Feeding overlap in two sympatric species of Rhinella (Anura: Bufonidae) of the Atlantic Rain Forest
01 Jun 2008-Revista Brasileira De Zoologia (Sociedade Brasileira de Zoologia)-Vol. 25, Iss: 2, pp 247-253
TL;DR: O objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar a sobreposicao alimentar dessas duas especies no Parque Nacional da Serra dos Orgaos, regiao sudeste do Brasil.
Abstract: A clear understanding of the relationships between overlapping, similarity, and competition is necessary to understand many of the questions about the structure and operation of a community. Rhinella icterica (Spix, 1824) and Rhinella crucifer (Wied Neuwied, 1821) are sympatric species of toads occurring in the National Park of Serra dos Orgaos in southeastern Brazil. The aim of the present study was to assess the dietary overlap of these two species. Ninety-four stomachs were analyzed, and 2245 prey items were found. Common prey were Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera larvae, Blattaria, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Opiliones, and Aranaea. Ants were the most important prey in both diets, followed by beetles and cockroaches. The niche breadth of R. icterica was 1.76 and of R. crucifer was 1.28. The dietary overlap between the species was 98.62%. A positive correlation was observed between jaw width and prey size consumed by R. icterica.
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TL;DR: Survey of frogs in rice paddies of lowland Nepal during the dry and rainy seasons found that frogs included a high proportion of crop pests in their diet, but consumption of pests varied between the rainy and dry seasons, frog species and even individual frogs.
38 citations
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: The diet of Rhinella schneideri is described based on the analysis of the stomach contents of 18 specimens from an area within the Cerrado, Central Brazil, finding 842 items belonging to 11 prey categories, including the plant material category.
Abstract: This study describes the diet of Rhinella schneideri based on the analysis of the stomach contents of 18 specimens from an area within the Cerrado, Central Brazil. We found 842 items belonging to 11 prey categories, including the plant material category. The most important prey categories for R. schneideri were Insect larvae, Coleopteran and Formicidae. Numerical and volumetric niche breadths of R. schneideri were 3.35 and 1.00, respectively. According to its diverse diet and abundance, R. schneideri may be considered a generalist and opportunist species.
31 citations
27 Jan 2017
TL;DR: The results indicate similarities in the diet composition and foraging behavior of P. lisei and P. gracilis, which have similar trophic niche breadth and a high diet overlap.
Abstract: Comparative studies of the diet of ecologically and phylogenetically close-related species assist in understanding the evolutionary processes underlying feeding specialization. The frogs Physalaemus lisei (Braun’s Dwarf Frog) and P. gracilis (Graceful Dwarf Frog) are good models for comparative diet studies because they occur in sympatry in several forest environments of Brazil. In this study we evaluated the gastrointestinal content of 83 individuals of these two species. We registered 12 prey categories in the diet of P. gracilis , and 19 in the diet of P. lisei. Formicidae was the most important prey category in the diet of both species, followed by Coleoptera and Araneae. Despite the high importance of ants in the diet of both species, as assessed by the Index of Relative Importance (IRI = 6469.9 for P. gracilis and 4522.0 for P. lisei ), Coleoptera presented the highest volumetric contribution. Both species presented a similar trophic niche breadth and a high diet overlap (O jk = 0.98). Our results indicate similarities in the diet composition and foraging behavior of P. lisei and P. gracilis .
20 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that R. icterica toads at the highlands of Itatiaia feeds on arthropods, mainly ants and coleopterans and that the high consumption of preys with relatively small and similar size as ants in the diet prevents an expected relationship among frog body or mouth size and prey volume and size.
Abstract: In this study, we present some information of the regarding throphic niche from the anuran toad Rhinella icterica living in high altitudes above 2000 m a.s.l. from a habitat of the Atlantic Forest Biome - the Altitude Fields in the Itatiaia National Park. We found 150 prey items in toad stomachs, belonging to five prey types, as well as skin remains and some remains of plant material. The index of relative importance indicated that most important prey types were beetles and ants, these last composing 70% of the diet numerically and the trophic niche breadth (B) was 1.81. The relatively low diversity of prey types we recorded in the diet of R. icterica of Itatiaia and numerically dominated by ants suggests some preference for this item. We do not found significant relationship between the toad measurements with the preys' measurements. We concluded that R. icterica toads at the highlands of Itatiaia feeds on arthropods, mainly ants and coleopterans and that the high consumption of preys with relatively small and similar size as ants in the diet prevents an expected relationship among frog body or mouth size and prey volume and size.
19 citations
TL;DR: Seasonal changes in diet in the three size classes of a rock frog population focusing on ontogenetic, sexual, and seasonal variation include froglets eating more springtails and less mites in the dry season, juveniles eating more marine isopods during the wet season, and adult females eating more ants during the Wet season.
Abstract: The rock frog (Thoropa taophora) dwells from rocky seashores to rocky outcrops within the Atlantic rainforest on coastal areas of the state of Sao Paulo, southeastern Brazil In this study, we provide data on the food habits of a rock frog population focusing on ontogenetic, sexual, and seasonal variation The study was based on the examination of 356 individuals (154 adults, 82 juveniles and 120 froglets) A total of 26 invertebrate types were found in the diet of T taophora The commonest prey types in the three size classes (adults, juveniles and froglets) of rock frogs were ants, both in frequency and number Prey composition differed significantly among size classes, except for beetles and spiders Prey composition of males and females also differed significantly: females had a high proportion of marine isopods, caddisfly nymphs, and orthopterans in the diet, whereas males had a high proportion of ants and caterpillars Seasonal changes in diet (all significant) in the three size classes i
19 citations
Cites background from "Feeding overlap in two sympatric sp..."
