Ecological compression occurs over:
Ecological compression is an immediate or short-term contraction of a species’ realized niche in response to competitors. Individuals alter behavior, habitat use, or diet within their existing capacities, and the change can reverse when the competitor disappears. Because no heritable evolutionary change is required, the process operates over ecological timescales—within lifetimes or across a few population cycles. Character displacement, in contrast, involves natural selection and genetic divergence over evolutionary time. Geological timescales concern large Earth-history processes, while “gen
Ref: Ecology: Concepts and Applications, Molles, 9th Ed., Ch. 13