Define an ecological niche. How do you understand the term “human ecological niche”?
environmental adaptive recycling pollutant
An ecological niche is the position of a species that it occupies in common system biocenosis, the complex of its biocenotic connections and requirements for abiotic factors environment. Ecological niche reflects the participation of the species in the biocenosis. In this case, what is meant is not its territorial location, but the functional manifestation of the organism in the community. According to Ch. Elton (1934), an ecological niche is “a place in a living environment, the relationship of a species to food and to enemies.” The concept of ecological niche has proven to be very fruitful for understanding the laws life together species. In addition to C. Elton, many ecologists worked on its development, among them D. Grinnell, G. Hutchinson, Y. Odum and others.
Each species or its parts (populations, groups of various ranks) occupy a certain place in their environment. For example, certain type an animal cannot arbitrarily change its food ration or feeding time, place of reproduction, shelter, etc. For plants, such conditionality of conditions is expressed, for example, through love of light or shade, place in the vertical division of the community (confined to a certain tier), time of the most active growing season . For example, under the forest canopy, some plants manage to complete the main life cycle, ending with the ripening of seeds, before the leaves of the tree canopy (spring ephemerals) bloom. At a later time, other, more shade-tolerant plants take their place. Special group plants are capable of quickly capturing free space (pioneer plants), but have low competitive ability and therefore quickly give way to other (more competitive) species.
Figure 1 Ecological niches of organisms feeding on roots (1), root secretions (2), leaves (3), stem and trunk tissues (4), fruits and seeds (5, 6), flowers and pollen (7, 8), juices (9) and kidneys (10) (according to I. N. Ponomareva, 1975)
The given examples illustrate an ecological niche or its individual elements. An ecological niche is usually understood as the place of an organism in nature and the entire mode of its life activity, or, as they say, life status, including attitude to environmental factors, types of food, time and methods of feeding, breeding places, shelters, etc. This concept is much more comprehensive and more meaningful than the concept of “habitat”. The American ecologist Odum figuratively called the habitat the “address” of an organism (species), and the ecological niche its “profession.” As a rule, they live in one habitat large number organisms different types. For example, a mixed forest is a habitat for hundreds of species of plants and animals, but each of them has its own and only one “profession” - an ecological niche. Thus, a similar habitat, as noted above, in the forest is occupied by elk and squirrel. But their niches are completely different: the squirrel lives mainly in the crowns of trees, feeds on seeds and fruits, reproduces there, etc. The entire life cycle of an elk is associated with the subcanopy space: feeding on green plants or their parts, reproduction and shelter in thickets, etc. n. If organisms occupy different ecological niches, they usually do not enter into competitive relationships; their spheres of activity and influence are separated. In this case, the relationship is considered neutral. At the same time, in each ecosystem there are species that claim the same niche or its elements (food, shelter, etc.). In this case, competition is inevitable, the struggle to own a niche. Evolutionary relationships have developed in such a way that species with similar environmental requirements cannot exist together for a long time. This pattern is not without exceptions, but it is so objective that it is formulated in the form of a provision called the “rule of competitive exclusion.” The author of this rule is ecologist G. F. Gause. It sounds like this: if two species with similar requirements for the environment (nutrition, behavior, breeding sites, etc.) enter into a competitive relationship, then one of them must die or change its lifestyle and occupy a new ecological niche. Sometimes, for example, in order to relieve acute competitive relations, it is enough for one organism (animal) to change the feeding time without changing the type of food itself (if competition occurs at the bud of food relations), or to find a new habitat (if competition takes place on the basis of this factor) and etc.
Among other properties of ecological niches, we note that an organism (species) can change them throughout its life cycle. Most shining example in this regard - insects. Thus, the ecological niche of the cockchafer larvae is associated with the soil and feeding on the root systems of plants. At the same time, the ecological niche of beetles is associated with the terrestrial environment, feeding on green parts of plants.
