niches

Although hematophages can cause humans to get sick, that does not mean they don’t fill valuable niches in nature.

When the big dinosaurs were felled 66 million years ago, courtesy of a rock from space some 9 miles wide, it was these “placental” mammals that were among the fastest to claim the ecological niches that were suddenly open and available to them.

He added that while there have always been niches of people with extreme views, they have tended to remain in that niche.

In modern ecosystems, that process has led closely related birds of paradise to develop different displays while sharing ecological niches.

Shelves and niches aren’t the only options.