Abstract: Ecological niche is the sum of all resources available to species. Study on the response of species niche to climate change is essential for understanding and conserving species diversity and stability. Biotic (e.g., inter and intraspecific competition, predatory interactions, and presence or absence of natural enemies) and abiotic factors (e.g., climate and human activities) can influence niche expansion of species, resulting in species invasion, morphological evolution, and other eco-evolutionary effects. Among the abiotic factors, climate change (especially temperature and precipitation) is the key factor to determine species niche. Carbon emission is the main driving factor of climate change. Carbon emission can influence the niche expansion of species through three processes: increasing CO₂ concentration, rising temperature, and changing frequency of extreme weather events. The expansion mechanisms mainly include climate-mediated change in tolerance, genetic variation, trait adaptation, and behavioral changes. We systematically summarized the phenomena, characteristics and influencing factors of niche expansion of species and clarified the main processes and mechanisms on species niche expansion caused by carbon emission. We prospected the future direction of species niche research, which has important guiding significance and application value for biodiversity conservation and the establishment and protection of nature reserves.

Key words: niche, ecological release, niche expansion of species, carbon emission, climate change