There was a point I missed on my latest blog (see Friday, July 17, 2015), which regarded water striders and six-spotted fishing spiders. Both those invertebrates have land relatives, so why do they have watery niches?
It could be long ago competition for space and food with their land relatives pushed water striders and six-spotted fishing spiders into water habitats. There both found an open niche, a different niche for each species, they could exploit without competition. No other kinds of insects do exactly what water striders do to survive and no other types of spiders do what fishing spiders do to live.
In time, striders and fishing spiders became better adapted to their respective niches through changes in their bodily structures. Striders' feet became longer and better suited for skating across the water's surface without breaking through it. That insect's weight was better distributed so it didn't break the surface tension. And the fishing spiders' long legs adapted to feeling vibrations of struggling invertebrates on the surface of the water, as the spiders' relatives feel struggling prey in their webs.
All species of life have special adaptations, they perfected through many generations, to work efficiently in a particular niche, one that no other species can quite fill as well. And, in fact, I would say most every niche on Earth is filled by some kind of life. And every niche that ever will be that we don't know about yet will be utilized by some species of life. It is an exciting, ever-changing world we live in.
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