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Individualised niches: an integrative conceptual framework across behaviour, ecology, and evolution
Oliver Krüger1,2, Jaime Anaya-Rojas2,3, Mitja Back2,4
1Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Morgenbreede 45, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany.
Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
|February 18, 2026
Summary
Individual differences drive major shifts in animal behaviour, ecology, and evolution. We propose the
Area of Science:
- Organismal biology
- Evolutionary biology
- Ecology
- Animal behaviour
Background:
- Individual variation is increasingly recognized as central in animal behaviour (personalities), ecology (niche specialization), and evolutionary biology (phenotype plasticity).
- Recent research highlights dynamic 'fitness seascapes' where individual fitness depends on genotype-environment interactions.
- The distinction between ecological and evolutionary timescales is blurring, necessitating integrated frameworks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a unified conceptual framework integrating individual variation across behavior, ecology, and evolution.
- To introduce the concept of the 'individualized niche' as a novel theoretical tool.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual synthesis of recent advances in animal behavior, ecology, and evolutionary biology.
- Integration of niche and fitness concepts to form a new theoretical framework.
Main Results:
- The concept of individualization has spurred progress but lacks cross-disciplinary integration.
- The proposed 'individualized niche' merges niche and fitness concepts, offering new explanatory power.
Conclusions:
- A unified framework is needed to address individual variation across disciplines.
- The 'individualized niche' concept provides a powerful new lens for understanding ecological and evolutionary processes.
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