Organism-Environment Mutuality Epistemics, and the Concept of an Ecological Niche

The concept of an ecological niche (econiche) has been used in a variety of ways, some of which are incompatible with a relational or functional interpretation of the term. This essay seeks to standardize usage by limiting the concept to functional relations between organisms and their surroundings,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSynthese (Dordrecht) Vol. 65; no. 3; pp. 411 - 444
Main Author Alley, Thomas R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht D. Reidel Publishing Company 01.12.1985
D. Reidel Pub. Co., etc
Subjects
Alleys
Animal ecology
Ecological competition
Ecological genetics
Ecological niches
Ecological psychology
Ecosystems
Population ecology
Species
Synecology
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Summary:The concept of an ecological niche (econiche) has been used in a variety of ways, some of which are incompatible with a relational or functional interpretation of the term. This essay seeks to standardize usage by limiting the concept to functional relations between organisms and their surroundings, and to revise the concept to include epistemic relations. For most organisms, epistemics are a vital aspect of their functional relationships to their surroundings and, hence, a major determinant of their econiche. Rejecting the traditional dualism of organism and environment, an econiche is defined as the reciprocal (dual) of a functionally specified class of organisms (FSTU). From this perspective, an econiche necessarily implies a certain type of organism, and a class of functionally similar organisms implies a special econiche. The econiche concept is also discussed in relation to other ecological terms that reflect the distributional patterns of organisms, such as "habitat", and the concept of an "empty niche" is criticized.
ISSN:0039-7857
1573-0964
DOI:10.1007/BF00869278