Which of the following factors could be important in determining a species' fundamental niche? Check all that apply.

Question

_____  salinity
_____  presence of a commensalist 
_____  soil type
_____  presence of a predator/parasite
_____  seasonal temperatures

Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
What type of thinking is required?
 
Gather Content:
What do you already know about fundamental niches and what factors influence the niche? What other information is related to the question? 

Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
 
Reflection on Process:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
 

Answer 1

__X__  salinity
_____  presence of a commensalist 
__X__  soil type
_____  presence of a predator/parasite
__X__  seasonal temperatures

Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
The question requires knowledge about fundamental niches and the factors that affect the fundamental niche.
What type of thinking is required?
This is an application question. You will need to apply your knowledge of ecological niches to select the correct answers. In this question you need to select all of the factors that could influence the fundamental niche of a particular species. This is a check all that apply question, there is more than 1 correct answer.
 
Gather Content:
What do you already know about fundamental niches and what factors influence the niche? What other information is related to the question? 
The niche is a portion of a particular habitat that is suitable for the species being considered. The fundamental niche represents all of the possible habitats that could be occupied by the species in question without taking other species into account. The realized niche is the actual portion of the habitat where the species is found. The realized niche is always smaller because biotic factors (interactions with other living organisms) restrict the size of the realized niche.

Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
Salinity, soil type, and temperature are all example of factors that influence the fundamental niche. Parasites, predators and commensals would all be factors that could potentially influence the realized niche but not the fundamental niche.
 
Reflection on Process:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
In this question you needed to apply your knowledge of ecological niches to determine which factors would most likely influence the fundamental niche. Did you understand that some factors might affect a realized niche but not the fundamental niche?