Read Habitat versus Niche
Habitat is where an organism lives; niche describes how it lives and functions there.
Ecological Niche is the central idea in this question pattern. Identify the condition in the stem before applying the method below.
Define the niche
A species’ niche includes its functional role, resource use and interactions in the habitat. It is broader than a single tolerance range or geographic place.
Realised niche and divergence
A realised niche is the portion of a species’ potential niche actually occupied under biotic constraints. Competition, predation and resource availability can restrict it. If adjacent subpopulations exploit different habitats and become reproductively differentiated with limited gene flow, speciation is parapatric.
Trophic role and life-history strategy
Classify each organism on two independent axes: trophic role (producer, herbivore or carnivore) and reproductive strategy (r, intermediate or K). A perennial producer and an annual producer differ in life history even though both occupy the producer niche.
OlympIQ exam lens
- ✓Habitat = place.
- ✓Niche = role and way of using resources.
- ✓Competition, predation and resources can constrain the realised niche.
- ✓Parapatric divergence occurs across adjacent ecological settings, not complete geographic isolation.
Do not reduce a niche to only temperature tolerance or a location.
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