By changing their niche, what can organisms do to avoid competition?

Changing their niche allows organisms to adapt and thus minimize competition with others for limited resources. By altering their eating habits, organisms can utilize different food sources that may not be exploited by others in the same ecosystem. For example, if two species are competing for the same type of food, one species might adapt by shifting to consume different types of plants or animals, thereby reducing direct competition and allowing both to thrive in the environment.

When organisms modify their foraging strategies, they can effectively occupy a different role within their habitat, leading to a more stable ecosystem. This adaptation could include feeding at different times of the day, targeting different prey, or even utilizing alternative resources that reduce overlap with competing species.

The other options, while they might be beneficial in different contexts, do not directly address the idea of changing a niche to avoid competition in the same way altering eating habits does. For instance, increasing reproductive rates could lead to more individuals competing for the same resources, and expanding habitat range might still place organisms in competition if they overlap. Developing stronger defenses could help an organism protect itself, but does not necessarily change its role in the ecological community and how it interacts with competitors.