BioConcepts

nicheniche (fr.); Nische (ger.)

• The ecological role of an organism in an ecosystem is refered to as niche; it consists of the organism's demand to the environment (e.g. nutrition) and its effects on other organisms (e.g. as prey, enemy, competitor or symbiont). (HWB 2011)
  category niche

  1910

  One expects the different species in a region to occupy different niches in the environment

  Johnson, R.H. (1910). Determinate evolution in the color pattern of the lady-beetles. Carnegie Inst. Washington Publ. 122: 87; cf. Gaffney, P.M. (1973). Roots of the niche concept. Amer. Nat. 109, 490.

  1913

  associations are often capable of subdivision; in fact such splitting may be carried logically to the point where but one species occupies each its own niche

  Grinnell, J. & Swarth, H.S. (1913). An account of the birds and mammals of the San Jacinto area of southern California. Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool. 10, 197-406: 218; cf. Grinnell, J. (1914). An account of the mammals and birds of the lower Colorado Valley. Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool. 12, 51-294; cf. Cox, D.L. (1980). A note on the queer history of »niche«. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 61, 201-202.

  1917

  It is [...] axiomatic that no two species regularly established in a single fauna have precisely the same niche relationships

  Grinnell, J. (1917). The niche-relationships of the California Thrasher. Auk 34, 427-433: 433.

  1924

  Habitats have been variously classified by students of geographical distribution. Some of us have concluded that we can usefully recognize, as measures of distributional behavior, the realm, the region, the life-zone, the fauna, the subfauna, the association, and the ecologic or environmental niche.

  Grinnell, J. (1924). Geography and evolution. Ecology 5, 225-229: 227.

  1927

  [T]he status of an animal in its community, to indicate, what it is doing […;] the ›niche‹ of an animal means its place in the biotic environment, its relation to food and enemies

  Elton, C. (1927). Animal Ecology: 64.

  1934

  the equation [of two competing species, …] does not permit of any equilibrium between the competing species occupying the same ›niche‹, and leads to the entire displacing of one of them by another

  Gause, G.F. (1934). The Struggle for Existence: 48.

  1934

  A niche indicates what place the given species occupies in a community, i.e., what are its habits, food and mode of life. It is admitted that as a result of competition two similiar species scarcely ever occupy similar niches, but displace each other in such a manner that each takes possession of certain peculiar kinds of food and modes of life in which it has an advantage over its competitor

  Gause, G.F. (1934). The Struggle for Existence: 19.

  1934

  It is admitted that as a result of competition two similiar species scarcely ever occupy similar niches, but displace each other in such a manner that each takes possession of certain peculiar kinds of food and modes of life in which it has an advantage over its competitor

  Gause, G.F. (1934). The Struggle for Existence: 19.

  1939

  if two or more nearly related species live in the field in a stable association, these species certainly possess different ecological niches

  Gause, G.F. (1939). Discussion of the paper by Thomas Park, »Analytical population studies in relaton to general ecology«. Amer. Midl. Nat. 21, 255.

  1944

  The term niche (in Gause’s sense, rather than Elton’s) is here defined as the sum of all the environmental factors acting on the organism; the niche thus defined is a region of an n-dimensional hyper-space, comparable to the phase-space of statistical mechanics.

  Hutchinson, G.E. (1944). Limnological studies in Connecticut, VII. Ecology 25, 3-26: 20.

  1952

  I define the term ›niche‹ as the ecologic position that a species occupies in a particular ecosystem. The term ›niche‹ includes, therefore, a consideration of the habitat that the species concerned occupies for shelter, for breeding sites, and for other activities, the food that it eats, and all the other features of the ecosystem that it utilizes. The term does not include, except indirectly, any considerations of the functions that the species serves in the community

  Dice, L.R. (1952). Natural Communities: 227.

  1953

  The ecological niche […] is the position or status of an organism within its community and ecosystem resulting from the organism’s structural adaptations, physiological responses, and specific behavior (inherited and/or learned). The ecological niche of an organism depends not only on where it lives but also on what it does. By analogy, it may be said that the habitat is the organism’s “address,” and the niche is its “profession,” biologically speaking.

  Odum, E.P. (1953). Fundamentals of Ecology: 15.

  1954

  functional niche [...] place niche

  Clarke, G.L. (1954). Elements of Ecology: 468.

  1958

  The rapid spread of introduced species often gives evidence of empty niches, but such rapid spread in many instances has taken place in disturbed areas.

  Hutchinson, G.E. (1958). Concluding remarks. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. Quant. Biol. 22, 415-427: 424.

  1967

  The niche may be thought of as composed of several dimensions […], each corresponding to some requisite for a species

  Root, J.B. (1967). The niche exploitation pattern of the blue-grey gnatcatcher. Ecol. Monogr. 37, 317-350: 317.

  1972

  I think it is good practice to avoid the term niche whenever possible

  Williamson, M.H. (1972). The Analysis of Biological Populations: 111.

