1. Maria Nobrega Mia Schmidt Alejandra Romanos Kendall Mandrell
Ch 14.1 Habitat and Niche
Maria Nobrega
Mia Schmidt
Alejandra Romanos
Kendall Mandrell

2. Habitat
Habitat is all biotic and abiotic factors in an area that is suitable for organisms to thrive in.
These factors are everything that make up the environment including all animals and plants plus factors such as rocks and the main water source.
All of these factors create the ideal environment and support the organisms that live within it.

3. Ecological Niche
An ecological niche is composed of all of the physical, chemical, and biological factors, a specie needs to survive and be healthy.
Those include:
Food
Water
Abiotic conditions
Behavior

4. Competitive Exclusion
Niche partitioning: Two squirrel species could have divided naturally based on competitive advantages. One type could resources from a tree and another from the ground, such as animals eating nuts from a tree or the ground
Evolutionary response: the two squirrel species could have experienced divergent evolution. Species with larger teeth might have been able to crack nuts while species with small teeth might have been able to eat seeds

5. Competitive exclusion
When two species use the same resources one of them will always be better adapted to the environment. Competitive exclusion is principle that states two species competing for the same resources, one of them will be better suited to the niche. The displaced one, may become locally extinct, by either migration or death, or it may be pushed into another niche.

6. Ecological equivalents
Are species that occupy similar niches, but live in different geographical region. They live in similar habitats, but in different parts of the world, so they never compete for the same resources
One example is the mantilla frog that lives in Madagascar and the poison dart frog that lives in South America. Both species have similar niche in similar habitats. They also share similar characteristics such as the highly poisonous toxin that secretes though its skin and their bright colors to ward off predators.

7. Mantella Frog (Madagascar)
Poison Dart Frog (South America)