Species coexistence in temperate grasslands

1995 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
František Krahulec
Gaia Scientia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 86-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adna Ferreira da Silva Garcia ◽  
Ana Lúcia Vendel

The current work investigates dietary overlap and food partitioning among nine abundant carnivorous fishes caught in the shallow waters of the Paraíba do Norte river estuary, Paraíba State, Brazil. Fishes were sampled with a beach seine net between January and December 2008 and a total of 958 specimens had their stomach content analyzed. Crustacea was the dominant food resource for Lutjanus alexandrei, L. jocu and Bathygobius soporator, whereas Telostei were consumed mainly by Centropomus undecimalis and C. parallelus. In contrast, Polychaeta were preyed upon mainly by Diapterus rhombeus, Eucinostomus argenteus, Sciades herzbergii and S. parkeri. Although most species consumed similar food items, they did that in varying proportions and amounts. Overall, the niche overlap among species was low (< 0.60), but there were several cases where pair of species had their feeding niche highly overlapped (between 0.72 and 0.97). These findings corroborate the hypothesis that food resource partitioning determines species coexistence in estuarine tropical environments.


Author(s):  
Brian J. Wilsey

Top predators have effects that can ‘cascade down’ on lower trophic levels. Because of this cascading effect, it matters how many trophic levels are present. Predators are either ‘sit and wait’ or ‘active’. Wolves are top predators in temperate grasslands and can alter species composition of smaller-sized predators, prey, and woody and herbaceous plant species, either through direct effects or indirect effects (‘Ecology of Fear’). In human derived grasslands, invertebrate predators fill a similar ecological role as wolves. Migrating populations of herbivores tend to be more limited by food than non-migratory populations. The phenology and synchrony of births vary among prey species in a way that is consistent with an adaptation to predation. Precocious species have highly synchronous birth dates to satiate predators. Non-precocious species (‘hiders’) have asynchronous births. Results from studies that manipulate both predators and food support the hypothesis that bottom-up and top-down effects interact.


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