Question

The niche of an organism can be defined as a ‘nth dimensional hypervolume’. Explain what is meant by this and how biotic and abiotic factors are incorporated to define a niche of an organism. Illustrate your answer with figures and examples where appropriate.

Answer 1

Niche of an organism is known as  "n-dimensional hypervolume", where the dimensions can be environmental conditions and resources, which define the requirements of an individual or a species to practice "its" own way of sustainenance so as to make its own population persist. The term "hypervolume" signifies the multi-dimensional space of available resources ( such as light, nutrients, structure, etc.) to be utilized by organisms. the other species apart from the ones in consideration are made as a  part of the coordinate system.

The different dimensions of a niche represent different biotic and abiotic variables. These may comprise organism's life history, habitat, trophic position , and geographical status. By the virtue of the competitive exclusion principle, "no two species can occupy the same niche in the same environment for a long time".

Thus the parameters of a realized niche can be defined by actual niche width of that particular species. For example there are specialist species which always need specific habitats and surroundings to survive, such as the spotted owl, which is a specific inhabitant of old growth forests. Similarly the Koala bear can only be found in the forest beaming with only Eucalyptus trees. The Cactus being a xerophyte can only be found arid areas. In contrast species termed as  generalists can survive in a range of conditions such as dandelion plant.Similarly most omnivores are generalists in nature for example the raccoon.