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Journal articles on the topic 'Niche (Ecology)'

Author: Grafiati
Published: 4 June 2021
Last updated: 30 July 2024

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1

Newsome, Seth D., Carlos Martinez del Rio, Stuart Bearhop, and Donald L. Phillips. "A niche for isotopic ecology." Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment preprint, no. 2007 (2007): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/060150.

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2

Newsome, Seth D., Carlos Martinez del Rio, Stuart Bearhop, and Donald L. Phillips. "A niche for isotopic ecology." Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 5, no. 8 (October 2007): 429–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/060150.1.

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Newsome, Seth D., Carlos Martinez del Rio, Stuart Bearhop, and Donald L. Phillips. "A niche for isotopic ecology." Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 5, no. 8 (2007): 429. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/1540-9295(2007)5[429:anfie]2.0.co;2.

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4

Sugden, A. M. "ECOLOGY/EVOLUTION: Maintaining One's Niche." Science 305, no. 5688 (August 27, 2004): 1215b. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.305.5688.1215b.

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5

Kearney, Michael, Stephen J. Simpson, David Raubenheimer, and Brian Helmuth. "Modelling the ecological niche from functional traits." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 365, no. 1557 (November 12, 2010): 3469–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0034.

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The niche concept is central to ecology but is often depicted descriptively through observing associations between organisms and habitats. Here, we argue for the importance of mechanistically modelling niches based on functional traits of organisms and explore the possibilities for achieving this through the integration of three theoretical frameworks: biophysical ecology (BE), the geometric framework for nutrition (GF) and dynamic energy budget (DEB) models. These three frameworks are fundamentally based on the conservation laws of thermodynamics, describing energy and mass balance at the level of the individual and capturing the prodigious predictive power of the concepts of ‘homeostasis’ and ‘evolutionary fitness’. BE and the GF provide mechanistic multi-dimensional depictions of climatic and nutritional niches, respectively, providing a foundation for linking organismal traits (morphology, physiology, behaviour) with habitat characteristics. In turn, they provide driving inputs and cost functions for mass/energy allocation within the individual as determined by DEB models. We show how integration of the three frameworks permits calculation of activity constraints, vital rates (survival, development, growth, reproduction) and ultimately population growth rates and species distributions. When integrated with contemporary niche theory, functional trait niche models hold great promise for tackling major questions in ecology and evolutionary biology.
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Sillero, Neftalí, Elena Argaña, Cátia Matos, Marc Franch, Antigoni Kaliontzopoulou, and Miguel A. Carretero. "Local Segregation of Realised Niches in Lizards." ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 9, no. 12 (December 21, 2020): 764. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9120764.

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Species can occupy different realised niches when sharing the space with other congeneric species or when living in allopatry. Ecological niche models are powerful tools to analyse species niches and their changes over time and space. Analysing how species’ realised niches shift is paramount in ecology. Here, we examine the ecological realised niche of three species of wall lizards in six study areas: three areas where each species occurs alone; and three areas where they occur together in pairs. We compared the species’ realised niches and how they vary depending on species’ coexistence, by quantifying niche overlap between pairs of species or populations with the R package ecospat. For this, we considered three environmental variables (temperature, humidity, and wind speed) recorded at each lizard re-sighting location. Realised niches were very similar when comparing syntopic species occurring in the same study area. However, realised niches differed when comparing conspecific populations across areas. In each of the three areas of syntopy, the less abundant species shift its realised niche. Our study demonstrates that sympatry may shift species’ realised niche.
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Péli, Gábor. "1. The Niche Hiker's Guide to Population Ecology: A Logical Reconstruction of Organization Ecology's Niche Theory." Sociological Methodology 27, no. 1 (August 1997): 1–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9531.271018.

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8

Song, Xing-Jiang, Gang Liu, Zeng-Qiang Qian, and Zhi-Hong Zhu. "Niche Filling Dynamics of Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) during Global Invasion." Plants 12, no. 6 (March 14, 2023): 1313. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants12061313.

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Determining whether the climatic ecological niche of an invasive alien plant is similar to that of the niche occupied by its native population (ecological niche conservatism) is essential for predicting the plant invasion process. Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) usually poses serious threats to human health, agriculture, and ecosystems within its newly occupied range. We calculated the overlap, stability, unfilling, and expansion of ragweed’s climatic ecological niche using principal component analysis and performed ecological niche hypothesis testing. The current and potential distribution of A. artemisiifolia was mapped by ecological niche models to identify areas in China with the highest potential risk of A. artemisiifolia invasion. The high ecological niche stability indicates that A. artemisiifolia is ecologically conservative during the invasion. Ecological niche expansion (expansion = 0.407) occurred only in South America. In addition, the difference between the climatic and native niches of the invasive populations is mainly the result of unpopulated niches. The ecological niche model suggests that southwest China, which has not been invaded by A. artemisiifolia, faces an elevated risk of invasion. Although A. artemisiifolia occupies a climatic niche distinct from native populations, the climatic niche of the invasive population is only a subset of the native niche. The difference in climatic conditions is the main factor leading to the ecological niche expansion of A. artemisiifolia during the invasion. Additionally, human activities play a substantial role in the expansion of A. artemisiifolia. Alterations in the A. artemisiifolia niche would help explain why this species is so invasive in China.
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Ready, Elspeth, and Michael Holton Price. "Human behavioral ecology and niche construction." Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 30, no. 1 (January 2021): 71–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/evan.21885.

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10

Gewin, Virginia. "Beyond Neutrality—Ecology Finds Its Niche." PLoS Biology 4, no. 8 (August 15, 2006): e278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040278.

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11

Broussard, Cynthia A., and Gerald L. Young. "A Reorientation of Niche Theory in Human Ecology." Sociological Perspectives 29, no. 2 (April 1986): 259–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1388961.

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Symptomatic of social forces is the character of the relationship between the individual and society; study of that relationship is central to sociology, a part-whole problem shared with other social sciences. A number of sociological concepts have been developed at least in part to examine this relationship. In the past couple of decades, sociologists and other social scientists have borrowed from niche theory in biological ecology, applying niche in a number of ways. In this article, the Hutchinsonian revolution in niche theory is stressed to establish that adaptations of niche into sociological human ecology are based on misleading analogies and are derived from a failure to recognize the implications of changes in niche theory. The difficulties issue in part from “the species problem” and from unclear differentiation between niche and more established sociological concepts, particularly role and status. These differences are specified and clarified prior to a radical reorientation of niche in human ecology. The reorientation resolves the species problem, updates and reinforces ties with biological ecology, and enlarges the potential for study of the linkages between individual and society and between micro and macro in complex systems.
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Sánchez-Hernández, Javier. "George Evelyn Hutchinson’s legacy in modern ecology and limnology." Boletín de la Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natural 115 (2021): 175–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.29077/bol.115.e06.sanchez.

