Niche overlap and resource partitioning among five sympatric bufonids (Anura, Bufonidae) from northeastern Argentina
01 Jun 2009-Phyllomedusa: Journal of Herpetology (Melopsittacus Publicações Científicas)-Vol. 8, Iss: 1, pp 27-39
TL;DR: Studying the diet behaviors and trophic parameters of sympatric species provides important data for understanding the community and for the development of conservation guidelines.
Abstract: Niche overlap and resource partitioning among five sympatric bufonids (Anura, Bufonidae) from northeastern Argentina. The niche overlap and resource partitioning were analyzed for five sympatric bufonids from Northeastern Argenti- na: Rhinella schneideri, R. bergi, R. fernandezae, R. granulosa, and Melanophryniscus cupreuscapularis. The primary objectives were to analyze the diet and pattern of coexistence relative to the microhabitats among species. The bufonids, which are primarily terrestrial, exhibited a preference for small, hard prey such as formicids or coleopterans. The smallest species preferably consumed ants, while R. schneideri preferred beetles. Significant differences were detected for the diets of these five species. In addition, significant overlap in the trophic niche was noted for all species except between R. granulosa and R. schneideri. Studying the diet behaviors and trophic parameters of sympatric species provides important data for understanding the community and for the development of conservation guidelines.
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TL;DR: The results support the idea that modified habitats influence distribution patterns of amphibians, and the protection of the remnants of pristine Atlantic Forest is a critical step in the conservation of anuran biodiversity in Paraguay.
Abstract: We examined the effects of landscape changes in an environmental gradient of forest, a Vernicia fordii plantation, and crops on the distribution patterns of amphibians in San Rafael National Park. We conducted eight periods of fieldwork between June 2012–April 2013 and used pit fall traps with drift fences to capture amphibians. We recorded eight species of the families Bufonidae, Leptodactylidae, and Odontophrynidae. The environmental variables correlated with the abundance of amphibians were relative humidity, litter depth, herbaceous cover, and air temperature, and significant differences were found in species composition. Generalist species like Leptodactylus mystacinus and Physalaemus cuvieri were found in the most altered areas such as crops and the plantation. Rhinella ornata and Proceratophrys avelinoi were primarily restricted to primary forests, and their abundance was sensitive to forest lost and degradation. Our results support the idea that modified habitats influence distribution patterns of amphibians, and the protection of the remnants of pristine Atlantic Forest is a critical step in the conservation of anuran biodiversity in Paraguay.
4 citations
Cites background from "Niche overlap and resource partitio..."
...Due to their large body size, parotoid glands, opportunistic oviposition, and generalist diet, bufonids tend to have broad distributions and greater abundance and have been shown to be more active and able to move greater distances compared to sympatric species (Toft, 1981; Strüssmann et al., 1984; Almeida-Gomes et al., 2008; Duré et al. 2009; Van Bocxlaer et al., 2010)....
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01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In el dia 25 de noviembre de 2010 encontramos un ejemplar adulto de Ophiodes sp. muerto en la Base de Pesquisas Avancadas do Nupelia, municipio de Porto Rico, estado de Parana, Brazil as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: El dia 25 de noviembre de 2010 encontramos un ejemplar adulto de Ophiodes sp. muerto
en la Base de Pesquisas Avancadas do Nupelia, municipio de Porto Rico, estado de Parana, Brasil. Treinta minutos mas tarde,encontramos un ejemplar adulto de Rhinella schneideri ingiriendo elejemplar de Ophiodes sp. Creemos que los casos de depredacion de Ophiodes sp. son raros y que el evento observado parece consecuencia de una estrategia oportunista de alimentacion de R. scheneideri.
4 citations
Cites background from "Niche overlap and resource partitio..."
...The diet of R. scheneideri presents a wide variety of items, composed mainly of arthropods, such as insect larvae, beetles and ants (Strüssmann et al., 1984; Lajmanovich, 1994; Vitt & Caldwell, 1994; Hirai & Matsui, 2002; Duré et al., 2009; Batista et al., 2011)....
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TL;DR: The species richness of nematodes was related to the host body sizes and to the strategy to obtain prey, and the mean species richness was higher in terrestrial amphibians with intermediate characteristics in the generalist–specialist spectrum in terms of diet, and in amphibiansWith intermediate characteristics between actively foraging and the “sit-and-wait” approach in terms foraging.