  1973

  The niche comprises all the bonds between the population and the community and ecosystem in which it is found

  Clapham, W.B. Jr. (1973). Natural Ecosystems: 103.

  1973

  [niche:] the position or role of a species within a given community […] the intracommunity role of the species

  Whittaker, R.H., Levin, S.A. & Root, R.B. (1973). Niche, habitat, and ecotope. Amer. Nat. 107, 321-338: 321; 325.

  1973

  Die ökologische Nische ist […] ein multidimensionales (weil viele Wechselbeziehungen umfassendes) Beziehungssystem zwischen einer Tierart und ihrer Umwelt, das hergestellt (gebildet) wird

  Osche, G. (1973). Ökologie. Grundlagen, Erkenntnisse, Entwicklungen der Umweltforschung: 37-39.

  1973

  The concept of the niche pervades all of ecology; indeed were it not for the fact that the ecological niche has been used in so many different ways, ecology might almost be defined as the study of niches

  Pianka, E.R. (1973). Evolutionary Ecology: 185.

  1975

  The niche of a population is a hypervolume in a space defined by axes representing the biotic and abiotic factors to which populations in the community respond differentially

  Colwell, R.K. & Fuentes, E.R. (1975). Experimental studies of the niche Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 6, 281-310: 283.

  1979

  Das Wirkungsfeld einer Art als Summe aller Lebensäußerungen wird meist ›ökologische Nische‹ genannt, die im Vergleich zum Habitat oder ›Adresse‹ gleichsam dem ›Beruf‹ entsprechen soll. Es beinhaltet aber noch mehr, nämlich die Bedeutung dieses Berufs für das ganze System. […] Das Wirkungsfeld wird nämlich in einem bestimmten Bezugssystem erst gebildet

  Tischler, W. (1976/79). Einführung in die Ökologie: 22.

  1980

  habitat niche [...] role niche

  Patten, B.C. & Auble, G.T. (1980). Systems approach to the concept of niche. Synthese 43, 155-181: 155.

  1981

  The ecological niche has […] become increasingly identified with resource utilization spectra

  Pianka, E.R. (1976/81). Competition and niche theory. In: May, R. (ed.). Theoretical Ecology, 167-196: 169.

  1982

  niche The ecological role of a species in a community; conceptualized as the multidimensional space, of which the coordinates are the various parameters representing the condition of existence of the species, to which it is restricted by the presence of competitor species; sometimes used loosely as an equivalent of microhabitat in the sense of the physical space occupied by a species; cf. fundamental niche, realized niche.

  Lincoln, R.J., Boxshall, G.A. & Clark, P.F. (1982). A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics: 167.

  1991

  No concept in ecology has been more variously defined or more universally confused than ›niche‹

  Real, L.A. & Levin, S.A. (1991). The role of theory in the rise of modern ecology. In: Real, L.A. & Brown, J.H. (eds.). Foundations of Ecology. Classic Papers with Commentaries, 177-191: 180.

  1992

  population niche concept

  Colwell, R.K. (1992). Niche: a bifurcation in the lineage. In: Keller, E.F. & Lloyd, E.A. (eds.). Keywords in Evolutionary Biology, 241-248: 242; cf. Brandon, R.N. & Antonovics, J. (1995). The coevolution of organism and environment. In: Wolters, G. & Lennox, J.G. (eds.). Concepts, Theories, and Rationality in the Biological Sciences, 211-232: 211.

  1997

  Let b name an organism of kind (e.g., taxon) B with environment E. Then the ecological niche of b is the set of nomologically possible, i.e., B-specific bonding relations of b with the items in its environment E that have a positive biovalue to b

  Mahner, M. & Bunge, M. (1997). Foundations of Biophilosophy: 181.

  2003

  the joint description of the environmental conditions that allow a species to satisfy its minimum requirements so that the birth rate of a local population is equal to or greater than its death rate along with the set of per capita effects of that species on these environmental conditions

  Chase, J.M. & Leibold, M.A. (2003). Ecological Niches. Linking Classical and Contemporary Approaches: 15.

  2005

  Man hat den Eindruck, daß sich der Erfolg – im Sinne häufiger Verwendung – des Nischenbegriffs nicht seiner Eindeutigkeit, sondern dem Gegenteil verdankt

  Trepl, L. (2005). Allgemeine Ökologie, vol. 2 Organismus und Umwelt: 119.

  2011

  Die Nische ist die ökologische Rolle eines Organismus in einem Ökosystem; sie besteht aus seinen Ansprüchen an die Umwelt (z.B. seine Nahrung) und seinen Wirkungen auf andere Organismen (z.B. als Beute, Feinde, Konkurrenten oder Symbionten).

  Toepfer, G. (2011). Historisches Wörterbuch der Biologie. Geschichte und Theorie der biologischen Grundbegriffe, vol. 2: 669.