The unique environment or
set of ecological conditions in which a specific plant or animal
species occurs, and the function the organism serves within that
ecosystem.
In a general
meaning, a niche is a special place within the scheme of things.
It sometimes denotes the function or position of a thing within
a structure.
In ecology a niche is the role of an organism within its
environment and community (affecting its survival as a species),
the ecological opportunities it exploits and its adaptive
response to that environment. Includes nutrition, where it
lives, when it’s active and its interaction with other living
things.
Practically a niche is the physical and functional "address" of
an organism within an ecosystem (the special area with special
conditions that supplies a species with factors necessary for
its survival) or the life style of an organism, where a living
thing is found and what it does there.
Each organism has a specific role (or job) referred to as its
niche, and two species are not expected to share the same exact
niche for long.
