Every species has its niche

Dr. Paul Colinvaux

"Every species has its niche" (1978)

Niche is from the Italian word nicio, meaning a recessed enclosure.

An ecologist's view of life's complexity based on how a species copes.

"... its place in the grand scheme of things."

related ideas: nest

occupation,
genetic potential.

I Making a Living

II Capacity of resources to sustain organisms

III Reproductive strategies

IV Conclusion

§§§

I Introduction Defines earning one's keep

A complexity

1. hunting

2. breeding

3. seasons

4. competitive quest for food, fuel, fiber & forage

B niche is defined

C contrast between niche (function) & habitat (place)

Complexity in Science

II Limitations inherent in Carrying Capacity

A limits are defined

B carrying capacity is defined as a limitation on endless growth

Prairie The grassland prairie.

III Competing reproductive strategies to assure survival

A natural selection argument

1. twin gambits

a. small egg gambit - numerous young strategy; oysters or alligators

b. large egg gambit - few young receive a greater investment of time, primates

2. numbers of eggs and necessity of an adequate & nutritious food supply

B economy of behavior–– –– that is to say any expenditure of energy is circumscribed

C optimization of time, expenditures and resources because the niche acts as a funnel or
container into which the creature's genetic variability allows it to adapt, if not full exploit.

VI Conclusion

The planet is losing species as fast as humans are losing languages to describe these endangered creatures.

Niche is a means to understand the physical and chemical constraints imposed on biological organisms by the environment's capacity to assimilate growing numbers on limited resources.

One basis for understanding ecosystem services.

The case of Pacific Salmon

His article is important because:

Creates a structure to understand Wilson, Dillard, Myers & Leopold.
Introduces game theory in the form of strategies for reproduction.
Is a prerequisite for understanding Hardin's "The Tragedy of the Commons."
Calls our attention to constraints on reproduction, dispersal and survival.
Paradox of competitive exclusion:
"Every family tries to outbreed every other, though the total numbers remain the same."
defines ecological integrity

Preserving biological diversity and wildlife in an age abrupt of climate change.

Complexity in biological functions that indicate ecosystem integrity.

Science Index | Global Warming Index | Landscape study link | Research

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Ecology, of natural areas explained by Eugene Odum.

Evolution, explained by Ernst Mayr.

On the Origin of Species, notes on a primary document.

Diversity and E. O. Wilson.

Sandra Steingraber, Living Downstream

Lewis Thomas, symbiosis.

Darwin Index

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gambit, usually an opening move involving some risk, with an unknowable outcome

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Niche is from the Italian word nicio, meaning a recessed enclosure.