Abstract: This is the first review of the nematode parasites of amphibians from Dry Chaco (DC) and Humid Chaco (HC) ecoregions of South America, covering aspects related to their systematics, distribution, host range and ecology, including their life cycles. Of approximately 100 species of amphibians that inhabit these ecoregions, the nematode parasites of 32 species are known. The parasite species consisted of 51 taxa: 27 in HC and 18 in DC. The family Cosmocercidae alone included 18 species. Aplectana hylambatis and Cosmocerca podicipinus showed the widest geographical and host distribution. Leptodactylus bufonius and Rhinella major presented a high number of nematode parasites. The species richness of nematodes was related to the host body sizes and to the strategy to obtain prey. The mean species richness was higher in terrestrial amphibians with intermediate characteristics in the generalist–specialist spectrum in terms of diet, and in amphibians with intermediate characteristics between actively foraging and the “sit-and-wait” approach in terms of searching for prey. The patterns of similarity among amphibian species showed groups linking with their habitats. Nematodes usually have direct life cycles with the infectious form entering the host passively or actively. However, many amphibians are also involved in heteroxenous cycles that develop in the aquatic environment.
4 citations
18 Jun 2020
TL;DR: The combined analysis of these two indices revealed four distinct scenarios, with only one of them favoring interaction between species, when feeding resources were scarce and patchily distributed, whereas in other periods, the prevailing conditions were not conducive to resource sharing.
Abstract: The syntopic occurrence of different species of freshwater stingray on a small fluvial island at the mouth of the Amazon River led to the investigation of the factors that underpin this coexistence Stingrays were collected every two months from March 2012 to January 2013 and their exact sampling location was recorded and their stomach contents preserved and analyzed Data were used to calculate the Levins’ index of niche breadth and Pianka’s index of niche overlap The combined analysis of these two indices revealed four distinct scenarios, with only one of them favoring interaction between species, when feeding resources were scarce and patchily distributed The latter conditions were found at two distinct moments during the study period – the peak of the flood and the peak of low water – whereas in other periods, the prevailing conditions were not conducive to resource sharing
3 citations
14 Sep 2017
TL;DR: Results suggest a reduction of a specialization in the diet of Rhinella arenarum during breeding season in a marine/freshwater transitional habitat in southern Brazil, being Coleoptera the most important preys.
Abstract: Amphibians are good models for the study of trophic ecology because they occupy different trophic levels during their development. In this study, we evaluated the diet of Rhinella arenarum (Hensel, 1867) during breeding season in a marine/freshwater transitional habitat in southern Brazil. Based on the analysis of stomach contents, we recorded five groups of prey (Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Araneae, Diptera, and Orthoptera). Despite of their low palatability, Coleoptera was the most representative group by both numeric and volumetric evaluation. The studied population had a smaller number of items in their diet when compared previous studies. Despite of speculative, these results suggest a reduction of a specialization in the diet, during R. arenarum breeding season being Coleoptera the most important preys.
3 citations
Cites background from "Niche overlap and resource partitio..."
...breeding season), of populations from different geographic regions (Duré et al., 2009)....
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...Knowledge on the level of dietary specialization is important to detect regional and local differences on feeding habits, as well during different periods of the year (e.g. breeding season), of populations from different geographic regions (Duré et al., 2009)....
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...Amphibians are good models for the study of trophic ecology because they occupy different trophic levels of food webs (Duré et al., 2009)....
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...A wide variety of food items were also recorded for Rhinella schneideri (12 orders; Duré et al., 2009)....
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References
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01 Jan 1948
TL;DR: The Mathematical Theory of Communication (MTOC) as discussed by the authors was originally published as a paper on communication theory more than fifty years ago and has since gone through four hardcover and sixteen paperback printings.
Abstract: Scientific knowledge grows at a phenomenal pace--but few books have had as lasting an impact or played as important a role in our modern world as The Mathematical Theory of Communication, published originally as a paper on communication theory more than fifty years ago. Republished in book form shortly thereafter, it has since gone through four hardcover and sixteen paperback printings. It is a revolutionary work, astounding in its foresight and contemporaneity. The University of Illinois Press is pleased and honored to issue this commemorative reprinting of a classic.
10,215 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a new multivariate analysis technique, called canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), was developed to relate community composition to known variation in the environment, where ordination axes are chosen in the light of known environmental variables by imposing the extra restriction that the axes be linear combinations of environmental variables.
Abstract: A new multivariate analysis technique, developed to relate community composition to known variation in the environment, is described. The technique is an extension of correspondence analysis (reciprocal averaging), a popular ordination technique that extracts continuous axes of variation from species occurrence or abundance data. Such ordination axes are typically interpreted with the help of external knowledge and data on environmental variables; this two—step approach (ordination followed by environmental gradient identification) is termed indirect gradient analysis. In the new technique, called canonical correspondence analysis, ordination axes are chosen in the light of known environmental variables by imposing the extra restriction that the axes be linear combinations of environmental variables. In this way community variation can be directly related to environmental variation. The environmental variables may be quantitative or nominal. As many axes can be extracted as there are environmental variables. The method of detrending can be incorporated in the technique to remove arch effects. (Detrended) canonical correspondence analysis is an efficient ordination technique when species have bell—shaped response curves or surfaces with respect to environmental gradients, and is therefore more appropriate for analyzing data on community composition and environmental variables than canonical correlation analysis. The new technique leads to an ordination diagram in which points represent species and sites, and vectors represent environmental variables. Such a diagram shows the patterns of variation in community composition that can be explained best by the environmental variables and also visualizes approximately the "centers" of the species distributions along each of the environmental variables. Such diagrams effectively summarized relationships between community and environment for data sets on hunting spiders, dyke vegetation, and algae along a pollution gradient.
