What does the conceptual framework of ecological niche have to offer us?
Part II of II
...Animal-eating animals developed to use the energy stored in plant-eating animals.
They developed the ability to move fast in order to catch the slower moving plant-eating animals.
This process continued up the food chain with niches becoming more specialized.
And then we come to humans. Humanity appears to be the most sophisticated animal on earth.
Humanity is unique for many reasons and its relationship within ecological niches is just one interesting example.
Ecological niches for plants and animals are created by nature, but humanity appears to have created its own niche.
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We may have evolved over a period of millions of years.
The point being addressed here is not evolution of our species, but rather the evolutionary development of our ecological niche.
We may have started by filling an ecological niche, but we now seem to be in a niche of our own making.
We appear to be the only life form in our solar system searching for meaning.
We have developed our societies in such a manner that we are capable of seeking knowledge for knowledge’s sake.
Or is there another reason?
We may not appear to be filling an ecological niche within this physical universe but perhaps we are filling a niche created by the very existence of the universe itself.
End