ENV100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Intraspecific Competition, Ecological Niche, Niche Differentiation

• School: UTM
• Department: Environment
• Course: ENV100Y5
• Professor: Barbara Murck

Document Summary

The environment in which an organism lives and functions. An organism"s use of resources and its functional role in a community. Realized niche: a subset of fundamental niche due to species interactions. Specialists: narrow niches and very specific requirements. Generalists: broad niches that can use a wide array of habitats and resources. Multiple organisms seek the same limited resources. Species divide shared resources by specializing in different ways to avoid competition. Character displacement: characteristics diverge to lessen competition. Two or more species benefit from their interactions. Symbiosis: mutualists live in close physical contact. Predation = individuals capture, kill and consume other individuals. Parasitism = parasite depends on host for nourishment or other benefit. Herbivory = animals feed on the tissues of plants. Herbivores exploit plants, but may not kill plant, but will affect its growth and survival. Antagonistic species become locked in a duel of escalating adaptations.