Put simply, a niche is the ecological role a species plays in its environment. Think about the classic backyard birds and the niches they occupy — American robins hop around on the ground hunting for worms, downy woodpeckers drill holes in trees extracting insects and house finches crack thick seeds in their powerful bills. If you live somewhere like the tropics, the increased availability of resources leads to a higher quantity of occupiable niches. With more available niches, more species can coexist. And once two species start to utilize the same resource, they attempt to avoid competition by specializing on one part of that resource over years of evolution, effectively dividing — or partitioning — that niche. (For example, a hummingbird eats the nectar of a flower, while a tanager eats the insects on or around the flower.) This is one of the leading theories explaining the marvelously diverse array of species present in these ecosystems. Twenty species of shorebirds can happily coexist on the same mudflat because their unique bill lengths and foraging strategies target different invertebrates living just below the surface. Mixed flocks exceeding 30 species of Amazonian songbirds can hang out in a fig tree together gulping down insects, flowers, berries, fruit and lizards, among other things. It makes me wonder — do we, in our modern, civilized world, partition niches too?
Modern human societal structure differs from that of the natural world in that we compete for jobs instead of resources. However, the end game is extremely similar. Birds compete for resources so that they can reproduce and survive, and we compete for jobs in order to secure economic stability, and subsequently, support our families. With this framework, we absolutely partition niches. Think of all the career options that exist today, and the various pathways through which to approach them. Now, think back to all the things your grandparents told you about how times were simpler back when they were your age. As much as I hate admitting it, they were right — majoring in computer science or Russian weren’t options because those economic niches hadn’t been developed yet. With an ever-increasing population and subsequently higher competition for traditional jobs, people suddenly needed ways to generate an income, which led to specialization in career paths. In this sense, innovation and modern technology are simply a product of niche partitioning.
Interestingly, our niche partitioning occurs entirely within the realm of one species, us humans, instead of how it occurs naturally in the wild — between species. This distinction emphasizes our remarkable ability to occupy a range of niches, and introduces the concept of a “realized niche,” or the niche a species actually occupies in an environment, which can be different from the niche it is supposed to occupy in an ideal setting. You may graduate with a degree in economics, but after 2 years in the field, realize you have a calling as an ornithologist. This is an example of how your realized niche can shift through time, and provides some insight to the overall process of life. What is the goal of life, you ask? Find your niche!
