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ecological niche — English
Each organism in an ecosystem has a specific role to fulfil (see “ecology”). This task is called its ecological niche. Two or more organisms cannot occupy the same niche for long since competition will ensue and one or more organisms will be driven out of the niche, or will change to adapt (evolve) to fit the niche, or simply die out. Dung beetles are a good example of organisms that fulfil an indispensible ecological task in nature and that task cannot be executed by any other organisms. Recycling dung is their ecological niche. Bees are not often regarded as ecologically important, but their ecological niche (their ecological task) is pollination and without bees all life on Earth would be in jeopardy, as pointed out in Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in 1962 at the birth of the Environmental Movement. Her prophetic words are now (in 2013) becoming alarmingly true as a mass die-off of bees is evident in many regions of the world. Since approximately 2006, commercial bee-keepers in the US have been reporting a decline of bees in their hives. This so-called “colony-collapse disorder (CCD)” is currently the focus of an urgent research effort in the US. Bee-keepers blame it on the accumulation of pesticides, insecticides and herbicides in the environment, but scientists do not all agree that this is the sole cause of CCD. Certain results of research done by reputable scientists point to the micro-waves emitted by all the cellular phones (mobile phones) in the world as being the culprit of bee-hive decline. Apparently the micro-waves interfere with the bees’ navigation instincts and cause them to die in search of their ever-shrinking colonies. Whatever the reason, bee numbers are declining at an alarming rate all over the world. One cannot help but remember the slogan – often ascribed to Albert Einstein – that “if the bees disappear from the surface of the globe, man [sic] would have no more than four years to live”.
