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<blockquote data-quote="DrunkonDuty" data-source="post: 6004227" data-attributes="member: 54364">Big question, many variables to consider. &nbsp;Some monsters don't take up a big ecological niche. eg.: a tomb filled with undead. They just hide there in the dark, waiting for fools to come within their reach. The tomb takes no niche than the physical space it occupies.&nbsp;Others may happily overlap. eg.: A forest is home to a few treants and some dryads; a tribe of forest dwelling orcs and myconids who live in the shallow caves that dot the forest. None of these are competing for the same food sources. The orcs could compete with the tree folk and the fungus folk for living space but for purposes of my example these ones aren't.&nbsp;But throw in the sudden appearance of a dragon. The orcs are suddenly going to be very interested in living somewhere that dragon can't easily reach and begin to fight with the myconids for cave dwellings. They will also compete with the dragon for food in the form of game animals.&nbsp;Let's say a purple worm burrows its way into the mix (bugs bunny style). Those caves become very dangerous. It's a bad time to be an orc or a myconid. (The myconids may not be preferred dragon chow but they die in bright sunlight.)&nbsp;Mmmmm... The treants and dryads are fine so far. Neither dragons nor purple worms want to eat them. So, to put pressure on them: the orcs, in desperation, begin cutting down lots of trees to fortify and shore up their new caves. &nbsp;Large game begins to flee the area. Both the dragon and the orcs begin looking toward the human farms for food.&nbsp;I guess that's my way of saying &quot;It depends...&quot;&nbsp;Cheers.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DrunkonDuty, post: 6004227, member: 54364"] Big question, many variables to consider. Some monsters don't take up a big ecological niche. eg.: a tomb filled with undead. They just hide there in the dark, waiting for fools to come within their reach. The tomb takes no niche than the physical space it occupies. Others may happily overlap. eg.: A forest is home to a few treants and some dryads; a tribe of forest dwelling orcs and myconids who live in the shallow caves that dot the forest. None of these are competing for the same food sources. The orcs could compete with the tree folk and the fungus folk for living space but for purposes of my example these ones aren't. But throw in the sudden appearance of a dragon. The orcs are suddenly going to be very interested in living somewhere that dragon can't easily reach and begin to fight with the myconids for cave dwellings. They will also compete with the dragon for food in the form of game animals. Let's say a purple worm burrows its way into the mix (bugs bunny style). Those caves become very dangerous. It's a bad time to be an orc or a myconid. (The myconids may not be preferred dragon chow but they die in bright sunlight.) Mmmmm... The treants and dryads are fine so far. Neither dragons nor purple worms want to eat them. So, to put pressure on them: the orcs, in desperation, begin cutting down lots of trees to fortify and shore up their new caves. Large game begins to flee the area. Both the dragon and the orcs begin looking toward the human farms for food. I guess that's my way of saying "It depends..." Cheers. [/QUOTE]

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