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George Evelyn Hutchinson is recognised as one of the best limnologists and ecologists of the 20th century, whose contributions have been key for the development of modern ecology and limnology. His most important contributions nclude, concepts, theories and classifications currently used such as, for example, the ecological niche concept, Hutchinson’s paradox and lake classifications. Hutchinson redefined the ecological niche concept based on previous ideas of Grinnell and Elton, suggesting that it should be considered as a hypervolume in the environmental space caused by the ultidimensional response of variables that determine the stability of populations. This new perception of the ecological niche has been fundamental for the development of other investigations in different fields of biology, in particular in ecology, evolution, and biogeography. Furthermore, Hutchinson’s treatise on limnology is considered as the most extensive compilation of limnology. Hutchinson aimed to answer why several species of phytoplankton that compete for the same resources can coexist in an aquatic ecosystem which is usually nutrient deficient (known as the Hutchinson’s paradox). The scientific advances promoted by Hutchinson have inspired many generations of biologists. George Evelyn Hutchinson es reconocido como uno de los mejores limnólogos y ecólogos del siglo XX, cuyas aportaciones han sido cruciales para el desarrollo de la ecología y limnología moderna. Sus más importantes contribuciones incluyen conceptos, teorías y clasificaciones vigentes en la actualidad como, por ejemplo, el concepto de nicho ecológico, la paradoja de Hutchinson y las clasificaciones de lagos. A partir de las ideas de Grinnell y Elton, Hutchinson sugirió que el concepto de nicho ecológico debía considerarse como un hipervolumen en el espacio ambiental originado por la respuesta multidimensional de las variables que determinan la estabilidad de las poblaciones. Esta nueva percepción del nicho ecológico ha sido fundamental para el desarrollo de otras investigaciones en diferentes campos de la biología, particularmente en la ecología, la evolución y la biogeografía. Por otro lado, el tratado de limnología realizado por Hutchinson es considerado como la recopilación más extensa de la limnología. Hutchinson intentó dar respuesta a por qué varias especies del fitoplancton que compiten por los mismos recursos pueden coexistir en un ecosistema acuático que por naturaleza suele ser deficiente en nutrientes (conocido como la paradoja de Hutchinson). Los avances científicos promovidos por Hutchinson han servido de fuente de inspiración a muchas generaciones de biólogos.
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13

Johnston, T. A., A. D. Ehrman, G. L. Hamilton, B. K. Nugent, P. A. Cott, and J. M. Gunn. "Plenty of room at the bottom: niche variation and segregation in large-bodied benthivores of boreal lakes." Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 76, no. 8 (August 2019): 1411–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2018-0180.

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Realized trophic niches of aquatic consumers are expected to reflect the particular abiotic and biotic conditions of the ecosystems they occupy. We examined patterns in the position, size, and shape of trophic niches of two common benthivorous fishes, white sucker (Catostomus commersonii) and lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis), across boreal lakes using a stable isotope approach. In sympatry, white sucker niche positions reflected greater benthic reliance (higher δ13C) and lower trophic elevation (lower δ15N) compared with lake whitefish, and white sucker niche sizes (dispersion in δ13C–δ15N space) were also larger. Niche sizes of both species increased with maximum depth of lakes. Separation of trophic niche positions of the two species increased with increasing water clarity, but their niche sizes did not increase with increasing separation in their niche positions. White sucker occupied a niche position with slightly greater pelagic reliance and trophic elevation and had smaller trophic niches in the absence than in the presence of lake whitefish. Trophic niches of these benthivores appear to be shaped by both environmental factors and interspecific interactions.
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14

Terradas, Jaume, Josep Peñuelas, and Francisco Lloret. "The Fluctuation Niche in Plants." International Journal of Ecology 2009 (2009): 1–5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2009/959702.

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Classical approaches to niche in coexisting plants have undervalued temporal fluctuations. We propose that fluctuation niche is an important dimension of the total niche and interacts with habitat and life-history niches to provide a better understanding of the multidimensional niche space where ecological interactions occur. To scale a fluctuation niche, it is necessary to relate environmental constrictions or species performance not only to the absolute values of the usual environmental and ecophysiological variables but also to their variances or other measures of variability. We use Mediterranean plant communities as examples, because they present characteristic large seasonal and interannual fluctuations in water and nutrient availabilities, along an episodic-constant gradient, and because the plant responses include a number of syndromes coupled to this gradient.
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15

Allgeier, Jacob E., Thomas C. Adam, and Deron E. Burkepile. "The importance of individual and species-level traits for trophic niches among herbivorous coral reef fishes." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284, no. 1856 (June 14, 2017): 20170307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0307.

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Resolving how species compete and coexist within ecological communities represents a long-standing challenge in ecology. Research efforts have focused on two predominant mechanisms of species coexistence: complementarity and redundancy. But findings also support an alternative hypothesis that within-species variation may be critical for coexistence. Our study focuses on nine closely related and ecologically similar coral reef fish species to test the importance of individual- versus species-level traits in determining the size of dietary, foraging substrate, and behavioural interaction niches. Specifically, we asked: (i) what level of biological organization best describes individual-level niches? and (ii) how are herbivore community niches partitioned among species, and are niche widths driven by species- or individual-level traits? Dietary and foraging substrate niche widths were best described by species identity, but no level of taxonomy explained behavioural interactions. All three niches were dominated by only a few species, contrasting expectations of niche complementarity. Species- and individual-level traits strongly drove foraging substrate and behavioural niches, respectively, whereas the dietary niche was described by both. Our findings underscored the importance of species-level traits for community-level niches, but highlight that individual-level trait variation within a select few species may be a key driver of the overall size of niches.
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16

Ripa, Jörgen. "Ecology and macroevolution - evolutionary niche monopolisation as a mechanisms of niche conservatism." Oikos 128, no. 3 (October 11, 2018): 380–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.05672.

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17

Lloyd-Smith, James O. "Vacated niches, competitive release and the community ecology of pathogen eradication." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 368, no. 1623 (August 5, 2013): 20120150. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0150.

