Previous Year Question

Statement 1 is correct. An Ecological Niche represents the range of environmental conditions a species can tolerate, the resources it utilizes, and its Functional Role in an ecosystem. It includes temperature, water, light, food availability, and interactions with other organisms.

Ecological Niche and Habitat are two different concepts. A Habitat is the physical place where an organism lives, whereas a Niche explains how the organism utilizes resources and interacts with other organisms within that habitat. For example, deer and tigers may share the same forest habitat, but deer are herbivorous Primary Consumers, while tigers are carnivorous Higher-level Consumers. Therefore, their ecological roles are different.

Statement 2 is also correct. Each species has a distinct Ecological Niche. Gause's Competitive Exclusion Principle states that two species competing for the same limited resources within the same habitat cannot coexist stably for long periods in completely identical niches. Under such conditions, one species may outcompete the other. However, the niches of different species can partially overlap.

Resource Partitioning helps different species coexist within the same habitat. For example, two bird species inhabiting the same forest may search for food at different heights or remain active at different times of the day. This reduces direct competition between them. In ecology, the Fundamental Niche represents the complete range of potentially suitable environmental conditions and resources available to a species, whereas the Realized Niche represents the conditions and resources it actually utilizes under competition and other biological influences.