Feeding Strategies of Co-occurring Newt Species across Different Conditions of Syntopy: A Test of the 'Within-Population Niche Variation' Hypothesis
| Autor: | Luca Stellati, Marco Alberto Bologna, Luca Luiselli, Jennifer Mirabasso, Alessandra Maria Bissattini, Leonardo Vignoli |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | Mirabasso, Jennifer, Bissattini, Alessandra M., Bologna, Marco A., Luiselli, LUCA MARIA, Stellati, Luca, Vignoli, Leonardo |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Trituru
coexisting species Niche Population Zoology Generalist and specialist species Intraspecific competition education lcsh:QH301-705.5 Nature and Landscape Conservation Lissotriton education.field_of_study Ecology biology Community Ecological Modeling coexisting specie niche variation hypothesis biology.organism_classification Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) Triturus trophic niche Habitat lcsh:Biology (General) niche width community ecology |
| Zdroj: | Diversity, Vol 12, Iss 181, p 181 (2020) Diversity Volume 12 Issue 5 |
| ISSN: | 1424-2818 |
| Popis: | Intraspecific trait variation in generalist animals is widespread in nature, yet its effects on community ecology are not well understood. Newts are considered opportunistic feeders that may co-occur in different syntopic conditions and represent an excellent model for studying the role of individual feeding specialization in shaping the population dietary strategy. Here, we investigated the diet of three newt species from central Italy occurring in artificial habitats in different coexistence conditions to test the predictions of the niche width (NW) variation hypotheses. Population NW did not vary among species and between presence and absence of coexisting species. An overall positive relationship between individual specialization and population NW was observed. However, this pattern was disrupted by the condition of syntopy with newt populations showing an individual NW variation invariant with population NW in presence of coexisting species, whereas it was larger in populations occurring alone. The observed pattern of newt behavior was not consistent with any of the proposed scenarios. We found a consistent pattern with the degree of individual specialization being (1) size-dependent (specialized individuals increasing within larger sized species) and (2) assemblage-complexity-dependent (specialized individuals increasing in syntopic populations in comparison to singly populations). |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|