Aquatic ecology and Biodiversity

Unit 4- Community ecology

4.1.7. Ecological niche
Niche refers to the functional status of an organism in its community. According to Odum niche is the Profession of an organism in the community. He compared the habitat to the address and niche to the Profession. Niche includes what it eats, how it behaves, how it responds to the environment and interactions with other organisms in the community.
Ecological niches may be
• Broad niche
• Narrow niche
Narrow niches means that the role or function in the community or ecosystem has more finely subdivided and the species is therefore more specialized. Specialized species are also called specialists Eg:- muddy, sandy , rocky etc. On the other hand, in broad niches the species functions in the community is more of generalized are and they are called either specialists or generalists with reference to the niche - Marine or fresh water , estuarine organisms etc.