BIO2014F

BIO2014F Principles of Ecology and Evolution module on Niche Theory

Lectures (22 April - 8 May 2025):

1. Introduction to Niche Theory
2. Defining the Niche
3. Population Growth and Density Dependence
4. Interspecific Competition and Coexistence
5. Coexistence and the Niche
6. Geographic Distributions and Niche modelling
7. Community Assembly
8. Trait-based Ecology
9. Niches and Evolution

You can access the lectures as PDF files here.

Readings

Stokstad, Erik. 2009. “On the Origin of Ecological Structure.” Science 326 (5949): 33–35. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.326_33.

• Accessible via Amathuba here

Leibold, Mathew, and Veronica F. Frans. 2025. “Re-Revisiting the Niche Concept,” April. https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/8978/. https://doi.org/10.32942/X2XH05

• Accessible via Amathuba here

Some concepts you should make sure to know (but there may be more):

• What are priority effects and how do they relate to species coexistence?
• What is the difference between fundamental and realised niches?
• What is the difference between niche breadth and niche overlap?
• What are the effect and response components of the niche according to Contempoary Niche Theory?
• Understand why ZNGIs can be depicted in the context of niche axes in addition to population numbers as for the Lotka-Volterra competition equations.