The life forms of organisms are largely associated with ecological niches. The latter include groups of species that are often systematically far apart, but have developed the same morphological adaptations as a result of existing in similar conditions. For example, the similarity of life forms is characterized by dolphins (mammals) and intensively moving in aquatic environment predatory fish. In steppe conditions, similar life forms are represented by jerboas and kangaroos (jumpers). IN flora individual life forms are represented by numerous species of trees that occupy the upper tier as a thread, shrubs existing under the forest canopy, and grasses in the ground cover.
An unlimited ecological niche allowed it to become a unique species, capable of subordinating other species to its interests and destroying them. Such phenomena are alien to species that exist within the boundaries of ecosystems and occupy certain places in food chains, since the destruction of other species is tantamount to self-destruction. This is one of the paradoxes of human development as a biosocial being. Man ensured his transformation into a hypereurybiont not through biochogic mechanisms, but through technical means, and therefore he has largely lost the potential for biological adaptation. This is the reason that a person is among the first candidates for leaving the arena of life as a result of environmental changes caused by him.
An ecological niche is usually understood as the place of an organism in nature and the entire mode of its life activity, or, as they say, life status, including attitude to environmental factors, types of food, time and methods of feeding, breeding places, shelters, etc. This concept is much more comprehensive and more meaningful than the concept of “habitat”. The American ecologist Odum figuratively called the habitat the “address” of an organism (species), and the ecological niche its “profession.”
Thus, the ecological niche characterizes the degree of biological specialization of a species. The ecological specificity of species is emphasized by the axiom of ecological adaptability: “Each species is adapted to a strictly defined, specific set of living conditions - an ecological niche.”
G. Hutchinson put forward the concept of a fundamental and realized ecological niche.
Fundamental refers to the entire set of conditions under which a species can successfully exist and reproduce. In nature, however, species do not develop all the resources suitable for them due, first of all, to competitive relationships.
A realized ecological niche is the position of a species in a particular community, where it is limited by complex biocenotic relationships. Those. the fundamental niche is the potential capabilities of the species, and the realized niche is the part that can be realized under given conditions. Thus, the realized niche is always smaller than the fundamental one.
Three important rules follow from the figure.
- 1. The wider the requirements (limits of tolerance) of a species to any or many environmental factors, the larger the space that it can occupy in nature, and therefore the wider its distribution.
- 2. The combination of the body’s requirements for various factors is not arbitrary: all organisms are adapted to the regimes of “linked”, interconnected and interdependent factors.
- 3. If the regime of any, at least one, environmental factor in the habitat of individuals of a given species has changed in such a way that its values go beyond the limits of the niche as hyperspace, then this means the destruction of the niche, i.e., the limitation or impossibility of preserving the species in this habitat .
Since species of organisms are ecologically individual, they also have specific ecological niches. Thus, just as many species of living organisms are there on Earth, there are also as many ecological niches.
In nature, there is also a rule that it is mandatory to fill ecological niches: “An empty ecological niche will always and definitely be filled.” Folk wisdom formulated these two postulates as follows: “Two bears cannot coexist in one den” and “Nature abhors a vacuum.”
If organisms occupy different ecological niches, they usually do not enter into competitive relationships; their spheres of activity and influence are separated. In this case, the relationship is considered neutral.
At the same time, in each ecosystem there are species that claim the same niche or its elements (food, shelter, etc.). In this case, competition is inevitable, the struggle to own a niche. Evolutionary relationships have developed in such a way that species with similar environmental requirements cannot exist together for a long time. This pattern is not without exceptions, but it is so objective that it is formulated in the form of a provision called the “rule of competitive exclusion.” The author of this rule is ecologist G. F. Gause. It sounds like this: “if two species with similar requirements for the environment (nutrition, behavior, breeding sites, etc.) enter into a competitive relationship, then one of them must die or change its lifestyle and occupy a new ecological niche.” Sometimes, for example, in order to relieve acute competitive relations, it is enough for one organism (animal) to change the feeding time without changing the type of food itself (if competition occurs at the bud of food relations), or to find a new habitat (if competition takes place on the basis of this factor) and etc.
Among other properties of ecological niches, we note that an organism (species) can change them throughout its life cycle.