...…taophora is a trophic generalist like its congener T. miliaris (siqueira et al., 2005) and some other Atlantic forest frog species (sabagh and carvalho-e-silva, 2008; Almeida-gomes et al., 2007; marra et al., 2004; Van sluys et al., 2001). diet composition of Thoropa taophora was…...
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References
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31 Dec 1968
TL;DR: Professor Levins, one of the leading explorers in the field of integrated population biology, considers the mutual interpenetration and joint evolution of organism and environment, occurring on several levels at once.
Abstract: Professor Levins, one of the leading explorers in the field of integrated population biology, considers the mutual interpenetration and joint evolution of organism and environment, occurring on several levels at once. Physiological and behavioral adaptations to short-term fluctuations of the environment condition the responses of populations to long-term changes and geographic gradients. These in turn affect the way species divide the environments among themselves in communities, and, therefore, the numbers of species which can coexist. Environment is treated here abstractly as pattern: patchiness, variability, range, etc. Populations are studied in their patterns: local heterogeneity, geographic variability, faunistic diversity, etc.
3,628 citations
"Feeding overlap in two sympatric sp..." refers methods in this paper
...The trophic niche breadth was calculated using the formula proposed by LEVINS (1968) B = 1/ pj 2, where B = niche breadth and pj = proportion of item j in the diet....
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American Museum of Natural History1, Columbia University2, University of Hamburg3, Sao Paulo State University4, University of Richmond5, University of the Western Cape6, Natural History Museum7, University of Texas at Arlington8, Yahoo!9, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission10, California Academy of Sciences11, University of Michigan12, National University of Colombia13, McGill University14
TL;DR: A new taxonomy of living amphibians is proposed to correct the deficiencies of the old one, based on the largest phylogenetic analysis of living Amphibia so far accomplished, and many subsidiary taxa are demonstrated to be nonmonophyletic.
Abstract: The evidentiary basis of the currently accepted classification of living amphibians is discussed and shown not to warrant the degree of authority conferred on it by use and tradition. A new taxonomy of living amphibians is proposed to correct the deficiencies of the old one. This new taxonomy is based on the largest phylogenetic analysis of living Amphibia so far accomplished. We combined the comparative anatomical character evidence of Haas (2003) with DNA sequences from the mitochondrial transcription unit H1 (12S and 16S ribosomal RNA and tRNAValine genes, ≈ 2,400 bp of mitochondrial sequences) and the nuclear genes histone H3, rhodopsin, tyrosinase, and seven in absentia, and the large ribosomal subunit 28S (≈ 2,300 bp of nuclear sequences; ca. 1.8 million base pairs; x = 3.7 kb/terminal). The dataset includes 532 terminals sampled from 522 species representative of the global diversity of amphibians as well as seven of the closest living relatives of amphibians for outgroup comparisons. The...
1,994 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated food habits of albacore, Thunnus alalunga, bluefin tuna, thynnus, and bonito in the eastern North Pacific Ocean during 1968 and 1969.
Abstract: The authors investigated food habits of albacore, Thunnus alalunga, bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, and bonito, Sarda chiliensis, in the eastern North Pacific Ocean during 1968 and 1969. While most stomach samples came from fish caught commercially off southern California and Baja California, some came from fish taken in central California, Oregon, and Washington waters. Standard procedures included enumeration of food items, volumetric analysis, and measure of frequency of occurrence. The authors identified the majority of forage organisms to the specific level through usual taxonomic methods for whole animals. Identification of partially digested animals was accomplished through the use of otoliths for fish, beaks for cephalopods, and the exoskeleton for invertebrates. A pictorial guide to beaks of certain eastern Pacific cephalopods was prepared and proved helpful in identifying stomach contents. This guide is presented in this publication. The study indicates the prominent forage for bluefin tuna, bonito, and albacore in California waters is the northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax.
1,535 citations
TL;DR: Objective, empirical measures of overlap between samples of items distributed proportionally into various qualitative categories derived from either probability or information theory should prove useful to the ecologist in comparative studies of diet, habitat preference, seasonal patterns of abundance, faunal lists, or similar data.
Abstract: Objective, empirical measures of overlap between samples of items distributed proportionally into various qualitative categories are presented and reviewed. These indices of overlap, derived from either probability or information theory, should prove useful to the ecologist in comparative studies of diet, habitat preference, seasonal patterns of abundance, faunal lists, or similar data.
1,516 citations
"Feeding overlap in two sympatric sp..." refers methods in this paper
...The overlapping formula CH = 2 pijpik/ pij 2 + pik 2, was used, where CH = Morisita-Horn index (Horn 1966) of niche overlap, pij = corresponding proportion of resource i in the total resource used by species j, pik = corresponding proportion of resource i in the total resource used by species k....
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: The study indicates the prominent forage for bluefin tuna, bonito, and albacore in California waters is the northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax.
1,199 citations