scholarly journals Marine subsidy promotes spatial and dietary niche variation in an omnivore, the Keen’s mouse ( Peromyscus keeni )

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie H. Davidson ◽  
Brian M. Starzomski ◽  
Rana El‐Sabaawi ◽  
Morgan D. Hocking ◽  
John D. Reynolds ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Niche Variation ◽  
Dietary Niche

Niche breadth in clonal and sexual fish (Poeciliopsis): a test of the frozen niche variation model

2001 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 1313-1318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa M Gray ◽  
Stephen C Weeks
Keyword(s):  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Gut Contents ◽  
Sympatric Populations ◽  
Clonal Population ◽  
Sexual Population ◽  
Dietary Breadth ◽  
Maintenance Of Sex ◽  
Dietary Choice ◽  
Niche Variation ◽  
Dietary Niche

The evolution and subsequent maintenance of sex has been debated for many years, and there are numerous aspects that remain poorly understood. When comparing sexual with asexual reproduction, there are many more apparent benefits to being asexual than sexual. The frozen niche variation (FNV) model describes how asexual clones can arise from a sexual population and how the two reproductive types can coexist. Herein we compared three sympatric populations of sexual and asexual fish (one sexual population, Poeciliopsis monacha, and two clonal populations, P. 2-monacha-lucida) to test the assumption of the FNV model that sexual populations have a broader dietary niche (as measured by gut contents analysis) than clonal populations. Individual sexual fish had similar dietary breadth when compared with clonal individuals. However, dietary breadth for sexual populations as a whole was broader than for either clonal population, indicating differences in between-individual dietary choice. Our results support the primary assumption of the FNV model and thereby provide a possible explanation for the maintenance of sexual reproduction in this clonal–sexual complex.

Feeding limitations in temperate anurans and the niche variation hypothesis

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl S. Cloyed ◽  
Perri K. Eason
Keyword(s):  
Individual Variation ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Rana Catesbeiana ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Diet Breadth ◽  
Niche Variation ◽  
Gape Size ◽  
Dietary Niche ◽  
Niche Variation Hypothesis ◽  
Traditional Approaches

The niche variation hypothesis (NVH) states that populations with wider niches are more phenotypically variable. The NVH has important ecological and evolutionary implications but has been controversial since its inception. Recent interpretations have supported the NVH by directly comparing among-individual diet variation with population dietary niche breadth. Traditional studies of the NVH focused on morphological traits as proxies of niche variation, with contradictory results. Gape-limited predators may be relatively likely to show effects of morphological variation on diet breadth because gape size can strongly limit diet. We used five anurans to test NVH predictions, including three true frogs, Rana catesbeiana, R. clamitans, and R. sphenocephala, and two toads, Anaxyrus americanus and A. fowleri. We combined recent and traditional approaches by comparing both individual variation in diet and variation in gape width with dietary niche breadth. We found support for the NVH within two species of the three true frogs but not for either toad species, a difference likely driven by greater strength of the feeding limitation caused by gape width in the frogs. Toads had higher gape width to snout-vent length ratios, reducing the strength of the feeding limitation imposed by gape width. We found strong support for the NVH among species; species with more among-individual variation in diet and species with more variation in gape width had broader niches. Our results highlight the circumstances under which the NVH is applicable and demonstrate an example in which the NVH is supported through both traditional and recent interpretations.

Dietary niche variation and its relationship to lizard population density

2017 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 285-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Novosolov ◽  
Gordon H. Rodda ◽  
Alison M. Gainsbury ◽  
Shai Meiri
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Niche Variation ◽  
Dietary Niche

scholarly journals Have Niche, Will Travel. New Means of Linking Diet and Ecomorphology Reveals Niche Conservatism in Freshwater Cottoid Fishes

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T J Buser ◽  
D L Finnegan ◽  
A P Summers ◽  
M A Kolmann
Keyword(s):  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Freshwater Species ◽  
Evolutionary Transitions ◽  
Adaptive Diversification ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Ecological Evolution ◽  
Jaw Apparatus ◽  
Cottoid Fishes ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
Dietary Niche

Synopsis Evolutionary transitions between habitats have been catalysts for some of the most stunning examples of adaptive diversification, with novel niches and new resources providing ecological opportunity for such radiations. In aquatic animals, transitions from saltwater to freshwater habitats are rare, but occur often enough that in the Neotropics for example, marine-derived fishes contribute noticeably to regional ichthyofaunal diversity. Here, we investigate how morphology has evolved in a group of temperate fishes that contain a marine to freshwater transition: the sculpins (Percomorpha; Cottoidea). We devised a novel method for classifying dietary niche and relating functional aspects of prey to their predators. Coupled with functional measurements of the jaw apparatus in cottoids, we explored whether freshwater sculpins have fundamentally changed their niche after invading freshwater (niche lability) or if they retain a niche similar to their marine cousins (niche conservatism). Freshwater sculpins exhibit both phylogeographical and ecological signals of phylogenetic niche conservatism, meaning that regardless of habitat, sculpins fill similar niche roles in either saltwater or freshwater. Rather than competition guiding niche conservatism in freshwater cottoids, we argue that strong intrinsic constraints on morphological and ecological evolution are at play, contra to other studies of diversification in marine-derived freshwater fishes. However, several intertidal and subtidal sculpins as well as several pelagic freshwater species from Lake Baikal show remarkable departures from the typical sculpin bauplan. Our method of prey categorization provides an explicit, quantitative means of classifying dietary niche for macroevolutionary studies, rather than relying on somewhat arbitrary means used in previous literature.

scholarly journals Isotopic niche variation in Tasmanian devils Sarcophilus harrisii with progression of devil facial tumor disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Bell ◽  
Menna E. Jones ◽  
Calum X. Cunningham ◽  
Manuel Ruiz‐Aravena ◽  
David G. Hamilton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Isotopic Niche ◽  
Niche Variation ◽  
Devil Facial Tumor Disease ◽  
Sarcophilus Harrisii

Intraspecific isotopic niche variation in broad-snouted caiman (Caiman latirostris)

2013 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiago S. Marques ◽  
Neliton R.F. Lara ◽  
Luis A.B. Bassetti ◽  
Carlos I. Piña ◽  
Plínio B. Camargo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Isotopic Niche ◽  
Niche Variation

scholarly journals Dietary niche overlap of free-roaming dingoes and domestic dogs: the role of human-provided food

2014 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 392-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Newsome ◽  
Guy-Anthony Ballard ◽  
Mathew S. Crowther ◽  
Peter J. S. Fleming ◽  
Christopher R. Dickman
Keyword(s):  
Niche Overlap ◽  
Domestic Dogs ◽  
Dietary Niche
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