Communities (biocenoses, ecosystems) are formed according to the principle of filling ecological niches. In a natural established community, usually all niches are occupied. It is in such communities, for example in long-standing (indigenous) forests, that the likelihood of introducing new species is very low.
The ecological niches of all living organisms are divided into specialized and general. This division depends on the main food sources of the corresponding species, the size of the habitat, and sensitivity to abiotic environmental factors.
Specialized niches. Most species of plants and animals are adapted to exist only within a narrow range climatic conditions and other characteristics environment, feed on a limited range of plants or animals. Such species have a specialized niche that determines their habitat in natural environment. Thus, the giant panda has a highly specialized niche, because it feeds 99% on leaves and shoots of bamboo. The massive destruction of certain types of bamboo in the areas of China where the panda lived led this animal to extinction.
Species with common niches are characterized by easy adaptability to changes in environmental environmental factors. They can successfully exist in a variety of places, eat a variety of foods, and withstand sharp fluctuations in natural conditions. Common ecological niches are found among flies, cockroaches, mice, rats, people, etc.
For species with general ecological niches, there is a significantly lower threat of extinction than for those with specialized niches.
Human ecological niche
Man is one of the representatives of the animal kingdom, a biological species of the class of mammals. Despite the fact that it has many specific properties (mind, articulate speech, work activity, biosociality, etc.), it has not lost its biological essence and all the laws of ecology are valid for it to the same extent as for other living organisms.
Man also has his own, unique to him, ecological niche, i.e., a set of requirements for many environmental factors, developed in the process of evolution. The space in which the human niche is localized (i.e., the place where the factor regimes do not go beyond the limits of tolerance inherited from the ancestors) is very limited.
As a biological species, humans can only live within the landmass of the equatorial belt (tropics, subtropics), where the hominid family arose. Vertically, the niche extends approximately 3.0-3.5 km above sea level.
Thanks to the specific (primarily social) properties mentioned above, man expanded the boundaries of his initial area (habitat), settled in high, middle and low latitudes, mastered the depths of the ocean and outer space. However, its fundamental ecological niche has remained virtually unchanged, and outside its original range it can survive, overcoming the resistance of limiting factors not through adaptation, but with the help of specially created protective devices and devices (heated dwellings, warm clothing, oxygen devices, etc. .), which imitate its niche in the same way as is done for exotic animals and plants in zoos, oceanariums, and botanical gardens. However, to fully reproduce all the factors necessary for a person from the point of view of the law of tolerance, it is not always possible. For example, in space flight it is impossible to reproduce such most important factor, like gravity, and after returning to Earth from a long space expedition, astronauts need time to readapt.
In conditions industrial enterprises many factors (noise, vibration, temperature, electromagnetic fields, impurities of a number of substances in the air, etc.) are periodically or constantly beyond the limits of tolerance human body. This has a negative effect on it: so-called occupational diseases, periodic stress. Therefore there is special system technical and organizational measures aimed at ensuring safety at work by reducing the level of exposure to hazardous and harmful environmental production factors on the body.
It is not always possible to ensure optimal conditions for such factors, and therefore, for a number of industries, the total length of service of workers is limited, and the length of the working day is reduced (for example, when working with toxic substances - up to four hours). Special design devices are created to reduce vibrations and noise in the cabins of traction vehicles.
Human production and economic activity, use (processing) natural resources inevitably lead to the formation by-products(“waste”) dispersed into the environment.
Entering water, soil, atmosphere, entering food chemical compounds are environmental factors, and therefore elements of an ecological niche. In relation to them (especially to the upper limits), the resistance of the human body is low, and such substances turn out to be limiting factors that destroy the niche.
From the above, the second basic rule of nature conservation from an ecological perspective follows: “Nature protection (and the environment) consists of a system of measures to preserve the ecological niches of living organisms, including humans.”
Thus, either the human niche will be preserved for present and future generations, or humans as a biological species are doomed to extinction.
