No Responses to “How Does The Idea Of Niches Explain How Similar Species Can Coexist Wit A Minimum Of Competition?”

1. Dave B says:

   September 29, 2011 at 1:58 pm

   Take a good look at a small town’s business district one of these days. Everybody’s business is a little different. There might be two dressmakers in town, but one makes wedding dresses, and one makes prom dresses. One grocer will be good at produce while the other has better meats. They might have an independent pharmacist, but has another that serves the people that have a particular insurance card. The reason is that these businesses are the survivors that serve their particular niche.
   Same thing happens to biological organisms. They live there because they don’t NEED to have the rest of the niches that they have to compete to get.
   Now, when Walmart comes into town, lots of times it serves a good deal of the same niches all in one store that several businesses in the business district serve, and THEY have lower prices and a way better parking situation, so all of a sudden the survivors get pushed out because they can’t make a living wage anymore with the reduced customer base.
   Same thing happens with invasive species – they have no real competition or predators, and they thrive better than the animals that evolved in place, and eat their food. Rabbits in Australia, for instance, don’t have to contend with foxes and eat anything that is green, just like, say wallabies, which have less babies and need more food.

2. lich_ric says:

   September 29, 2011 at 6:27 pm

   Species that have different niches are after different things. That way, they won’t really have to compete at all.
   See Darwin’s finches: http://www.biology-online.org/images/dar…
   Each of those birds have specialized beaks that allow them to go after different types of food. Some act as pest control while others are pruners. One that eats leaves won’t compete with one that eats insects, because it eats leaves and not insects.

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