ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2010
Modelling the ecological niche from functional traits.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of temperature on mating behaviour and mating success: A meta-analysis.The Journal of animal ecology · 2022Pooled it
- Abiotic variables drive different aspects of fish community trait variation and species richness across the continental United States.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- Co-occurring congeners coordinate drought and shade tolerance traits along gradients of canopy openness.Oecologia · 2026Article
- Functional group classification using consensus clustering.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Fern Gametophytes Exhibit Distinct Patterns of Niche Expansion and Convergence in Ecophysiological Functioning.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- A city-based framework identifies wild Hedychium species suitable for near-nature urban landscaping in China.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- An integrated social-ecological-evolutionary-phenotypic (SEEP) approach to understanding animal responses to urbanization.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Challenging 10 misconceptions in conservation physiology.Conservation physiology · 2026Article
- Spatial variation and individual specialization of stickleback diet in relation to trophic morphology.Aquatic ecology · 2026Article
- Energy as a Common Currency for Understanding Embodied Evolution.Cyborg and bionic systems (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Review
- Microbial niches at the One Health interface: linking environmental factors, biomes, and disease dynamics.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Climate Change Favors African Malaria Vector Mosquitoes.Global change biology · 2025Article
- Nest Predators and Reproductive Success in the Chinese Francolin (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Rethinking composite quantification by capturing biological and ecological diversity across multiple dimensions.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Harnessing Nutritional Niches to Explore Fungus-Animal Symbioses.Ecology letters · 2025Review
- DNA Metabarcoding Illuminates Seasonal Dietary Pattern and Niche Partitioning by Three Sympatric Herbivores.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Rapid adaptation of cellular metabolic rate to the MicroRNA complements of mammals and its relevance to the evolution of endothermy.iScience · 2024Article
- Biophysical models accurately characterize the thermal energetics of a small invasive passerine bird.iScience · 2023Article
- Integrating animal physiology into the adaptive management of restored landscapes.Environmental management · 2023Article
- Understanding the Geographic Patterns of Closely-Related Species ofPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The niche concept is central to ecology but is often depicted descriptively through observing associations between organisms and habitats. Here, we argue for the importance of mechanistically modelling niches based on functional traits of organisms and explore the possibilities for achieving this through the integration of three theoretical frameworks: biophysical ecology (BE), the geometric framework for nutrition (GF) and dynamic energy budget (DEB) models. These three frameworks are fundamentally based on the conservation laws of thermodynamics, describing energy and mass balance at the level of the individual and capturing the prodigious predictive power of the concepts of 'homeostasis' and 'evolutionary fitness'. BE and the GF provide mechanistic multi-dimensional depictions of climatic and nutritional niches, respectively, providing a foundation for linking organismal traits (morphology, physiology, behaviour) with habitat characteristics. In turn, they provide driving inputs and cost functions for mass/energy allocation within the individual as determined by DEB models. We show how integration of the three frameworks permits calculation of activity constraints, vital rates (survival, development, growth, reproduction) and ultimately population growth rates and species distributions. When integrated with contemporary niche theory, functional trait niche models hold great promise for tackling major questions in ecology and evolutionary biology.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.