Ecological niche
1. The concept of “ecological niche”
2. Ecological niche and ecosystems
Conclusion
Literature
1. The concept of “ecological niche”
Ecological niche , the place occupied by a species (more precisely, its population) in a community (biocenosis). The interaction of a given species (population) with partners in the community of which it is a member determines its place in the cycle of substances determined by food and competitive relationships in the biocenosis. The term “Ecological niche” was proposed by the American scientist J. Grinell (1917). The interpretation of an ecological niche as the position of a species in the food chains of one or several biocenoses was given by the English ecologist C. Elton (1927). Such an interpretation of the concept Ecological Niche allows us to give quantitative characteristics The ecological niche for each species or for its individual populations. To do this, the abundance of the species (number of individuals or biomass) is compared in the coordinate system with indicators of temperature, humidity or any other environmental factor. In this way, it is possible to identify the optimum zone and the limits of deviations tolerated by the type - the maximum and minimum of each factor or set of factors. As a rule, each species occupies a certain ecological niche, for the existence in which it is adapted throughout the course of evolutionary development. The place occupied by a species (its population) in space (spatial ecological niche) is more often called habitat.
Ecological niche - the spatiotemporal position of an organism within the ecosystem (where, when and what it eats, where it makes a nest, etc.)
At first glance, it seems that animals must compete with each other for food and shelter. However, this rarely happens, because they occupy different ecological niches. Example: woodpeckers extract larvae from under the bark using sparrow grain. And flycatchers and bats catch midges, but in different times- day and night. The giraffe eats leaves from the treetops and does not compete with other herbivores.
Each animal species has its own niche, which minimizes competition with other species. Therefore, in a balanced ecosystem, the presence of one species usually does not threaten another.
Adaptation to different niches is associated with the action of the law of the limiting factor. Trying to use resources outside of its niche, the animal faces stress, i.e. with increasing resistance of the medium. In other words, in its own niche its competitiveness is great, but outside it it weakens significantly or disappears altogether.
The adaptation of animals to certain niches took millions of years and occurred differently in each ecosystem. Species introduced from other ecosystems can cause the extinction of local ones precisely as a result of successful competition for their niches.
1. Starlings, brought to North America from Europe, due to their aggressive territorial behavior, displaced the local “blue” birds.
2. Feral donkeys have poisoned desert ecosystems, displacing bighorn sheep.
3. In 1859, rabbits were brought to Australia from England for sport hunting. Natural conditions turned out to be favorable for them, and local predators were not dangerous. As a result
4. Farmers are looking for methods to combat a weed that has not previously been found in the Nile Valley. A short plant with large leaves and powerful roots has been attacking the cultivated lands of Egypt for several years. Local agronomists consider it an extremely active pest. It turns out that this plant is known in Europe under the name “country horseradish”. It was probably brought by Russian specialists who were building a metallurgical plant.
The concept of ecological niche also applies to plants. Like animals, their competitiveness is high only in certain conditions.
Example: Plane trees grow along river banks and in floodplains, oak trees grow on slopes. Sycamore is adapted to waterlogged soil. Sycamore seeds spread upslope and this species can grow there in the absence of oak trees. Similarly, when acorns fall into the floodplain, they die due to excess moisture and are not able to compete with plane trees.
Human ecological niche - composition of air, water, food, climatic conditions, level of electromagnetic, ultraviolet, radioactive radiation etc.
2. Ecological niche and ecosystems
At different times, different meanings were attributed to the concept of an ecological niche. At first, the word “niche” denoted the basic unit of distribution of a species within the space of an ecosystem, dictated by the structural and instinctive limitations of a given species. For example, squirrels live in trees, moose live on the ground, some types of birds nest on branches, others in hollows, etc. Here the concept of ecological niche is interpreted mainly as a habitat, or spatial niche. Later, the term “niche” was given the meaning of “the functional status of an organism in a community.” This mainly concerned the place of a given species in the trophic structure of the ecosystem: type of food, time and place of feeding, who is a predator for a given organism, etc. This is now called the trophic niche. Then it was shown that a niche can be considered as a kind of hypervolume in a multidimensional space built on the basis of environmental factors. This hypervolume limited the range of factors in which a given species could exist (hyperdimensional niche).
