But this nice example of adaptive radiation — a single ancestor giving rise to an array of species all exploiting slightly different environmental niches — has been largely overlooked by biologists before now. (newscientist.com)
They can also involve modeling species observed environmental niches, or observed physiological processes. (en.wikipedia.org)
This increased the area of continental shelf, produced shallow seas, thereby also expanding the diversity of environmental niches in which animals could specialize and speciate. (fossilmuseum.net)