Habitat

Few creatures make the ice shelves of Antarctica their habitat.

A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism.^[1][2] It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population.^[3]

A habitat is made up of physical factors such as soil, moisture, range of temperature, and availability of light as well as biotic factors such as the availability of food and the presence of predators. A habitat is not necessarily a geographic area—for a parasitic organism it is the body of its host or even a cell within the host's body.^{[citation needed]}

Microhabitat

A microhabitat is the small-scale physical requirements of a particular organism or population.^{[citation needed]}

Monotypic habitat

The monotypic habitat occurs in botanical and zoological contexts, and is a component of conservation biology. In restoration ecology of native plant communities or habitats, some invasive species create monotypic stands that replace and/or prevent other species, especially indigenous ones, from growing there. A dominant colonization can occur from retardant chemicals exuded, nutrient monopolization, or from lack of natural controls such as herbivores or climate, that keep them in balance with their native habitats. The yellow starthistle, Centaurea solstitialis, is a botanical monotypic-habitat example of this, currently dominating over 15,000,000 acres (61,000 km²) in California alone.^[4][5] The non-native freshwater zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, that colonizes areas of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, without its home-range predator control, is a zoological monotypic-habitat example. Even though its name may seem to imply simplicity as compared with polytypic habitats, the monotypic habitat can be complex.^[6]

See also

• Biotope
• Habitat conservation
• Habitat corridor
• Habitat fragmentation
• Marine habitats
• Habitat destruction: the loss of habitat

Notes and references

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article habitat.

• The dictionary definition of habitat at Wiktionary
• Media related to Habitats at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Biology Subdisciplines of Biology Anatomy Astrobiology Biochemistry Biogeography Biological classification Biomechanics Biophysics Bioinformatics Biostatistics Botany Cell biology Cellular microbiology Chemical biology Chronobiology Computational biology Conservation biology Developmental biology Ecology Epidemiology Epigenetics Evolutionary biology Genetics Genomics Histology Human biology Immunology Lipidology Marine biology Mathematical biology Microbiology Molecular biology Mycology Nanobiotechnology Neuroscience Nutrition Origin of life Paleontology Parasitology Pathology Pharmacology Physiology Quantum biology Systematics Systems biology Toxicology Zoology Hierarchy of Life Biosphere >  Ecosystem > Community (Biocoenosis) > Population >  Organism > Organ system > Organ > Tissue > Cell > Organelle > Molecule (Macromolecule · Biomolecule) > Atom Foundations of Biology Cell theory Ecology Energy Transformation Evolution Genetics Homeostasis Synthetic Biology Taxonomy Principles of Evolution Adaptation Genetic drift Gene flow Macroevolution Microevolution Mutation Natural selection Speciation Principles of Ecology Biodiversity Biological interaction Community Ecosystem Habitat Niche Population Dynamics Resources Principles of Molecular Biology Cell signalling Development Epigenetics Gene regulation Meiosis Mitosis Post-transcriptional modification Principles of Biochemistry Carbohydrates Lipids Metabolism Nucleic acids Photosynthesis Proteins Glossaries Botanical terms Ecological terms Plant morphology terms Category Portal

v t e Modelling ecosystems – trophic components General Abiotic component Abiotic stress Behaviour Biogeochemical cycle Biomass Biotic component Biotic stress Carrying capacity Competition Ecosystem Ecosystem ecology Ecosystem model Keystone species List of feeding behaviours Metabolic theory of ecology Productivity Producers Autotrophs Chemosynthesis Chemotrophs Foundation species Mixotrophs Myco-heterotrophy Mycotroph Organotrophs Photoheterotrophs Photosynthesis Photosynthetic efficiency Phototrophs Primary nutritional groups Primary production Consumers Apex predator Bacterivore Carnivores Chemoorganotroph Foraging Generalist and specialist species Intraguild predation Herbivores Heterotroph Heterotrophic nutrition Insectivore Mesopredator release hypothesis Omnivores Optimal foraging theory Predation Prey switching Decomposers Chemoorganoheterotrophy Decomposition Detritivores Detritus Microorganisms Archaea Bacteriophage Environmental microbiology Lithoautotroph Lithotrophy Microbial cooperation Microbial ecology Microbial food web Microbial intelligence Microbial loop Microbial mat Microbial metabolism Phage ecology Food webs Biomagnification Ecological efficiency Ecological pyramid Energy flow Food chain Trophic level Example webs Cold seeps Hydrothermal vents Intertidal Kelp forests Lakes North Pacific Subtropical Gyre Rivers San Francisco Estuary Soil Tide pool Processes Ascendency Bioaccumulation Cascade effect Climax community Competitive exclusion principle Consumer-resource systems Copiotrophs Dominance Ecological network Ecological succession Energy quality Energy Systems Language f-ratio Feed conversion ratio Feeding frenzy Mesotrophic soil Nutrient cycle Oligotroph Paradox of the plankton Trophic cascade Trophic mutualism Trophic state index Defense/counter Animal coloration Antipredator adaptations Camouflage Deimatic behaviour Herbivore adaptations to plant defense Mimicry Plant defense against herbivory Predator avoidance in schooling fish

v t e Modelling ecosystems – other components Population ecology Abundance Allee effect Depensation Ecological yield Effective population size Intraspecific competition Logistic function Malthusian growth model Maximum sustainable yield Overpopulation in wild animals Overexploitation Population cycle Population dynamics Population modeling Population size Predator–prey equations Recruitment Resilience Small population size Stability Species Biodiversity Density-dependent inhibition Ecological effects of biodiversity Ecological extinction Endemic species Flagship species Gradient analysis Indicator species Introduced species Invasive species Latitudinal gradients in species diversity Minimum viable population Neutral theory Occupancy-abundance relationship Population viability analysis Priority effect Rapoport's rule Relative abundance distribution Relative species abundance Species diversity Species homogeneity Species richness Species distribution Species-area curve Umbrella species Species interaction Antibiosis Biological interaction Commensalism Community ecology Ecological facilitation Interspecific competition Mutualism Storage effect Spatial ecology Biogeography Cross-boundary subsidy Ecocline Ecotone Ecotype Disturbance Edge effects Foster's rule Habitat fragmentation Ideal free distribution Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis Island biogeography Landscape ecology Landscape epidemiology Landscape limnology Metapopulation Patch dynamics r/K selection theory Source–sink dynamics Niche Ecological niche Ecological trap Ecosystem engineer Environmental niche modelling Guild Habitat Marine habitats Limiting similarity Niche apportionment models Niche construction Niche differentiation Other networks Assembly rules Bateman's principle Bioluminescence Ecological collapse Ecological debt Ecological deficit Ecological energetics Ecological indicator Ecological threshold Ecosystem diversity Emergence Extinction debt Kleiber's law Liebig's law of the minimum Marginal value theorem Thorson's rule Xerosere Other Allometry Alternative stable state Balance of nature Biological data visualization Constructal theory Ecocline Ecological economics Ecological footprint Ecological forecasting Ecological humanities Ecological stoichiometry Ecopath Ecosystem based fisheries Endolith Evolutionary ecology Functional ecology Industrial ecology Macroecology Microecosystem Natural environment Regime shift Systems ecology Theoretical ecology List of ecology topics