That is, in the modern understanding of an ecological niche, at least three aspects can be distinguished: the physical space occupied by an organism in nature (habitat), its relationship to environmental factors and to neighboring living organisms (connections), as well as its functional role in the ecosystem. All these aspects are manifested through the structure of the organism, its adaptations, instincts, life cycles, life “interests”, etc. The right of an organism to choose its ecological niche is limited by a rather narrow framework assigned to it from birth. However, its descendants can claim other ecological niches if appropriate genetic changes have occurred in them.
Using the concept of ecological niche, Gause's rule of competitive exclusion can be rephrased as follows: two different species cannot long time occupy the same ecological niche and even be part of the same ecosystem; one of them must either die or change and occupy a new ecological niche. By the way, intraspecific competition is often greatly reduced precisely because different stages During their life cycle, many organisms occupy different ecological niches. For example, a tadpole is a herbivore, and adult frogs living in the same pond are predators. Another example: insects in the larval and adult stages.
A large number of organisms of different species can live in one area in an ecosystem. These may be closely related species, but each of them must occupy its own unique ecological niche. In this case, these species do not enter into competitive relationships and, in a certain sense, become neutral to each other. However, often the ecological niches of different species may overlap in at least one aspect, for example, habitat or diet. This leads to interspecific competition, which is usually not severe and contributes to the clear delineation of ecological niches.
Thus, in ecosystems, a law similar to the Pauli exclusion principle in quantum physics is implemented: in a given quantum system, more than one fermion (particles with half-integer spin, such as electrons, protons, neutrons, etc.) cannot exist in the same quantum state. ). In ecosystems, there is also a quantization of ecological niches that tend to be clearly localized in relation to other ecological niches. Within a given ecological niche, that is, within the population that occupies this niche, differentiation continues into more specific niches that are occupied by each specific individual, which determines the status of this individual in the life of this population.
Does a similar differentiation occur over more low levels system hierarchy, for example, at the level of a multicellular organism? Here we can also distinguish different “types” of cells and smaller “bodies”, the structure of which determines their functional purpose inside the body. Some of them are immobile, their colonies form organs, the purpose of which makes sense only in relation to the organism as a whole. There are also mobile simple organisms that seem to live their own “personal” life, which nevertheless fully satisfies the needs of the entire multicellular organism. For example, red blood cells do only what they “can” do: they bind oxygen in one place and release it in another place. This is their “ecological niche”. The vital activity of each cell of the body is structured in such a way that, while “living for itself,” it simultaneously works for the benefit of the entire organism. Such work does not tire us at all, just as we are not tired by the process of eating, or doing what we love (if, of course, all this is in moderation). The cells are designed in such a way that they simply cannot live any other way, just as a bee cannot live without collecting nectar and pollen from flowers (probably this brings her some kind of pleasure).
Thus, all of nature “from bottom to top” seems to be permeated with the idea of differentiation, which in ecology has taken shape in the concept of an ecological niche, which in a certain sense is analogous to an organ or subsystem of a living organism. These “organs” themselves are formed under the influence external environment, that is, their formation is subject to the requirements of the supersystem, in our case - the biosphere.
It is known that under similar conditions, ecosystems similar to each other are formed, having the same set of ecological niches, even if these ecosystems are located in different geographical areas, separated by insurmountable obstacles. The most striking example in this regard is the living world of Australia, for a long time developed separately from the rest of the land world. In Australian ecosystems, functional niches can be identified that are equivalent to the corresponding niches of ecosystems on other continents. These niches turn out to be occupied by those biological groups that are present in the fauna and flora of a given area, but are similarly specialized for the same functions in the ecosystem that are characteristic of a given ecological niche. Such types of organisms are called ecologically equivalent. For example, the large kangaroos of Australia are equivalent to the bison and antelopes of North America (on both continents these animals are now replaced mainly by cows and sheep).
