Niches and Habitats

A niche is a difficult concept to define because it is the totality of all biological and environmental factors that affect a population. Some people confuse a niche with the habitat of an organism.

• What is the difference between a niche and an habitat?
• How would you define the habitat of the cheetah on the Serengeti?
• If you research the cheetahs found in other reserves, you will also find that their principle habitat is the same. Why?

A niche can be defined as a hypervolume because it encompasses every thing you can think of that allows populations to live, grow and reproduce. This means for a life time.

The niche concept also changes with the needs of the organism. Your niche definition has changed many times already. Preschool, kindergarten, grade school, high school and college are examples of how your niche has changed as you have matured.

• Compile a list of all the things that you can think of that define your current niche.

Notice how long your list is even in your short life time.

How will moving permanently out of your parents home, marriage, children, jobs, etc., affect your definition of your niche?

• Compile a list of all the things that you can think of that define your future niche.

I think you get the idea that a niche is not a simple concept, it is constantly changing with the needs of the organism. The same is true for the cheetah.

If you look around, you can find examples where different species coexist together. A good example are all the different birds that eat at a seed feeder: blue jays, cardinals and juncos to name a few.

• If each of these birds has their own niche, then do you think that niches overlap?
• Can you think of an example of overlapping niches in your living world? (Hint: why can a very busy intersection have four or more successful service stations? You should be able to come up with at least five different ways in which these service stations serve different needs. Another possibility is how can one street block have five to ten successful restaurants? )