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Relationship between fundamental and realized ecological niches

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Abstract

The fundamental niche is formed as a result of evolution. In the state of evolutionary stasis, species undergo various deteriorations in the conditions of their existence, which interfere with counterbalance of the vectors of directional selection, which sustains this stasis. The unbalanced selection vectors induce the adaptations to extreme conditions of existence that are superfluous relative to the common conditions. The limits of tolerance and resistance to extreme ecological situations restrict the fundamental niche. Interspecific competition is not the cause of narrowing the obtained niche relative to the fundamental niche. In the cases when the competition intensity is sufficient to redistribute resources between competitors, it can restrict one or two parameters of the obtained niche according to the limited resources, but does not cover the overall multidimensional space of the obtained niche. The obtained niche is a part of fundamental niche, since populations of a species live under conditions that provide for their existence in a particular habitat. The achievement of only part of the adaptive potential of a species and its fundamental niche is sufficient for existence of this species under more or less suitable conditions.

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  1. Biological Faculty, Department of Biological Evolution, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia

    A. S. Severtsov

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Original Russian Text © A.S. Severtsov, 2012, published in Zhurnal Obshchei Biologii, 2012, Vol. 73, No. 5, pp. 323–333.

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Severtsov, A.S. Relationship between fundamental and realized ecological niches. Biol Bull Rev 3, 187–195 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079086413030080

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