Question

Niche is -
(A)The range of temperature that the organism needs to live
(B)All the biological factors in the organism's environment
(C )The functional role played by the organism where it lives
(D)The physical space where an organism lives

Answer 1

Hint: Niche is defined as what function organisms have done and what is its position in the environment. Niche is related to that area where the organism spends most of its time and performs all it’s the day to day activities and functions there only.

Complete answer: Niche is The functional role played by the organism where it lives. The term niche was coined by J. Grinnell in the year 1917, in his paper "The niche relationships of the California Thrasher. A niche is defined as the habitat in which a species lives and its accompanying behavioral adaptations.

Additional Information: The majority of species stay together in a standard ecological niche, sharing behaviors, adaptations, and also the functional traits similar to the other closely related species within the same broad taxonomic class. It is seen that if an organism occupies a very specific niche it can be advantageous for it. In this way, they will encounter less interspecific competition. Such organisms are called niche specialists. But sometimes it is seen that specialist species that occupy a very narrow or highly specialized niche encounter problems when there is a sudden decline or change in biotic or abiotic factors, sometimes the organism is unable to adapt to the sudden change and it becomes highly vulnerable to population decrease or extinction. This is the reason why many species have evolved with the ability to thrive under a range of different environmental conditions, making use of a variety of resources; these are called niche generalists.

So, the correct answer is ‘The functional role played by the organism where it lives’.

Note: There are two important terms which everyone should know about. They are-
-Realized Niche – It is the actual amount of resources that an organism can utilize within an ecosystem.
-Fundamental Niche – It is the total range of environmental conditions that is suitable for an organism to exist when there are no limiting factors present.