Habitats

A habitat is the natural environment in which an organism or a population normally lives, grows, and thrives. It provides food, water, shelter, and other resources, and it encompasses physical conditions such as climate and terrain as well as biological interactions like predation and competition. A habitat supports a species by meeting its requirements for survival and reproduction; the term is often used alongside niche, which describes the role a species plays within the ecosystem, including its use of resources.

Habitats are broadly categorized into terrestrial and aquatic. Terrestrial habitats include forests, grasslands, deserts, wetlands, and tundra. Aquatic habitats include freshwater systems such as rivers, lakes, and wetlands, and marine systems such as oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries. Within a larger habitat, microhabitats refer to small-scale environments used by organisms for shelter or foraging.

Habitat characteristics include size and configuration, resource availability, structure (vegetation, soil, substrates), climate, and biotic interactions. The suitability of a habitat for a species depends on how these factors meet its life-history needs. Human activities can alter habitats through land-use change, pollution, climate change, and introduction of invasive species. Fragmentation reduces connectivity and genetic exchange, making populations more vulnerable.

Conservation aims to protect and restore habitats to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services. Strategies include protecting areas, maintaining or restoring natural processes, creating habitat corridors, and reducing pressures such as pollution and overexploitation. Restoration ecology seeks to recover degraded habitats by reestablishing native species and ecological functions.

Well-known habitats include tropical rainforests, temperate deciduous forests, grasslands, deserts, wetlands, and various marine and freshwater environments such as coral reefs and mangroves.