Niche Strategies - Generalist vs Specialist

Niche Spectrum

between extreme generalist and extreme specialist

compare between generalists and specialists

SPECIALIST NICHE	GENERALIST NICHE
narrow fundamental niche	wide fundamental niche (wide range of resources)
survive in specific environment	wide range of environments
narrow tolerance limits	wide range of conditions
narrow range of resources	wide range of resources
equilibrium species (K)	good opportunistic species (R)
stable mature env	good at colonizing new env
hard to survive environmental changes	can survive env changes
vulnerable to extinction	evolve faster
not flexible enough to survive change	these are put under greater env pressures
xerophytes, panda, koala giraffe	humans, rats, weeds, racoons

Define generalist

occupy a wide fundamental niche and tolerate a wide variety of conditions

Define specialist

occupy a narrow fundamental niche and cannot tolerate a wide variety of conditions, utilize very few specific resources

One advantage of the generalist strategy

• can adapt to environmental changes, making them less likely to go extinct

one advantage of the specialist strategy

• advantage when conditions remain constant - better competitor