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A recurring theme in the epidemiological literature on disease eradication is that each pathogen occupies an ecological niche, and eradication of one pathogen leaves a vacant niche that favours the emergence of new pathogens to replace it. However, eminent figures have rejected this view unequivocally, stating that there is no basis to fear pathogen replacement and even that pathogen niches do not exist. After exploring the roots of this controversy, I propose resolutions to disputed issues by drawing on broader ecological theory, and advance a new consensus based on robust mechanistic principles. I argue that pathogen eradication (and cessation of vaccination) leads to a ‘vacated niche’, which could be re-invaded by the original pathogen if introduced. Consequences for other pathogens will vary, with the crucial mechanisms being competitive release, whereby the decline of one species allows its competitors to perform better, and evolutionary adaptation. Hence, eradication can cause a quantitative rise in the incidence of another infection, but whether this leads to emergence as an endemic pathogen depends on additional factors. I focus on the case study of human monkeypox and its rise following smallpox eradication, but also survey how these ideas apply to other pathogens and discuss implications for eradication policy.
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18

Russell, Vanessa L., M. Henry H. Stevens, Addison A. Zeisler, and Tereza Jezkova. "Identifying regional environmental factors driving differences in climatic niche overlap in Peromyscus mice." Journal of Mammalogy 103, no. 1 (December 2, 2021): 45–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyab126.

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Abstract Different groups of taxa exhibit varying degree of climatic niche conservatism or divergence due to evolutionary constraints imposed on taxa and distributional relationships among them. Herein, we explore to what extent regional environmental conditions that taxa occupy affect climatic niche overlap between pairs of congeneric species of Peromyscus mice exhibiting allopatric, parapatric, or sympatric distributions. We used Bayesian generalized linear mixed models to identify environmental variables that best explain differences in climatic niche overlap between species. Our results suggest that regional environmental conditions explain 13–44% of variation in climatic niche overlap. Specifically, allopatric and parapatric species pairs are more likely to occupy similar climatic niches in areas that are topographically less complex but with more complex habitats. Sympatric species are more likely to occupy similar climatic niches in areas that promote local niche partitioning (topographically less complex, warmer winter temperatures, higher precipitation, and higher habitat complexity on a local scale). By understanding the relationship between regional environmental conditions and niche overlap, we highlight how differences in geography can contribute to shaping niches of congeneric species.
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Cabral, Juliano Sarmento, and Holger Kreft. "Linking ecological niche, community ecology and biogeography: insights from a mechanistic niche model." Journal of Biogeography 39, no. 12 (October 29, 2012): 2212–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12010.

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20

Le Bourg, B., P. Kuklinski, P. Balazy, G. Lepoint, and LN Michel. "Interactive effects of body size and environmental gradient on the trophic ecology of sea stars in an Antarctic fjord." Marine Ecology Progress Series 674 (September 16, 2021): 189–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps13821.

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Antarctic sea stars can occupy different trophic niches and display different trophic levels, but, while the impacts of their body size and environmental features on their trophic niches are potentially important, they are presently understudied. Here we assessed the trophic ecology in relation to the size and habitat of sea stars in a fjord on King George Island (South Shetland Islands) using stable isotope values of carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N), and sulphur (δ34S). The disc radius influenced δ13C and δ15N values, whereas more limited changes in δ13C or δ34S values were related to arm length. Specifically, δ13C and δ15N values were linked to disc radius in generalist species (Diplasterias brandti and Odontaster validus), which could indicate ontogenetic diet shifts, while this relationship occurred less frequently in more specialised species (Bathybiaster loripes, Notasterias bongraini, and Perknaster sladeni). O. validus had a smaller isotopic niche size in the inner than the outer fjord. The niche overlap between D. brandti and O. validus was low in the inner fjord. Low resource availability within the fjord, linked to higher turbidity, could induce trophic niche constriction and interspecific resource segregation. This could represent a mechanism for competition avoidance in a resource-limited system. Conversely, higher resource availability could allow O. validus to expand and share its isotopic niche with D. brandti in the outer fjord with a limited risk of competition. This trophic plasticity will likely influence how O. validus copes with the present and future modification of environmental conditions induced by climate change.
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21

Bonetti, Maria Fernanda, and John J. Wiens. "Evolution of climatic niche specialization: a phylogenetic analysis in amphibians." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281, no. 1795 (November 22, 2014): 20133229. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.3229.

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The evolution of climatic niche specialization has important implications for many topics in ecology, evolution and conservation. The climatic niche reflects the set of temperature and precipitation conditions where a species can occur. Thus, specialization to a limited set of climatic conditions can be important for understanding patterns of biogeography, species richness, community structure, allopatric speciation, spread of invasive species and responses to climate change. Nevertheless, the factors that determine climatic niche width (level of specialization) remain poorly explored. Here, we test whether species that occur in more extreme climates are more highly specialized for those conditions, and whether there are trade-offs between niche widths on different climatic niche axes (e.g. do species that tolerate a broad range of temperatures tolerate only a limited range of precipitation regimes?). We test these hypotheses in amphibians, using phylogenetic comparative methods and global-scale datasets, including 2712 species with both climatic and phylogenetic data. Our results do not support either hypothesis. Rather than finding narrower niches in more extreme environments, niches tend to be narrower on one end of a climatic gradient but wider on the other. We also find that temperature and precipitation niche breadths are positively related, rather than showing trade-offs. Finally, our results suggest that most amphibian species occur in relatively warm and dry environments and have relatively narrow climatic niche widths on both of these axes. Thus, they may be especially imperilled by anthropogenic climate change.
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22

Ochoa-Gonzále, Alejandra, Octavio R. Rojas-Soto, David A. Prieto-Torres, María del Coro Arizmendi, and Adolfo G. Navarro-Sigüenza. "At home in the tropics: seasonal niche-tracking by the Yellow-green Vireo, Vireo flavoviridis, an intratropical migrant." Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 94 (October 31, 2023): e945233. http://dx.doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2023.94.5233.

