The role and position of a species within its environment, including its interactions with other species and its use of resources.
What are the two niche classifications?
Fundamental Niche
Realised Niche
What is a fundamental niche?
The widest potential niche that a species could ideally occupy without competitors, predators and parasites.
What is a realised niche?
The actual niche that a species occupies given the restrictions placed on it by interactions with other species.
What is the competitive exclusion principle?
Competition between species leads to the elimination of one species by another.
What does it mean if two niches overlap?
Competition
What is a keystone species?
A plant or an animal that plays a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions.
Not necessarily the top predator or most abundant but their presence prevents any one species from being the only species that uses the space and resources.
