Science glossary film: Niche

The position or role of a species within a particular ecosystem. Each species occupies its own unique niche within a habitat, reducing the competition for living space, water, food and shelter. In this forest ecosystem, each species of honeycreeper bird has its own way of finding food – some feed on seeds, some feed on grubs inside dead wood, and others feed on nectar.

Each species occupies its own unique niche within a habitat, reducing the competition for living space, water, food and shelter. In this forest ecosystem, each species of honeycreeper bird has its own way of finding food – some feed on seeds, some feed on grubs inside dead wood, and others feed on nectar.