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Migratory birds move geographically by tracking specific climatic conditions through time. However, we lack information about the climatic conditions birds are tracking, especially in intratropical migrants, whose movements are contained inside the tropics. The Yellow-green Vireo Vireo flavoviridis is an intratropical migrant whose migration patterns remain only partially documented and understood. Using GBIF presence records and WorldClim monthly climatic layers, we reconstructed ecological niche for Yellow-green Vireo’ reproductive and non-reproductive seasons. Then, we used a niche overlap analysis, based on a PCA-env approach and similarity tests, to assess overlap in climatic niches between seasons. We also projected climatic niches onto their spring and fall migration to evaluate the climatic conditions tracked by the species in transitional months. Overall, models revealed significant geographic inter-prediction between seasons. Similarity analyses showed high niche overlap between seasons; however, they failed to reject the null hypothesis of niche similarity. As expected by the hypothesis of niche conservatism in the tropics, Yellow-green Vireo is a niche follower. This information will help to clarify evolution of intratropical migration and provide ecological information for future conservation plans.
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Kolanowska, Marta, Aleksandra M. Naczk, and Radomir Jaskuła. "Herbarium-based studies on taxonomy, biogeography and ecology ofPsilochilus(Orchidaceae)." PeerJ 4 (November 8, 2016): e2600. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2600.

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BackgroundPsilochilusis a poorly studied orchid genus distributed from southern Mexico to south-eastern Brazil. A taxonomic revision of this Neotropical endemic based on morphological data is presented.Material and MethodsOver 170 dried herbarium specimens and flowers preserved in liquid ofPsilochiluswere analyzed. Morphological variation among examined taxa was described based on multivariate analysis. To evaluate the similarity between niches occupied by variousPsilochilusspecies ecological niche modeling (ENM) was applied. Species richness and the distribution patterns ofPsilochilusrepresentatives were analyzed based on squares of 5° latitude and longitude while similarities among floras between biogeographical units were measured using the Bray-Curtis index for presence/absence data.Results and DiscussionA new species of theP. physurifolius-complex is described based on Central American material.Psilochilus crenatifoliusis reduced to the rank of variety asP. macrophyllusvar.crenatifolius. A key to 18 acceptedPsilochilusspecies is provided. The illustrations of perianth segments of all recognized taxa are presented. The climatic niches preferred by the particularPsilochilusrepresentatives are well separated based on ecological niche modeling analysis. Their distribution is limited mainly by the isothermality and temperature seasonality. The highestPsilochilusspecies richness is observed in the North Andean, Panamanian, Brazilian Planalto and Central American biogeographical provinces. A high level of endemism is observed in all those regions as well as Yungas biogeographical province. MostPsilochilusspecies occur in areas above 800 m of elevation. The populations were most often reported from the tropical rain forest and tropical moist deciduous forest.
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Mejía, Omar, Norberto Martínez-Méndez, Fabian Pérez-Miranda, and Wilfredo A. Matamoros. "Climatic niche evolution of a widely distributed Neotropical freshwater fish clade." Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 135, no. 4 (February 18, 2022): 839–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab153.

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Abstract The role of climate in the speciation process has been documented widely in ectotherms but poorly in freshwater fishes, which represent the richest clade among vertebrates. In this study, we have evaluated the occurrence of phylogenetic niche evolution as a promoter of diversification in the herichthyines (Cichliformes: Cichlidae) clade. We used distributional and bioclimatic data, niche modelling algorithms and phylogenetic comparative methods to study patterns of climatic niche evolution in the herichthyines clade. Our results suggested that herichthyines display signals of phylogenetic niche conservatism, but also signals of niche evolution in the last 14 Myr associated with the availability of new habitats promoting ecological opportunity within the clade. We also concluded that niche conservatism is equally strong in the fundamental and realized niches, which indicates a need to evaluate the potential role of biotic interactions in the evolution of the niche in future studies.
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Balčiauskas, Linas, Raminta Skipitytė, Andrius Garbaras, Vitalijus Stirkė, Laima Balčiauskienė, and Vidmantas Remeikis. "Stable Isotopes Reveal the Dominant Species to Have the Widest Trophic Niche of Three Syntopic Microtus Voles." Animals 11, no. 6 (June 17, 2021): 1814. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11061814.

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Diets and trophic positions of co-occurring animals are fundamental issues in their ecology, and these issues in syntopic rodents have been studied insufficiently. Using carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope ratios from hair samples, we analysed the trophic niches of common (Microtus arvalis), field (M. agrestis), and root (M. oeconomus) voles co-occurring in orchards, berry plantations, and nearby meadows (as control habitat to orchards and plantations). We tested if the niche of the dominant common vole was the widest, whether its width depended on the presence of other vole species, and whether there were intraspecific differences. Results suggest stability in the trophic niches of all three Microtus species, as season explained only 2% of the variance. The widest trophic niche was a characteristic of the dominant common vole, the range of δ13C values exceeding the other two species by 1.6, the range of δ15N values exceeding the other two species by 1.9, and the total area of niche exceeding that of the other voles by 2.3–3 times. In the meadows and apple orchards, co-occurring vole species were separated according to δ13C (highest values in the dominant common vole), but they maintained similar δ15N values. Results give new insights into the trophic ecology small herbivores, showing the impact of species co-occurrence.
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Ricklefs, Robert E., and David G. Jenkins. "Biogeography and ecology: towards the integration of two disciplines." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366, no. 1576 (August 27, 2011): 2438–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0066.

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Although ecology and biogeography had common origins in the natural history of the nineteenth century, they diverged substantially during the early twentieth century as ecology became increasingly hypothesis-driven and experimental. This mechanistic focus narrowed ecology's purview to local scales of time and space, and mostly excluded large-scale phenomena and historical explanations. In parallel, biogeography became more analytical with the acceptance of plate tectonics and the development of phylogenetic systematics, and began to pay more attention to ecological factors that influence large-scale distributions. This trend towards unification exposed problems with terms such as ‘community’ and ‘niche,’ in part because ecologists began to view ecological communities as open systems within the contexts of history and geography. The papers in this issue represent biogeographic and ecological perspectives and address the general themes of (i) the niche, (ii) comparative ecology and macroecology, (iii) community assembly, and (iv) diversity. The integration of ecology and biogeography clearly is a natural undertaking that is based on evolutionary biology, has developed its own momentum, and which promises novel, synthetic approaches to investigating ecological systems and their variation over the surface of the Earth. We offer suggestions on future research directions at the intersection of biogeography and ecology.
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Hu, Ying, Huichun Wang, Huiping Jia, Maodeji Pen, Nian Liu, Jingjing Wei, and Biyao Zhou. "Ecological Niche and Interspecific Association of Plant Communities in Alpine Desertification Grasslands: A Case Study of Qinghai Lake Basin." Plants 11, no. 20 (October 15, 2022): 2724. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants11202724.

