scholarly journals Pulsed resource availability changes dietary niche breadth and partitioning between generalist rodent consumers

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (18) ◽  
pp. 10681-10693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan B. Stephens ◽  
Erik A. Hobbie ◽  
Thomas D. Lee ◽  
Rebecca J. Rowe
Keyword(s):  
Resource Availability ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Dietary Niche

scholarly journals Morphology and stable isotope analysis demonstrate different structuring of bat communities in rainforest and savannah habitats

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 180849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ara Monadjem ◽  
Adam Kane ◽  
Peter Taylor ◽  
Leigh R. Richards ◽  
Grant Hall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Species Packing ◽  
Dietary Niche ◽  
The One ◽  
Ellipse Area

Bats play important ecological roles in tropical systems, yet how these communities are structured is still poorly understood. Our study explores the structure of African bat communities using morphological characters to define the morphospace occupied by these bats and stable isotope analysis to define their dietary niche breadth. We compared two communities, one in rainforest (Liberia) and one in savannah (South Africa), and asked whether the greater richness in the rainforest was due to more species ‘packing’ into the same morphospace and trophic space than bats from the savannah, or some other arrangement. In the rainforest, bats occupied a larger area in morphospace and species packing was higher than in the savannah; although this difference disappeared when comparing insectivorous bats only. There were also differences in morphospace occupied by different foraging groups (aerial, edge, clutter and fruitbat). Stable isotope analysis revealed that the range of δ 13 C values was almost double in rainforest than in savannah indicating a greater range of utilization of basal C 3 and C 4 resources in the former site, covering primary productivity from both these sources. The ranges in δ 15 N, however, were similar between the two habitats suggesting a similar number of trophic levels. Niche breadth, as defined by either standard ellipse area or convex hull, was greater for the bat community in rainforest than in savannah, with all four foraging groups having larger niche breadths in the former than the latter. The higher inter-species morphospace and niche breadth in forest bats suggest that species packing is not necessarily competitive. By employing morphometrics and stable isotope analysis, we have shown that the rainforest bat community packs more species in morphospace and uses a larger niche breadth than the one in savannah.

scholarly journals Diet Composition and Feeding Strategies of the Stone Marten (Martes foina) in a Typical Mediterranean Ecosystem

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios E. Bakaloudis ◽  
Christos G. Vlachos ◽  
Malamati A. Papakosta ◽  
Vasileios A. Bontzorlos ◽  
Evangelos N. Chatzinikos
Keyword(s):  
Diet Composition ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Interference Competition ◽  
Mediterranean Ecosystem ◽  
Feeding Strategies ◽  
Stone Marten ◽  
Martes Foina ◽  
Dietary Niche ◽  
Individual Specialisation ◽  
The Individual

Stone martens (Martes foina) are documented as generalist throughout their distributional range whose diet composition is affected by food availability. We tested if this occurs and what feeding strategies it follows in a typical Mediterranean ecosystem in Central Greece by analysing contents from 106 stomachs, seasonally collected from three different habitats during 2003–2006. Seasonal variation in diet and feeding strategies was evident and linked to seasonal nutritional requirements, but possibly imposed by strong interference competition and intraguild predation. Fleshy fruits and arthropods predominated in the diet, but also mammals and birds were frequently consumed. An overall low dietary niche breadth (BA=0.128) indicated a fruit specialization tendency. A generalised diet occurred in spring with high individual specialisation, whereas more animal-type prey was consumed than fruits. A population specialization towards fruits was indicated during summer and autumn, whereas insects were consumed occasionally by males. In those seasons it switched to more clumped food types such as fruits and insects. In winter it selectively exploited both adult and larvae insects and partially fruits overwinter on plants. The tendency to consume particular prey items seasonally reflected both the population specialist behaviour and the individual flexibility preyed on different food resources.

scholarly journals Drought but not population density influences dietary niche breadth in white-tailed deer in a semiarid environment

Ecosphere ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. art162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald J. Folks ◽  
Kory Gann ◽  
Timothy E. Fulbright ◽  
David G. Hewitt ◽  
Charles A. DeYoung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Semiarid Environment ◽  
Dietary Niche

Optimal foraging constrains macroecological patterns: body size and dietary niche breadth in lizards

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 670-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel C. Costa ◽  
Laurie J. Vitt ◽  
Eric R. Pianka ◽  
Daniel O. Mesquita ◽  
Guarino R. Colli
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Optimal Foraging ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Dietary Niche

Niche Breadth, Resource Availability, and Inference

Ecology ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 1675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric P. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Resource Availability ◽  
Niche Breadth

Observations on feeding habits of the common dolphinfish, Coryphaena hippurus (Linnaeus 1758) from the western Bay of Bengal

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Shubhadeep Ghosh ◽  
Satishkumar Mamidi ◽  
Manas Hoshalli Munivenkatappa ◽  
Prathibha Rohit ◽  
Abdussamad Eruppakkottil Median ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bay Of Bengal ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Feeding Habits ◽  
Weight Ratio ◽  
Primary Study ◽  
Feeding Intensity ◽  
Coryphaena Hippurus ◽  
Dietary Niche ◽  
Western Bay Of Bengal

Coryphaena hippurus is a large pelagic species and constitutes an important by-catch in drift gillnet, trolling and long-line fishing gears operated along the Bay of Bengal, northeastern Indian Ocean. The present study, first from the region, is aimed at deciphering the feeding dynamics from 1150 individuals collected from 2017 to 2019. 32.17% of the fishes had empty stomachs or was with food traces, 45.57% had partially-full stomachs and 22.26% had full stomachs. The feeding intensity was inferred through stomach filling and predator-prey weight ratio, which was higher in May and lower in January, and increasing as increase in the fish size. Coryphaena hippurus is considered a piscivorous pelagic predator as pelagic teleosts contribute more than half of the prey species. Major prey species were big-eye scad (27.3%), squid (10.3%), crabs (9.3%), Indian mackerel (7.2%), Indian scad (5.9%), whitebaits (5.7%) and sardines (5.4%). Scads and crabs were abundantly preyed during summer and winter, while clupeids and engraulids in monsoon; however, no significant variations were observed in prey composition between sizes. Trophic Level was 4.22 ± 0.15 and Levins Standardized Niche Breadth Index was 0.30. Dietary niche breadth was higher during summer (0.48) and monsoon (0.33) and in fishes measuring 60.0–74.9 cm (0.51) and below 45.0 cm (0.48) indicating generalised feeding. This primary study from Bay of Bengal is the first comprehensive report on trophodynamics for the species and would contribute to its management using trophic interactions.

scholarly journals Spatial distribution and dietary niche breadth of the leopard Panthera pardus (Carnivora: Felidae) in the northeastern Himalayan region of Pakistan

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 585-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faraz AKRIM ◽  
Tariq MAHMOOD ◽  
Muhammad Sajid NADEEM ◽  
Shaista ANDLEEB ◽  
Siddiqa QASIM
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Himalayan Region ◽  
Panthera Pardus ◽  
Dietary Niche
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