Ecological release

Ecological release is a population increase or expansion of a species' niche that happens when the species is freed from limiting factors in its environment, such as predation, competition, herbivory, or parasitism. It can occur when a population colonizes a new area with different environmental conditions than the one it came from, when predators, keystone species, diseases, or competing organisms are removed from a habitat, or as a result of human activity, whether the deliberate or accidental removal of a limiting species or the introduction of a new one. The concept grew out of David Lack's earlier work on interspecific competition, though the term ecological release itself was coined by Edward O. Wilson during his study of ant populations in Melanesia. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/