Ecological Niches

Linking Classical and Contemporary Approaches

Jonathan M. Chase, Mathew A. Leibold

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780226101804, 9780226101798
• eBook ISBN: 9780226101811
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Why do species live where they live? What determines the abundance and diversity of species in a given area? What role do species play in the functioning of entire ecosystems? All of these questions share a single core concept—the ecological niche. Although the niche concept has fallen into disfavor among ecologists in recent years, Jonathan M. Chase and Mathew A. Leibold argue that the niche is an ideal tool with which to unify disparate research and theoretical approaches in contemporary ecology.

Chase and Leibold define the niche as including both what an organism needs from its environment and how that organism's activities shape its environment. Drawing on the theory of consumer-resource interactions, as well as its graphical analysis, they develop a framework for understanding niches that is flexible enough to include a variety of small- and large-scale processes, from resource competition, predation, and stress to community structure, biodiversity, and ecosystem function. Chase and Leibold's synthetic approach will interest ecologists from a wide range of subdisciplines.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• One - Introduction: history, context, and purpose
• Two - Revising the niche concept: definitions and mechanistic models
• Three - Comparing classical and contemporary niche theory
• Four - Designs and limitations of empirical approaches to the niche
• Five - Incorporating biological complexities
• Six - Environmental variability in time and space
• Seven - Species sorting in communities
• Eight - Community succession, assembly, and biodiversity
• Nine - Niche relations within ecosystems
• Ten - The evolutionary niche
• Eleven - Conclusions
• Literature cited
• Index