How does the concept of niche differ from an organism's habitat?

Question

What is the difference between the fundamental niche and a realized niche? Thanks Alot for your help with this question.

Answer 1

An organisms fundamental niche is where it is able to live and survive.  The realized niche is where the organism actually lives.  For example: An animal might be able to live within an entire forest, but say because of other animals and noise from humans, it only lives in a small area of the forest.  So, the fundamental niche is the whole forest, and the realized niche is just the small part of the forest that the animal actually lives in.  I hope this helps and makes sense!