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The study of niche and interspecific relationships is one of the classical ecological theories. We set up four desertification gradients. The “Levins” and “Pianka”method were used to calculate the species’ niche breadth and niche overlap. Interspecies associations were analyzed by the ratio of variance (VR), Chi-square test, association coefficient (AC) and Ochiai index (OI). The results showed that in grasslands with different degrees of desertification, Stellera chromosome (3.90), Thermopsis lanceolate (3.52) and Aster almanacs (3.99) had larger niche widths, which were wide-area species of plant communities in the desertification area. The ecological niches of the same species in different habitats or different species in the same habitat were multi-dimensional. Niche differentiation measured by niche overlap can occur at any community succession stage. Niche width and niche overlap were not always consistent with environmental changes. Moreover, there was no linear relationship between them. The interspecific connection coefficient fluctuated greatly with the environment. The results can provide a reference for the study of plant community competition mechanism and desertification control in desertification land of the study area. We still do not know the mechanism of how the plants were preserved and how the retained plants adapted to the new environment during the desertification process. We can further study these questions in the next step.
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Codron, Jacqueline, Kevin J. Duffy, Nico L. Avenant, Matt Sponheimer, Jennifer Leichliter, Oliver Paine, Paul Sandberg, and Daryl Codron. "Stable isotope evidence for trophic niche partitioning in a South African savanna rodent community." Current Zoology 61, no. 3 (June 1, 2015): 397–411. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/czoolo/61.3.397.

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Abstract Species’ partitioning of resources remains one of the most integral components for understanding community assembly. Analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in animal tissues has the potential to help resolve patterns of partitioning because these proxies represent the individual’s diet and trophic niche, respectively. Using free-ranging rodents in a southern African savanna as a model community, we find that syntopic species within habitats occupy distinct isotope niches. Moreover, species with strongly overlapping isotope niches did not overlap in their spatial distribution patterns, suggesting an underlying effect of competitive exclusion. Niche conservatism appears to characterize the behaviour of most species in our sample - with little or no observed changes across habitats - with the exception of one species, Mastomys coucha. This species displayed a generalist distribution, being found in similar abundances across a variety of habitats. This spatial pattern was coupled with a generalist isotope niche that shifted across habitats, likely in response to changes in species composition over the same spatial gradient. The case for M. coucha supports contentions that past competition effects played a significant evolutionary role in shaping community structures of today, including the absence of strong interspecific niche overlaps within particular habitats. Our study highlights the value of stable isotope approaches to help resolve key questions in community ecology, and moreover introduces novel analytical approaches to quantifying isotope niche breadths and niche overlaps that are easily comparable with traditional metrices.
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Bellefontaine, Sara C., and Diana J. Hamilton. "Shorebirds exhibit niche partitioning on multiple dimensions at a small staging site on the Northumberland Strait, New Brunswick, Canada." FACETS 8 (January 1, 2023): 1–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/facets-2022-0230.

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Animal populations take advantage of environmental heterogeneity to partition themselves into microhabitat niches. Such partitioning plays an important role in regulating interspecific competition and community structure by allowing multiple species to coexist. Atlantic Canada has many small coastal staging sites that host southbound migrant shorebirds. However, most shorebird studies in the region have been focused on larger sites in the Bay of Fundy, resulting in limited knowledge about staging ecology at these small sites, which often host more diverse shorebird assemblages. We examined niche partitioning by shorebirds on the Northumberland Strait, New Brunswick, Canada, to better understand how small coastal staging sites support diverse shorebird populations. We found evidence of partitioning on three niche dimensions: space, foraging behaviour, and diet. Most species specialized in at least one dimension, with foraging constraints based on bill morphology and habitat access based on species size likely driving segregation. Environmental heterogeneity at sites on the Northumberland Strait created multiple dimensions for segregation and fulfilled the niche requirements of diverse shorebird species during migratory staging. These findings broaden our understanding of staging ecology of multispecies flocks and suggest that conservation of small coastal sites is important for success of migratory shorebirds in Atlantic Canada.
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Sherrill-Mix, Scott, Kevin McCormick, Abigail Lauder, Aubrey Bailey, Laurie Zimmerman, Yingying Li, Jean-Bosco N. Django, et al. "Allometry and Ecology of the Bilaterian Gut Microbiome." mBio 9, no. 2 (March 27, 2018): e00319-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00319-18.

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ABSTRACT Classical ecology provides principles for construction and function of biological communities, but to what extent these apply to the animal-associated microbiota is just beginning to be assessed. Here, we investigated the influence of several well-known ecological principles on animal-associated microbiota by characterizing gut microbial specimens from bilaterally symmetrical animals (Bilateria) ranging from flies to whales. A rigorously vetted sample set containing 265 specimens from 64 species was assembled. Bacterial lineages were characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Previously published samples were also compared, allowing analysis of over 1,098 samples in total. A restricted number of bacterial phyla was found to account for the great majority of gut colonists. Gut microbial composition was associated with host phylogeny and diet. We identified numerous gut bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences that diverged deeply from previously studied taxa, identifying opportunities to discover new bacterial types. The number of bacterial lineages per gut sample was positively associated with animal mass, paralleling known species-area relationships from island biogeography and implicating body size as a determinant of community stability and niche complexity. Samples from larger animals harbored greater numbers of anaerobic communities, specifying a mechanism for generating more-complex microbial environments. Predictions for species/abundance relationships from models of neutral colonization did not match the data set, pointing to alternative mechanisms such as selection of specific colonists by environmental niche. Taken together, the data suggest that niche complexity increases with gut size and that niche selection forces dominate gut community construction. IMPORTANCE The intestinal microbiome of animals is essential for health, contributing to digestion of foods, proper immune development, inhibition of pathogen colonization, and catabolism of xenobiotic compounds. How these communities assemble and persist is just beginning to be investigated. Here we interrogated a set of gut samples from a wide range of animals to investigate the roles of selection and random processes in microbial community construction. We show that the numbers of bacterial species increased with the weight of host organisms, paralleling findings from studies of island biogeography. Communities in larger organisms tended to be more anaerobic, suggesting one mechanism for niche diversification. Nonselective processes enable specific predictions for community structure, but our samples did not match the predictions of the neutral model. Thus, these findings highlight the importance of niche selection in community construction and suggest mechanisms of niche diversification.
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Poole, Toni L., J. Allen Byrd, Todd R. Callaway, and David J. Nisbet. "Ecology ofEnterococcus faecalisand Niche-Adapted or Non-Niche-AdaptedEnterococcus faeciumin Continuous-Flow Anaerobic Cultures." Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 6, no. 7 (September 2009): 901–6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/fpd.2009.0296.

