scholarly journals Ecological niche partitioning within a large predator guild in a nutrient-limited estuary

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 934-953 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Matich ◽  
Jerald S. Ault ◽  
Ross E. Boucek ◽  
David R. Bryan ◽  
Kirk R. Gastrich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Large Predator ◽  
Predator Guild

scholarly journals Temporal Variation in the Niche Partitioning of Lake Michigan Salmonines as it Relates to Alewife Abundance and Size Structure.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin A. Turschak ◽  
Charles R. Bronte ◽  
Sergiusz J. Czesny ◽  
Brandon S. Gerig ◽  
Austin Happel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Lake Michigan ◽  
Nitrogen Isotopes ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Niche Overlap ◽  
Isotopic Niche ◽  
Resource Gradient

Stable isotope analyses offer a useful means for quantifying ecological niche dimensions, though few studies have examined isotopic response of an ecological community with respect to resource gradients such as fluctuations in prey availability. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes were measured for Lake Michigan salmonines and their prey collected from 2014 to 2016. Bayesian ellipse and mixing model analyses were used to quantify isotopic niche characteristics and diets, respectively, among species and years. During the three-year study period, abundance and size structure of preferred alewife prey changed substantially and offered an opportunity to explore predator isotopic niche response and diet shifts along a prey resource gradient. Results suggested increased reliance on alewives, especially small alewives, over the study period and were consistent with greater availability of this prey. However, differential use of alewife size classes and alternative prey sources by salmonine predators was apparent, which suggested possible resource partitioning. Characterization of ecological niche overlap using stable isotopes likely requires consideration of shared resource availability as well as specific prey and habitat preferences.

scholarly journals Strangers in a strange land: Ecological dissimilarity to metatherian carnivores may partly explain early colonization of South America by Cyonasua-group procyonids

Paleobiology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 598-611
Author(s):  
Russell K. Engelman ◽  
Darin A. Croft
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Competitive Exclusion ◽  
Dietary Habits ◽  
South American ◽  
Water Dispersal ◽  
Direct Competition ◽  
Successful Establishment ◽  
Predator Guild

AbstractIt was once thought that the endemic carnivorous mammals of South America, the metatherian sparassodonts, were driven extinct by North American carnivorans through competitive exclusion. However, sparassodonts went extinct before most groups of carnivorans entered South America; only the endemic Cyonasua-group procyonids (Cyonasua and Chapalmalania), which immigrated to South America nearly 4 million years earlier than other carnivorans, significantly overlapped with sparassodonts in time. In this study, we examine the functional morphology of the dentition of Cyonasua and Chapalmalania through quantitative analysis to determine the dietary habits of these taxa and the degree to which they may have ecologically overlapped sparassodonts and large predatory Neogene didelphimorphians. We find Cyonasua and Chapalmalania to be more carnivorous than extant procyonids, other than Bassariscus, in agreement with previous studies, but more omnivorous than most other carnivorans and all meat-eating South American metatherians, including sparassodonts. The extreme ecological dissimilarity between Cyonasua-group procyonids and members of the endemic South American predator guild may explain why procyonids were able to successfully establish themselves in South America several million years earlier than most other northern mammals (including all other carnivorans): they moved into a previously unoccupied ecological niche (large omnivore) and avoided direct competition with incumbent native species, a situation similar to that documented in historical cases of biological invasion. The omnivorous diets and climbing/swimming abilities of procyonids may have increased their chances for a successful over-water dispersal relative to other carnivorans, further favoring their successful establishment in South America.

Invertebrate Trace Fossils: The Backbone of Continental Ichnology

1992 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 64-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen T. Hasiotis ◽  
Thomas M. Bown
Keyword(s):  
Water Table ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Depositional Systems ◽  
Genetic Responses

The purpose of this chapter is to evoke new concepts, provide guidelines and new frontiers for future research, and demonstrate that invertebrate traces actually comprise the “backbone” of continental (as well as marine) ichnology. Invertebrate organisms that inhabit the continental, nonmarine realm include some of the most diverse and populous classes in the animal kingdom. For example, both the Insecta and Crustacea exhibit burrowing behaviors unique to subaqueous freshwater and subaerial systems. Because of the sheer biomass of burrowing pupae, larvae, juvenile, and adult stages of these organisms, invertebrates dependent on the position of the water table form the basis for ecological niche-partitioning of depositional systems within all of the continental realm. A distinction must be made here between continental and marine ichnocoenoses because they represent distinctly different styles of living. These in turn dictate different behavioral and genetic responses of the organisms that inhabit them. Burrow architectures that occur in both continental and marine ichnocoenoses can be differentiated by subtle differences in morphology that are due to convergence of the burrowing mechanisms of the respective organisms.

