Competition and resource breadth shape niche variation and overlap in multiple trophic dimensions

Autor(es)

Costa-Pereira, Raul ^{[1, 2, 3, 4]} ; Araujo, Marcio S. ^[3] ; Souza, Franco L. ^[5] ; Ingram, Travis ^[4]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] McMaster Univ, Hamilton, ON - Canada

^[2] Univ Estadual Paulista UNESP, Programa Posgrad Ecol & Biodiversidade, Rio Claro - Brazil

^[3] Univ Estadual Paulista UNESP, Inst Biociencias, Rio Claro - Brazil

^[4] Univ Otago, Dept Zool, POB 56, Dunedin 9054 - New Zealand

^[5] Univ Fed Mato Grosso do Sul, Inst Biociencias, Campo Grande - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; v. 286, n. 1902 MAY 1 2019.
• Citações Web of Science: 2

Resumo

Competition plays a central role in the maintenance of biodiversity. A backbone of classic niche theory is that local coexistence of competitors is favoured by the contraction or divergence of species' niches. However, this effect should depend on the diversity of resources available in the local environment, particularly when resources vary in multiple ecological dimensions. Here, we investigated how available resource breadth (i.e. prey diversity) and competition together shape multidimensional niche variation (between and within individuals) and interspecific niche overlap in 42 populations of congeneric tropical frog species. We modelled realized niches in two key trophic dimensions (prey size and carbon stable isotopes) and sampled available food resources to quantify two-dimensional resource breadth. We found a 14-fold variation in multidimensional population niche width across populations, most of which was accounted for by within-individual diet variation. This striking variation was predicted by an interaction whereby individual niche breadth increased with resource breadth and decreased with the number of congeneric competitors. These ecological gradients also interact to influence the degree of niche overlap between species, which surprisingly decreased with population total niche width, providing novel insights on how similar species can coexist in local communities. Together, our results emphasize that patterns of exploitation of resources in multiple dimensions are driven by both competitive interactions and extrinsic factors such as local resource breadth. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 14/20924-5 - Revisitando o paradoxo da diversidade: a variação ecológica intraespecífica facilita a coexistência de espécies?
• Beneficiário: Raul Costa Pereira
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 10/15567-8 - Causas e consequências da especialização individual em Poecilia vivipara (Cyprinodontiformes, Poeciliidae)
• Beneficiário: Márcio Silva Araújo
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Jovens Pesquisadores
• Processo FAPESP: 17/20069-6 - A dimensionalidade da variação individual de nicho em espécies que coexistem
• Beneficiário: Raul Costa Pereira
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Doutorado