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Robinson, Arthur L. "A Physicist Carves a Niche in Industrial Ecology." Physics Today 46, no. 4 (April 1993): 39–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2808863.

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Wiens, John J., and Catherine H. Graham. "Niche Conservatism: Integrating Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation Biology." Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 36, no. 1 (December 2005): 519–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.36.102803.095431.

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Blonder, Benjamin. "Hypervolume concepts in niche- and trait-based ecology." Ecography 41, no. 9 (September 22, 2017): 1441–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03187.

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Dall, Sasha R. X. "Behavioural Ecology: Niche Construction via Grooming and Extortion?" Current Biology 17, no. 11 (June 2007): R422—R424. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2007.03.061.

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Eriksson, Ove, Matilda Arnell, and Karl-Johan Lindholm. "Historical Ecology of Scandinavian Infield Systems." Sustainability 13, no. 2 (January 15, 2021): 817. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13020817.

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Infield systems originated during the early Iron Age and existed until the 19th century, although passing many transitions and changes. The core features of infield systems were enclosed infields with hay-meadows and crop fields, and unenclosed outland mainly used for livestock grazing. We examine the transitions and changes of domesticated landscapes with infield systems using the framework of human niche construction, focusing on reciprocal causation affecting change in both culture and environment. A first major transition occurred during the early Middle Ages, as a combined effect of a growing elite society and an increased availability of iron promoted expansion of villages with partly communal infields. A second major transition occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries, due to a then recognized inefficiency of agricultural production, leading to land reforms. In outlands, there was a continuous expansion of management throughout the whole period. Even though external factors had significant impacts as well, human niche construction affected a range of cultural and environmental features regarding the management and structure of domesticated landscapes with infield systems. Thus, niche construction theory is a useful framework for understanding the historical ecology of infield systems.
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Boone, Randall B. "Simulating Species Richness Using Agents with Evolving Niches, with an Example of Galápagos Plants." International Journal of Ecology 2010 (2010): 1–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/150606.

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I sought to evolve plant species richness patterns on 22 Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, as an exploration of the utility of evolutionary computation and an agent-based approach in biogeography research. The simulation was spatially explicit, where agents were plant monocultures defined by three niche dimensions, lava (yes or no), elevation, and slope. Niches were represented as standard normal curves subjected to selection pressure, where neighboring plants bred if their niches overlapped sufficiently, and were considered the same species, otherwise they were different species. Plants that bred produced seeds with mutated niches. Seeds dispersed locally and longer distances, and established if the habitat was appropriate given the seed's niche. From a single species colonizing a random location, hundreds of species evolved to fill the islands. Evolved plant species richness agreed very well with observed plant species richness. I review potential uses of an agent-based representation of evolving niches in biogeography research.
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Brame, Hannah-Maria R., and Alycia L. Stigall. "Controls on niche stability in geologic time: congruent responses to biotic and abiotic environmental changes among Cincinnatian (Late Ordovician) marine invertebrates." Paleobiology 40, no. 1 (2014): 70–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/13035.

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The set of environmental conditions under which a taxon can survive and maintain viable populations, known as the ecological niche, is a fundamental determinant of a taxon's distribution. Because of the central importance of ecological niches, they have been assumed to remain relatively stable during intervals of morphological stasis. However, the assumption of niche stability has rarely been tested directly with fossil data spanning multiple temporal intervals. Thus, the conditions under which this assumption is likely to be accurate are not well understood. In this study, we use ecological niche modeling (ENM) to reconstruct the ecological niche for 11 genera of marine benthos (crinoids, trilobites, molluscs, bryozoans, and corals) from the Type Cincinnatian Series (Late Ordovician, Katian Stage) across nine temporal intervals spanning approximately three million years. This interval includes both abiotic environmental change (gradual sea-level fall) and biotic change (rapid pulses of the Richmondian Invasion), thus allowing the relative effect of different environmental perturbations to be constrained. A previous symmetrical analysis of niche stability of brachiopod species recovered an increase in niche evolution following the Richmondian Invasion. Herein we test the generality of the brachiopod pattern within the community. Niche stability was evaluated in geographic space, ecological space, and niche parameter space. Niche stability varied through time; during the Pre-Invasion interval, taxa exhibited niche stability during gradual shallowing of sea level in the basin, whereas niche evolution became more common during the Richmondian Invasion. Taxa adjusted to the increased competition by altering aspects of their niche. Notably, surviving taxa contracted their niche into a subset of their previous niche parameters. This represents an adaptive response to increased competition for resources with the newly established invader taxa, and it was employed most successfully by generalist taxa. Patterns of niche evolution were congruent between clades, among feeding styles, and across taxonomic levels.
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Olthoff, Adriana E., Carolina Martínez-Ruiz, and Josu G. Alday. "Niche Characterization of Shrub Functional Groups along an Atlantic-Mediterranean Gradient." Forests 12, no. 8 (July 24, 2021): 982. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f12080982.

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The identification of the factors controlling the understory species distribution and abundance is essential to understand the ecology and dynamics of natural forests and their management response. We assess the relationships between environmental gradients and shrub functional groups distribution patterns and niche characteristics in a transitional area between the Eurosiberian and Mediterranean biogeographic regions in Northern Spain. Here, 772 plots from the 3rd Spanish National Forest Inventory were used. Shrub functional groups respond to the same complex environmental gradients as trees, i.e., the north-south climatic gradient and a slope gradient. Unimodal response curves of shrub functional groups and families dominate along both gradients, providing evidence of successful functional turnover. Similar to tree species, the niche location of functionally related shrubs is close. Functional groups occupying environments with sharp contrast or transitional environments have the broadest niches, whereas those specialized functional groups occupying localized habitats showed the narrowest niches. The knowledge of shrub species distributions and niche characteristics along complex environmental gradients will improve our ability to discuss potential conservation management goals or threats due to land-use changes and future climate change.
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Bloxham, Blox, Hyunseok Lee, and Jeff Gore. "Biodiversity is enhanced by sequential resource utilization and environmental fluctuations via emergent temporal niches." PLOS Computational Biology 20, no. 5 (May 13, 2024): e1012049. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012049.

