ecological niche

American  

noun

Ecology.

1. the position or function of an organism in a community of plants and animals.

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ecological niche Cultural  

1. The place or function of a given organism within its ecosystem.

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Different organisms may compete for the same niche. For example, in a forest there may be a niche for an organism that can fly and eat nectar from blossoms. This niche may be filled by some sort of bird, or an insect, or even a mammal such as a bat.

Example Sentences

"Our ancestors have chosen an ecological niche where the world is slow enough to make survival possible," the authors write.

From Salon • Dec. 30, 2024

This suggests a possibility that the first human range expansion into Eurasia was accompanied and potentially even enabled by the expansion of human ecological niche.

From Science Daily • Nov. 9, 2023

Hopefully some possible futures include an ecological niche for humans.

From Scientific American • Nov. 7, 2023

In some areas, species have had tens of millions of years to migrate and specialize, “filling each ecological niche completely.”

From National Geographic • Oct. 13, 2023

The Earth then was full of awesome, nightmarish lizards—the dinosaurs, immensely successful creatures, which filled virtually every ecological niche.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan