Vacant Niche - Potential Causes of Vacant Niches

Potential Causes of Vacant Niches

Vacant niches could potentially have several causes.

• Radical disturbances in a habitat: For example, droughts or forest fires can destroy a flora and fauna partially or completely. However, in such cases species suitable for the habitat usually survive in the neighbourhood and colonize the vacated niches, leading to a relatively fast re-establishment of the original conditions.

• Radical and long-lasting changes in the environment: such as ice ages.

• Evolutionary contingencies: suitable species did not evolve for usually unknown reasons, or niche segregation between pre-existing species created a novel niche vacancy.

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