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How natural communities maintain their remarkable biodiversity and which species survive in complex communities are central questions in ecology. Resource competition models successfully explain many phenomena but typically predict only as many species as resources can coexist. Here, we demonstrate that sequential resource utilization, or diauxie, with periodic growth cycles can support many more species than resources. We explore how communities modify their own environments by sequentially depleting resources to form sequences of temporal niches, or intermediately depleted environments. Biodiversity is enhanced when community-driven or environmental fluctuations modulate the resource depletion order and produce different temporal niches on each growth cycle. Community-driven fluctuations under constant environmental conditions are rare, but exploring them illuminates the temporal niche structure that emerges from sequential resource utilization. With environmental fluctuations, we find most communities have more stably coexisting species than resources with survivors accurately predicted by the same temporal niche structure and each following a distinct optimal strategy. Our results thus present a new niche-based approach to understanding highly diverse fluctuating communities.
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Rühr, Peter T., Thomas van de Kamp, Tomáš Faragó, Jörg U. Hammel, Fabian Wilde, Elena Borisova, Carina Edel, Melina Frenzel, Tilo Baumbach, and Alexander Blanke. "Juvenile ecology drives adult morphology in two insect orders." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 288, no. 1953 (June 16, 2021): 20210616. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0616.

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Most animals undergo ecological niche shifts between distinct life phases, but such shifts can result in adaptive conflicts of phenotypic traits. Metamorphosis can reduce these conflicts by breaking up trait correlations, allowing each life phase to independently adapt to its ecological niche. This process is called adaptive decoupling. It is, however, yet unknown to what extent adaptive decoupling is realized on a macroevolutionary scale in hemimetabolous insects and if the degree of adaptive decoupling is correlated with the strength of ontogenetic niche shifts. It is also unclear whether the degree of adaptive decoupling is correlated with phenotypic disparity. Here, we quantify nymphal and adult trait correlations in 219 species across the whole phylogeny of earwigs and stoneflies to test whether juvenile and adult traits are decoupled from each other. We demonstrate that adult head morphology is largely driven by nymphal ecology, and that adult head shape disparity has increased with stronger ontogenetic niche shifts in some stonefly lineages. Our findings implicate that the hemimetabolan metamorphosis in earwigs and stoneflies does not allow for high degrees of adaptive decoupling, and that high phenotypic disparity can even be realized when the evolution of distinct life phases is coupled.
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Vogt, Solveig, F. André de Villiers, Flora Ihlow, Dennis Rödder, and John Measey. "Competition and feeding ecology in two sympatric Xenopus species (Anura: Pipidae)." PeerJ 5 (April 19, 2017): e3130. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3130.

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The widespread African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) occurs in sympatry with the IUCN Endangered Cape platanna (Xenopus gilli) throughout its entire range in the south-western Cape, South Africa. In order to investigate aspects of the interspecific competition between populations of X. laevis and X. gilli, an assessment of their niche differentiation was conducted through a comprehensive study on food composition and trophic niche structure at two study sites: the Cape of Good Hope (CoGH) and Kleinmond. A total of 399 stomach contents of X. laevis (n = 183) and X. gilli (n = 216) were obtained together with samples of available prey to determine food preferences using the Electivity index (E*), the Simpson’s index of diversity (1 − D), the Shannon index (H′), and the Pianka index (Ojk). Xenopus gilli diet was more diverse than X. laevis, particularly in Kleimond where the Shannon index was nearly double. Both species were found to consume large amounts of tadpoles belonging to different amphibian species, including congeners, with an overall higher incidence of anurophagy than previously recorded. However, X. laevis also feeds on adult X. gilli, thus representing a direct threat for the latter. While trophic niche overlap was 0.5 for the CoGH, it was almost 1 in Kleinmond, suggesting both species utilise highly congruent trophic niches. Further, subdividing the dataset into three size classes revealed overlap to be higher in small frogs in both study sites. Our study underlines the importance of actively controlling X. laevis at sites with X. gilli in order to limit competition and predation, which is vital for conservation of the south-western Cape endemic.
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McInerny, Greg J., and Rampal S. Etienne. "Ditch the niche - is the niche a useful concept in ecology or species distribution modelling?" Journal of Biogeography 39, no. 12 (November 20, 2012): 2096–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12033.

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Strubbe, Diederik, Olivier Broennimann, François Chiron, and Erik Matthysen. "Niche conservatism in non-native birds in Europe: niche unfilling rather than niche expansion." Global Ecology and Biogeography 22, no. 8 (February 19, 2013): 962–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/geb.12050.

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Arbour, Jessica H., Carmen G. Montaña, Kirk O. Winemiller, Allison A. Pease, Miriam Soria-Barreto, Jennifer L. Cochran-Biederman, and Hernán López-Fernández. "Macroevolutionary analyses indicate that repeated adaptive shifts towards predatory diets affect functional diversity in Neotropical cichlids." Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 129, no. 4 (February 10, 2020): 844–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaa001.

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Abstract During adaptive radiation, diversification within clades is limited by adaptation to the available ecological niches, and this may drive patterns of both trait and species diversity. However, adaptation to disparate niches may result in varied impacts on the timing, pattern and rate of morphological evolution. In this study, we examined the relationship between feeding ecology and functional diversification across a diverse clade of freshwater fishes, the Neotropical cichlids. Species dietary niches were ordinated via multivariate analysis of stomach content data. We investigated changes in the rate and pattern of morphological diversification associated with feeding, including dietary niche and degree of dietary specialization. A major division in dietary niche space was observed between predators that consume fish and macroinvertebrates vs. other groups with diets dominated by small invertebrates, detritus or vegetation. These trophic niches were strongly associated with groupings defined by functional morphospace. Clades within the piscivore/macroinvertivore group rarely transitioned to other dietary niches. Comparatively, high dietary specialization enhanced functional diversification, driving the evolution of more extreme morphologies. Divergent patterns of trophic diversification among Neotropical cichlids appear to derive from different performance demands in regional abiotic and biotic environments associated with biogeographical history.
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Sîrbu, Ioan, Ana Maria Benedek, and Monica Sîrbu. "Variation partitioning in double-constrained multivariate analyses: linking communities, environment, space, functional traits, and ecological niches." Oecologia 197, no. 1 (August 11, 2021): 43–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05006-6.