scholarly journals Ecological niche partitioning between baleen whales inhabiting Icelandic waters

2021 ◽  
pp. 102690
Author(s):  
Raquel García-Vernet ◽  
Asunción Borrell ◽  
Gisli Víkingsson ◽  
Sverrir D. Halldórsson ◽  
Alex Aguilar
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Baleen Whales ◽  
Icelandic Waters

scholarly journals A small whale reveals diversity of the Eocene cetacean fauna of Antarctica

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Svitozar Davydenko ◽  
Thomas Mörs ◽  
Pavel Gol'din
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Ventral Side ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Neural Arch ◽  
Early Diversification ◽  
Swimming Style ◽  
Seymour Island

Abstract Cetacean fossils have been recorded from middle and late Eocene deposits on Seymour Island since the beginning of the twentieth century and include fully aquatic Basilosauridae and stem Neoceti. Here, we report a small cetacean vertebra tentatively referred to as Neoceti from the late Eocene of Seymour Island. It shows a mosaic of traits, some of which are characteristic of early Neoceti (anteroposteriorly long transverse processes; a ventral keel on the ventral side of the centrum; thin pedicles of the neural arch), whereas others are shared with Basilosauridae (low-placed bases of the transverse processes). However, some traits are unique and may be autapomorphic: presence of separate prezygapophyses on the vertebra at the thoracic/lumbar boundary and a proportionally short centrum. Both traits imply a fast swimming style, which is characteristic of modern dolphins rather than Eocene cetaceans. Thus, this specimen can be identified as Neoceti indet., with some hypothetical odontocete affinities. Along with a few other Eocene whale taxa, it seems to be among the earliest known members of Neoceti on Earth. The finding of small and fast-swimming Neoceti in Antarctica also demonstrates early diversification of cetaceans and ecological niche partitioning by them dating back as early as the late Eocene.

scholarly journals Ecological niche partitioning between Anopheles gambiae molecular forms in Cameroon: the ecological side of speciation

BMC Ecology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Simard ◽  
Diego Ayala ◽  
Guy Kamdem ◽  
Marco Pombi ◽  
Joachim Etouna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anopheles Gambiae ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Molecular Forms

scholarly journals Spatial and temporal overlaps between leopards ( Panthera pardus ) and their competitors in the African large predator guild

2020 ◽  
Vol 311 (4) ◽  
pp. 246-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Rafiq ◽  
M. W. Hayward ◽  
A. M. Wilson ◽  
C. Meloro ◽  
N. R. Jordan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Panthera Pardus ◽  
Large Predator ◽  
Predator Guild

scholarly journals Emergence of stable motifs in consumer-resource communities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priyanga Amarasekare ◽  
Ulrich Brose ◽  
Jonathan Chase ◽  
Tiffany Knight ◽  
Adam Clark
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transfer ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Mechanistic Explanation ◽  
Species Abundances ◽  
Trophic Chains ◽  
General Explanation ◽  
Consumer Resource

ABSTRACTUnderstanding how and why complex communities can be stable has preoccupied ecologists for over a century. Data show that real communities tend to exhibit characteristic motifs and topologies. Despite a large body of theory investigating both ecological (niche partitioning) and evolutionary (speciation and extinction) mechanisms, a general explanation for why particular motifs are more common than others remains elusive. Here we develop a mechanistic framework that investigates the set of possible motifs that can emerge under minimal conditions of a nutrient-limited system with no external inputs, and no spatial heterogeneity. Focusing on consumer-resource communities structured by competition and predation, we find that the emergent motifs under these minimal conditions are vertical trophic chains that maximize energy transfer and biomass production. Not only are such motifs stable to perturbations of species’ abundances, but they are also robust to species additions and removals. Our findings provide a mechanistic explanation for why tri-trophic chains are overrepresented in real food webs. They suggest that, because they maximize energy transfer, and can emerge and persist under minimal conditions, vertical trophic chains may constitute the fundamental architecture of consumer-resource communities.

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