Such phenomena in the theory of evolution are called parallelism. Very often parallelism is accompanied by convergence (convergence) of many morphological (from the Greek word morphe - form) characteristics. So, despite the fact that the whole world was conquered by plantar animals, in Australia, for some reason, almost all mammals are marsupials, with the exception of several species of animals brought much later than the living world of Australia finally took shape. However, there are also marsupial moles, marsupial squirrels, marsupial wolves, etc. here. All these animals are not only functionally, but also morphologically similar to the corresponding animals of our ecosystems, although there is no relationship between them.
All this indicates the presence of a certain “program” for the formation of ecosystems in these specific conditions. All matter can act as “genes” that store this program, each particle of which holographically stores information about the entire Universe. This information is realized in the actual world in the form of laws of nature, which contribute to the fact that various natural elements can be formed into ordered structures not at all in an arbitrary way, but in the only possible way, or at least in several ways. possible ways. For example, a water molecule produced from one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms has the same spatial shape, regardless of whether the reaction took place here or in Australia, although according to Isaac Asimov’s calculations, only one chance is realized out of 60 million. Probably something similar happens in the case of the formation of ecosystems.
Thus, in any ecosystem there is a certain set of potentially possible (virtual) ecological niches strictly linked to each other, designed to ensure the integrity and sustainability of the ecosystem. This virtual structure is a kind of “biofield” of a given ecosystem, containing a “standard” of its actual (material) structure. And by and large, it doesn’t even matter what the nature of this biofield is: electromagnetic, informational, ideal or some other. The very fact of its existence is important.
In any naturally formed ecosystem that has not experienced human impact, all ecological niches are filled. This is called the rule of mandatory filling of ecological niches. Its mechanism is based on the property of life to densely fill all the space available to it (under the space in in this case refers to the hypervolume of environmental factors). One of the main conditions ensuring the implementation of this rule is the presence of sufficient species diversity.
The number of ecological niches and their interconnection are subordinated to the single goal of functioning of the ecosystem as a single whole, which has mechanisms of homeostasis (stability), binding and release of energy and circulation of substances. In fact, the subsystems of any living organism are focused on the same goals, which once again indicates the need to revise the traditional understanding of the term “living being”. Just as a living organism cannot exist normally without one or another organ, an ecosystem cannot be sustainable if all its ecological niches are not filled. Therefore, the generally accepted definition of an ecological niche given above is apparently not entirely correct. It comes from the vital status of a particular organism (reductionist approach), while the needs of the ecosystem in realizing its vital important functions (holistic approach). Specific types of organisms can only fill a given ecological niche if it corresponds to their life status. In other words, life status is only a “request” for an ecological niche, but not yet the niche itself. Thus, an ecological niche should apparently be understood as a structural unit of an ecosystem, characterized by a certain function necessary to ensure the viability of the ecosystem, and which for this purpose must necessarily be filled with organisms with the corresponding morphological specialization.
Conclusion
The position of the population in the ecosystem can be different: from complete dominance (Scots pine in a pine forest) to complete dependence and subordination (light-loving grasses under the forest canopy). At the same time, on the one hand, it strives to carry out its life processes as fully as possible in its own interests, and on the other hand, it automatically ensures the life activity of other populations of the same biocenosis, being a component of the food chain, as well as through topical, adaptive and other connections.
Those. each population, as a full representative of the species in the ecosystem, has its place in it. American ecologist R. McIntosh called it an ecological niche.
Main components of ecological niches:
1. Specific habitat ( physical and chemical properties ecotope and climatic conditions);
2. Biocenotic role (producer, consumer or destroyer of organic matter);
3. Position within one's own trophic level(dominance, co-dominance, subordination, etc.);
4. Place in the food chain;
5. Position in the system of biotic relations.
In other words, an ecological niche is the sphere of life activity of a species in an ecosystem. Since a species is represented in an ecosystem by one population, it is obvious that it is the population that occupies a particular ecological niche in it. The species, by and large, occupies its ecological niche in the global ecosystem - the biosphere. A more complex question is whether an individual has its own ecological niche. A niche not only as a section of ecotope territory, but also as a kind of its own and unique role, determined by its ability to struggle for existence. In a number of cases, such a role cannot be identified either practically or theoretically. For example, a mosquito in a cloud of mosquitoes or a wheat plant of any variety in an agrocenosis do not differ from each other in any significant parameters. In other cases, the presence of its own ecological niche is obvious: a leader in a pack of wolves, a queen bee in a hive of bees, etc. Obviously, the more differentiated or social the community (population), the more clearly the signs of the ecological niches of each individual appear. They are most clearly differentiated and outlined in human communities: the president of a state, the head of a company, a pop star, etc. etc.
