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(ecology) the status of an organism within its environment and community (affecting its survival as a species).An area of the environment that tends to suit a species long term survival and welfare. Factors in the external environment of an organism cause abiotic stress, which prevent the species population from exploding in numbers, and according to the laws of natural selection, those in a population least suited to their environment are less likely to survive. When an ecological Niche is overpopulated, this theory of natural selection will come into play, where those most suited to the ecological Niche will most likely survive and pass on their genetic information and contribute to the continually adapting gene pool of the species.