Experiments on Niches

Experimentally determining the true fundamental niche of a species is difficult due to the numerous niche dimensions that can be biologically important for a species to survive and reproduce. In order to accurately determine the boundaries of a niche, it is important to plan experiments that test values for each variable that reach the upper and lower limit of the species survival. Additionally, testing many variable values between the upper and lower limits as well as multiple combinations of variables will allow for the complete determination of the fundamental niche shape that can be visualized as a hypervolume.