So, in general ecology, ecological niches are considered as a reality for such taxa as a species (subspecies, variety) and population, and for individual heterogeneous communities - and for an individual. In homogeneous communities, considering the place and role of individual individuals, it is quite possible to use the term microniche.
Literature
1. Radkevich V.A. Ecology. - Mn.: Vysh.shk., 1997, pp. 107-108.
2. Solbrig O., Solbrig D. Population biology and evolution. - M.: Mir, 1982.
3. Mirkin B.M. What are plant communities? - M.: Nauka, 1986, pp. 38-53.
4. Mamedov N.M., Surovegina I.T. Ecology. - M.: School-Press, 1996, pp. 106-111.
5. Shilov I.A. Ecology. - M.: Higher school, 2000, pp. 389-393.
1. Any species is adapted to strictly defined environmental conditions; the requirements of organisms inherited from their ancestors for the composition and regimes of environmental factors determine the distribution boundaries of the species to which this organism belongs, that is, the range, and within the range specific habitats. Any type of animal, plant, or microbe is capable of normally living, feeding, and reproducing only in the place where evolution has prescribed it for many millennia, starting with its ancestors. To denote this phenomenon, biologists borrowed a term from architecture - the word “niche” and began to say that each type of living organism occupies its own ecological niche in nature, unique to it.
Ecological niche of an organism- this is the totality of all its requirements for environmental conditions (composition and regimes of environmental factors) and the place where these requirements are satisfied, or the entire set of many biological characteristics and physical parameters of the environment that determine the conditions of existence of a particular species, its transformation of energy, exchange of information with the environment and their own kind. American scientist John Grinnello introduced the term ecological niche in 1928. The habitat of a species is a spatially limited set of conditions of the abiotic and biotic environment that provides the entire development cycle of individuals or a group of individuals of the same species.
Ecological niche characterizes the degree of biological specialization of a species. According to scientists, the habitat of an organism is its address, the ecological niche is its occupation or lifestyle, or profession. The ecological specificity of a species is emphasized by the axiom of ecological adaptability: “each species is adapted to a strictly defined set of existence conditions specific to it - an ecological niche.” Species of organisms are ecologically individual; they have specific ecological niches. There are as many ecological niches as there are species of living organisms on earth. Organisms that lead similar lifestyles tend not to live in the same places due to interspecific competition. The Soviet biologist Gause in 1934 established the principle of competitive mutual exclusion: two species do not occupy the same ecological niche. In nature, there are also rules for the mandatory filling of ecological niches: an empty ecological niche will always and definitely be filled. Ecological niches are always filled, although this sometimes takes considerable time.
It is especially important to take into account natural patterns when trying to fit into the existing situation in order to create more favorable conditions for humans. Biologists have proven: in cities, with increasing pollution of the territory food waste The number of crows increases. When trying to improve the situation, in particular by physically exterminating these crows, the population may be faced with the fact that the ecological niche in the urban environment vacated by crows will quickly be occupied by a species that has a similar ecological niche, namely rats.
2. Specialized and general niches.
The ecological niches of all living organisms are divided into specialized and general. This division depends on the main food source of the corresponding species, the size of the habitat, and sensitivity to abiotic environmental factors.
Specialized niches. Most species of plants and animals are adapted to exist only in a narrow range of climatic conditions and other environmental characteristics and feed on a limited range of plants or animals. Such species have a specialized niche that determines their habitat in the natural environment. The giant panda has a highly specialized niche, which feeds 99% of bamboo leaves and shoots.
