Question

Differentiate between habitat and niche.

Answer 1

Hint:Habitat is a set of environmental factors around any organism that helps the organisms to survive. Niche is the property of an organism.

Complete answer:
Ecology is the study of plant and animal physiology which helps to understand how an organism is adapted to the environment so that it can not only survive but can also multiply in the environment. The organisms live in specific habitats and how any organism actually lives in the habitat is called a niche.(In easier words, habitat is the address and niche is the profession of the organism).

The difference between Habitat and Niche is as follows:

Habitat	Niche
Habitat is an area or a place where an organism lives so that it can interact with the environmental factors.	Niche is related to the organism. It explains how an organism lives in any habitat. It also includes diet, shelter of organism, etc
Habitat has many niches.	There are no such components here
Temperature, rainfall, light and soil.	In niche, flow of energy is the major factor seen
It has many species within it.	It consists of only one species
It is nor species specific	It is species specific
It is a place	It is an activity
The habitats can be arboreal, aerial, terrestrial, aquatic etc	It is spatial, trophic and multidimensional

Habitat has many species, but if every species creates its unique niche, it will be easier for them to survive in any habitat as there will be less competition among resources available.

Note:IThe term ‘niche’ is by Grinell. The niche can be Fundamental and Realistic. Fundamental is the niche where competitors are absent. Realistic niche is the presence of competitors for the resources available.