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AbstractConstrained multivariate analysis is a common tool for linking ecological communities to environment. The follow-up is the development of the double-constrained correspondence analysis (dc-CA), integrating traits as species-related predictors. Further, methods have been proposed to integrate information on phylogenetic relationships and space variability. We expand this framework, proposing a dc-CA-based algorithm for decomposing variation in community structure and testing the simple and conditional effects of four sets of predictors: environment characteristics and space configuration as predictors related to sites, while traits and niche (dis)similarities as species-related predictors. In our approach, ecological niches differ from traits in that the latter are distinguished by and characterize the individual level, while niches are measured on the species level, and when compared, they are characteristics of communities and should be used as separate predictors. The novelties of this approach are the introduction of new niche parameters, niche dissimilarities, synthetic niche-based diversity which we related to environmental features, the development of an algorithm for the full variation decomposition and testing of the community–environment–niche–traits–space (CENTS) space by dc-CAs with and without covariates, and new types of diagrams for the results. Applying these methods to a dataset on freshwater mollusks, we learned that niche predictors may be as important as traits in explaining community structure and are not redundant, overweighting the environmental and spatial predictors. Our algorithm opens new pathways for developing integrative methods linking life, environment, and other predictors, both in theoretical and practical applications, including assessment of human impact on habitats and ecological systems.
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Trappes, Rose. "Defining the niche for niche construction: evolutionary and ecological niches." Biology & Philosophy 36, no. 3 (June 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10539-021-09805-2.

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AbstractNiche construction theory (NCT) aims to transform and unite evolutionary biology and ecology. Much of the debate about NCT has focused on construction. Less attention has been accorded to the niche: what is it, exactly, that organisms are constructing? In this paper I compare and contrast the definition of the niche used in NCT with ecological niche definitions. NCT’s concept of the evolutionary niche is defined as the sum of selection pressures affecting a population. So defined, the evolutionary niche is narrower than the ecological niche. Moreover, when contrasted with a more restricted ecological niche concept, it has a slightly different extension. I point out three kinds of cases in which the evolutionary niche does not coincide with realized ecological niches: extreme habitat degradation, commensalism, and non-limiting or super-abundant resources. These conceptual differences affect the role of NCT in unifying ecology and evolutionary biology.
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Trappes, Rose, Behzad Nematipour, and Ulrich Krohs. "Introduction to niches and mechanisms in ecology and evolution." Biology & Philosophy 37, no. 6 (December 2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10539-022-09890-x.

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AbstractNiches and mechanisms are two important but contested elements in the study of organism-environment interactions. Although they are closely interrelated, with niches playing a crucial role in theorizing about ecological and evolutionary mechanisms such as niche construction, facilitation, and species invasion, philosophical discussions about each issue have been largely disconnected. This collection addresses this gap, bringing together contributions from philosophers and biologists about the niche concept, niche construction theory, and ecological and evolutionary mechanisms. In this introduction we provide some background to the collection, which arose out of two workshops organized within an interdisciplinary research consortium. We also summarize each contribution, organized roughly into three groups with considerable overlap and interrelations: niche construction and evolutionary theory, niches, and ecological and evolutionary mechanisms.
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Pelegrin, Nicolás, Kirk O. Winemiller, Laurie J. Vitt, Daniel B. Fitzgerald, and Eric R. Pianka. "How do lizard niches conserve, diverge or converge? Further exploration of saurian evolutionary ecology." BMC Ecology and Evolution 21, no. 1 (July 30, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12862-021-01877-8.

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Abstract Background Environmental conditions on Earth are repeated in non-random patterns that often coincide with species from different regions and time periods having consistent combinations of morphological, physiological and behavioral traits. Observation of repeated trait combinations among species confronting similar environmental conditions suggest that adaptive trait combinations are constrained by functional tradeoffs within or across niche dimensions. In an earlier study, we assembled a high-resolution database of functional traits for 134 lizard species to explore ecological diversification in relation to five fundamental niche dimensions. Here we expand and further examine multivariate relationships in that dataset to assess the relative influence of niche dimensions on the distribution of species in 6-dimensional niche space and how these may deviate from distributions generated from null models. We then analyzed a dataset with lower functional-trait resolution for 1023 lizard species that was compiled from our dataset and a published database, representing most of the extant families and environmental conditions occupied by lizards globally. Ordinations from multivariate analysis were compared with null models to assess how ecological and historical factors have resulted in the conservation, divergence or convergence of lizard niches. Results Lizard species clustered within a functional niche volume influenced mostly by functional traits associated with diet, activity, and habitat/substrate. Consistent patterns of trait combinations within and among niche dimensions yielded 24 functional groups that occupied a total niche space significantly smaller than plausible spaces projected by null models. Null model tests indicated that several functional groups are strongly constrained by phylogeny, such as nocturnality in the Gekkota and the secondarily acquired sit-and-wait foraging strategy in Iguania. Most of the widely distributed and species-rich families contained multiple functional groups thereby contributing to high incidence of niche convergence. Conclusions Comparison of empirical patterns with those generated by null models suggests that ecological filters promote limited sets of trait combinations, especially where similar conditions occur, reflecting both niche convergence and conservatism. Widespread patterns of niche convergence following ancestral niche diversification support the idea that lizard niches are defined by trait-function relationships and interactions with environment that are, to some degree, predictable and independent of phylogeny.
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Álvarez, Juan R. "Selección natural y construcción de nicho: una ¿dialéctica? evolucionista." Contrastes. Revista Internacional de Filosofía, February 7, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.24310/contrastescontrastes.v0i0.1177.

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RESUMENEn el marco del pensamiento evolucionista de los últimos treinta años, la teoría de construcción de nicho ha ido abriéndose paso como una perspectiva opuesta a y complementaria de la teoría de la selección natural en la explicación del proceso evolutivo. El planteamiento que sigue aborda su oposición como un proceso de combinación de principios ecológicos (restrictivos) y técnicos (transformadores) que tienden un puente entre ciencias biológicas y ciencias humanas, basado en una analogía de la técnica que se naturaliza en procesos de trasformación en que los organismos «se trabajan» sus ambientes.PALABRAS CLAVECONSTRUCCIÓN DE NICHO, DIALÉCTICA, ECOLOGÍA, TÉCNICA, SELECCIÓN NATURALABSTRACTWithin the frame of evolutionary thought during the last thirty years, niche construction theory has been gaining ground as an opposed and complementary outlook regarding natural selection theory in the explanation of evolution. The following approach construes their opposition as a combination of ecologic (restrictive) and technologic (transformational) principles that serve as a bridge between biological and human sciences, based on an analogy with technology that is naturalized in terms of transformation processes wherein organisms «do their work on» their environments.KEYWORDSDIALECTICS, ECOLOGY, NATURAL SELECTION, NICHE CONSTRUCTION, TECHNOLOGY
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