Question

The cormorant and shag are two fishing-eating, cliff-nesting birds that are both able to live in the same area because they are able to occupy:

Option A: the same habitat and same niche.
Option B: the same niche but different habitat.
Option C: the same habitat but different niches.
Option D: neither the same habitat nor the same niche.

Answer 1

The cormorant and shag are able to coexist in the same area because they occupy the same habitat but have different niches, utilizing their adaptations to exploit different resources and avoid direct competition.

Step-by-step explanation:

The cormorant and shag, both cliff-nesting, fish-eating birds, are able to coexist in the same area because they occupy the same habitat but different niches. This means they share a living environment but have adapted to use different resources within that environment to minimize direct competition for food and nesting spaces. Similar to how a penguin uses its wings to swim and a seagull uses its wings to fly, the cormorant and shag have differing feeding strategies which allow them to thrive alongside each other without directly competing for the same food sources.

When species occupy the same habitat but different niches, they can coexist by utilizing different aspects of the habitat, thus avoiding the type of competition that would drive one species to local extinction, a concept known in ecology as competitive exclusion. Having specialized beak adaptations as seen in birds, where the beak shape correlates to the type of food consumed, typifies the specialization that allows different bird species to occupy diverse niches within overlapping habitats.