5,689 citations
"Niche overlap and resource partitio..." refers methods in this paper
...Relationships between microhabitat and diet and foraging strategy for these five species were tested through a canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) (Ter Braak 1986, 1987)....
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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
"Niche overlap and resource partitio..." refers methods in this paper
...For numerical data we calculated niche breadth using the Levins Index (Levins 1968): Nb Pij= ∑ −( )2 1 , where Pij represents the probability of finding the item i in the sample j....
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...For numerical data we calculated niche breadth using the Levins Index (Levins 1968):...
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TL;DR: To conclude with a list of questions appropriate for studies of resource partitioning, questions this article has related to the theory in a preliminary way.
Abstract: To understand resource partitioning, essentially a community phenomenon, we require a holistic theory that draws upon models at the individual and population level. Yet some investigators are still content mainly to document differences between species, a procedure of only limited interest. Therefore, it may be useful to conclude with a list of questions appropriate for studies of resource partitioning, questions this article has related to the theory in a preliminary way. 1) What is the mechanism of competition? What is the relative importance of predation? Are differences likely to be caused by pressures toward reproductive isolation? 2) Are niches (utilizations) regularly spaced along a single dimension? 3) How many dimensions are important, and is there a tendency for more dimensions to be added as species number increases? 4) Is dimensional separation complementary? 5) Which dimensions are utilized, how do they rank in importance, and why? How do particular dimensions change in rank as species nuimber increases? 6) What is the relation of dimensional separation to difference in phenotypic indicators? To what extent does the functional relation of phenotype to resource characteristics constrain partitioning? 7) What is the distance between mean position of niches, what is the niche standard deviation, and what is the ratio of the two? What is the niche shape?
3,626 citations
"Niche overlap and resource partitio..." refers background in this paper
...The degree of niche differentiation among species in the same trophic level depends on many factors, been prey availability one of the most relevant (Pianka 1969, Schoener 1974, 1989)....
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TL;DR: The topic here is the structure of lizard communities in this somewhat loose sense of the word (perhaps assemblage would be a more accurate description), with emphasis on the niche relationships among such sympatric sets of lizard species, especially as they affect the numbers of species that coexist within lizard communities.
Abstract: Strictly speaking, a community is composed of all the organisms that live together in a particular habitat. Community structure concerns all the various ways in which the members of such a community relate to and interact with one another, as well as community-level properties that emerge from these interactions, such as trophic structure, energy flow, species diversity, relative abundance, and community stabil ity. In practice, ecologists are usually unable to study entire communities, but instead interest is often focused on some convenient and tractable subset (usually taxonomic) of a particular community or series of communities. Thus one reads about plant communities, fish communities, bird communities, and so on. My topic here is the structure of lizard communities in this somewhat loose sense of the word (perhaps assemblage would be a more accurate description); my emphasis is on the niche relationships among such sympatric sets of lizard species, especially as they affect the numbers of species that coexist within lizard communities (species den sity). So defined, the simplest (and perhaps least interesting) lizard communities would be those that contain but a single species, as, for instance, northern populations of Eumeces msciatus. At the other extreme, probably the most complex lizard commu nities are those of the Australian sandridge deserts where as many as 40 different species occur in sympatry (20). Usually species densities of sympatric lizards vary from about 4 or 5 species to perhaps as many as 20. Lizard communities in arid regions are generally richer in species than those in wetter areas; therefore, because almost all ecological studies of entire saurofaunas have been in deserts (l8, 20, 25), this paper emphasizes the structure of desert lizard communities. As such, I review mostly my own work. Other studies on lizard communities in nondesert habitats are, however, cited where appropriate. Historical factors such as degree of isolation and available biotic stocks (particu larly the species pools of potential competitors and predators) have profoundly shaped lizard communities. Thus one reason the Australian deserts support such very rich lizard communities may be that competition with, and perhaps predation pressures from, snakes, birds, and mammals are reduced on that continent (20).
2,406 citations
"Niche overlap and resource partitio..." refers methods in this paper
...We calculated dietary overlaps in two ways by considering the food proportions and the volume of each prey with the formula (Pianka 1973): O P P P P jk ij ik i n ij ik i n i n = = == ∑ ∑∑ 1 2 2 11 , where Pij and Pik are the proportions of utilization of the ith food resource by the jth and kth…...
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...We calculated dietary overlaps in two ways by considering the food proportions and the volume of each prey with the formula (Pianka 1973):...
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