The Importance of all Creatures
Every
living thing has a special place
in its ecosystem called an ecological
niche or ecosystem service. These services are not restricted to animals, but
extend to plants,
and even bacteria. Nor is the ecological niche simply a place where a particular animal chooses to live. Certain
species have specific behaviours or attributes that directly affect the lives of other species in the ecosystem. For example, a honeybee
collects pollen from flowers to feed its larvae. In doing so, the bee
pollinates the flowers
thereby ensuring the reproduction of the plant. So, without the honeybee
many plants would have a hard time reproducing.
The ecosystem service also has to be thought of in terms of competition. Two animals
that perform the same service cannot live in the same ecosystem - there
are just not enough resources for both of them! Eventually one will
out-compete the other. All of the individual species that inhabit an ecosystem are part of a delicate
balance. If one species disappears in that area, through natural or man-made causes, another species
existing at low population levels will increase and fill that empty niche.
It might be easier to think of ecosystem services as competing shoe stores in a small town or village. If the two stores are selling the same shoes, one or both of them will eventually go out of business. However, if they sold slightly different types of shoes, there could be room for both in the town. The same idea applies with animals and plants in an ecosystem. If there are two similar species of insects, for example, one of them will either have to leave, or adapt to the environment to occupy a slightly different
niche, as one will prove more competitive in obtaining resources than
the other.
[Detritus
Food Webs][Grazing Food Webs][Biomass]
[The Importance of all Creatures][Species
Relationships]
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