General niches. Species with common niches are characterized by easy adaptability to changes in environmental environmental factors. They can successfully exist in a variety of places, eat a variety of foods and withstand sharp fluctuations in natural conditions. Common ecological niches are found among flies, cockroaches, mice, rats, and people.
For species with general ecological niches, there is a significantly lower threat of extinction than for those with specialized niches.
3. Human ecological niche.
A person has his own unique ecological niche, that is, a set of requirements for many environmental factors, developed in the process of evolution. The space in which the human niche is localized, that is, the place where the regimes of factors do not go beyond the limits of tolerance inherited from the ancestors, is very limited. As a biological species, man can live only within the landmass of the equatorial belt, that is, in the tropics and subtropics, where the ancient family originally arose. Vertically, the human niche extends approximately 3 - 3.5 km above sea level. Thanks to social properties, man expanded the boundaries of his initial area or habitat, settled in high, middle and low latitudes, and mastered the depths of the ocean and outer space. However, its fundamental ecological niche has practically not changed and outside its original range it can survive, overcoming the resistance of limiting factors not by adaptation, but with the help of specially created protective devices and devices, in particular heated dwellings, warm clothing, and so on, which imitate its niche is similar to what is done for exotic animals and plants in zoos, botanical gardens, oceanariums and so on.
Any type of living organism occupies its own ecological niche in nature, unique to it. The ecological niche of an organism is the sum of all its requirements for environmental conditions (the composition and regimes of environmental factors) and the place where these requirements are satisfied; or the entire set of biological characteristics and physical parameters of the environment that determine the conditions of existence of one or another
type; their transformation of energy, exchange of information with the environment and their own kind.
Habitat is a spatially limited set of conditions of the abiotic and biotic environment that provides the entire development cycle of individuals or a group of individuals of the same species.
ecological niche of an organism
The ecological niche of an organism is the place occupied by an organism, or more precisely, by its population in a biocenosis community, a complex of its biocenotic connections and requirements for abiotic environmental factors. This term was coined in 1927 by Charles Elton.
An ecological niche is the sum of factors for the existence of a given species, the main one of which is its place in the food chain - the human ecological niche
Human ecological niche.
Man is a biological species of the mammalian class. Despite the fact that he has many specific properties (mind, mental ability, articulate speech, labor ability), he has not lost his biological essence and all the laws of ecology are valid for him to the same extent as for others living orgs. Therefore, a person has a kind of ecological niche and the space in which it is realized is very limited: the land limits are the equatorial poles (tropics, subtropics), the vertical niche extends 3-3.5 km above sea level. Thanks to his specific saints, people expanded the boundaries of their initial range, settled in high, middle and low latitudes, and mastered the depths of the ocean and outer space. However, its fundamental ecological niche has practically not changed, and outside its original range it can survive, overcoming the resistance of limiting factors not by adaptation, but with the help of specially created protective devices and devices that imitate its niche, just as it is done for exotic animals in zoos, oceanariums, botanical gardens. Environmental protection consists of a system of measures to preserve the ecological niches of living organisms, including humans.
The concept of an ecological niche is closely related to the idea of so-called saturated and unsaturated biocenoses. The former are ecosystems in which vital resources are used most fully at each stage of biomass and energy conversion. When vital resources are partially utilized, biocenoses can be called unsaturated. They are characterized by the presence of free ecological niches. However, this is highly conditional, since ecological niches cannot exist on their own, regardless of the species that occupy them.
Unused reserves, unrealized opportunities for intensifying the flow of substances and energy exist in almost any biogeocenosis (otherwise their constant development in time and space could not take place!), all biocenoses can be conditionally considered unsaturated. The less rich the biocenosis, the easier it is for new species to be introduced into its composition and the more successfully they acclimatize.
A very important property of biogeocenoses as biological systems is their self-regulation - the ability to withstand high loads of unfavorable external influences, the ability to return to a conditionally original state after significant disturbances in their structure (Le Chatelier's principle). But above a certain threshold of exposure, self-healing mechanisms do not work, and the biogeocenosis is irreversibly destroyed.
