants do not have to move about; they are able to store the excess energy in a form that allows them to survive periods when the sun is hidden by clouds during the day and darkness at night.
Plant-eating animals developed to use the excess food the plants produced.
They learned to move about in order to go from one plant location to another.