scholarly journals Tandem communication improves ant foraging success in a highly competitive tropical habitat

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Glaser ◽  
R. M. Feitosa ◽  
A. Koch ◽  
N. Goß ◽  
F. S. do Nascimento ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Mass ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Spatial Niche ◽  
Recruitment Communication ◽  
Small Colony ◽  
Competition For Food ◽  
Slow Recruitment

AbstractTropical ants experience intense intra- and interspecific competition for food sources, which influences their activity pattern and foraging strategies. Even though different ant species can coexist through spatial and temporal niche partitioning, direct competition for food cannot be avoided. Recruitment communication is assumed to help colonies to monopolize and exploit food sources successfully, but this has rarely been tested under field conditions. We studied if recruitment communication helps colonies of the Neotropical ant Pachycondyla harpax to be more successful in a highly competitive tropical environment. Additionally, we explored if temporal and spatial niche differentiation helps focal colonies to avoid competition. Pachycondyla harpax competed with dozens of ant species for food. Mass-recruiting competitors were often successful in displacing P. harpax from food baits. However, when foragers of P. harpax were able to recruit nestmates they had a 4-times higher probability to keep access to the food baits. Colonies were unlikely to be displaced during our observations after a few ants arrived at the food source. Competition was more intense after sunset, but a disproportionate increase in activity after sunset allowed focal colonies to exploit food sources more successfully after sunset. Our results support the hypothesis that recruitment communication helps colonies to monopolize food sources by helping them to establish a critical mass of nestmates at large resources. This indicates that even species with a small colony size and a slow recruitment method, such as tandem running, benefit from recruitment communication in a competitive environment.

scholarly journals An exploration of the relationship between recruitment communication and foraging in stingless bees

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robbie I’Anson Price ◽  
Francisca Segers ◽  
Amelia Berger ◽  
Fabio S Nascimento ◽  
Christoph Grüter
Keyword(s):  
Stingless Bees ◽  
Sugar Content ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Food Resources ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Recruitment Communication ◽  
Eusocial Bees ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Social information is widely used in the animal kingdom and can be highly adaptive. In social insects, foragers can use social information to find food, avoid danger or choose a new nest site. Copying others allows individuals to obtain information without having to sample the environment. When foragers communicate information they will often only advertise high quality food sources, thereby filtering out less adaptive information. Stingless bees, a large pantropical group of highly eusocial bees, face intense inter- and intra-specific competition for limited resources, yet display disparate foraging strategies. Within the same environment there are species that communicate the location of food resources to nest-mates and species that do not. Our current understanding of why some species communicate foraging sites while others do not is limited. Studying freely foraging colonies of several co-existing stingless bee species in Brazil, we investigated if recruitment to specific food locations is linked to (1) the sugar content of forage, (2) the duration of foraging trips and (3) the variation in activity of a colony from one day to another and the variation in activity in a species over a day. We found that, contrary to our expectations, species with recruitment communication did not return with higher quality forage than species that do not recruit nestmates. Furthermore, foragers from recruiting species did not have shorter foraging trip durations than those from weakly-recruiting species. Given the intense inter- and intraspecific competition for resources in these environments, it may be that recruiting species favour food resources that can be monopolised by the colony rather than food sources that offer high-quality rewards.

scholarly journals Foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Petalas ◽  
Thomas Lazarus ◽  
Raphael A. Lavoie ◽  
Kyle H. Elliott ◽  
Mélanie F. Guigueno
Keyword(s):  
Interspecific Competition ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Gps Tracking ◽  
Seabird Species ◽  
Foraging Range ◽  
Common Murre ◽  
Prey Items

AbstractSympatric species must sufficiently differentiate aspects of their ecological niche to alleviate complete interspecific competition and stably coexist within the same area. Seabirds provide a unique opportunity to understand patterns of niche segregation among coexisting species because they form large multi-species colonies of breeding aggregations with seemingly overlapping diets and foraging areas. Recent biologging tools have revealed that colonial seabirds can differentiate components of their foraging strategies. Specifically, small, diving birds with high wing-loading may have small foraging radii compared with larger or non-diving birds. In the Gulf of St-Lawrence in Canada, we investigated whether and how niche differentiation occurs in four incubating seabird species breeding sympatrically using GPS-tracking and direct field observations of prey items carried by adults to chicks: the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), razorbill (Alca torda), common murre (Uria aalge), and black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Although there was overlap at foraging hotspots, all species differentiated in either diet (prey species, size and number) or foraging range. Whereas puffins and razorbills consumed multiple smaller prey items that were readily available closer to the colony, murres selected larger more diverse prey that were accessible due to their deeper diving capability. Kittiwakes compensated for their surface foraging by having a large foraging range, including foraging largely at a specific distant hotspot. These foraging habitat specialisations may alleviate high interspecific competition allowing for their coexistence, providing insight on multispecies colonial living.

scholarly journals Tandem running by foraging Pachycondyla striata workers in field conditions vary in response to food type, food distance, and environmental conditions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janiele Pereira da Silva ◽  
Lohan Valadares ◽  
Maria Eduarda de Lima Vieira ◽  
Serafino Teseo ◽  
Nicolas Châline
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Food Type ◽  
Tandem Running ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Trail Laying ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Small Colony

Abstract Ants show collective and individual behavioural flexibility in their response to immediate context, choosing for example between different foraging strategies. In Pachycondyla striata, workers can forage solitarily or recruit and guide nestmates to larger food sources through tandem running. Although considered more ancestral and less efficient than pheromone trail-laying, this strategy is common especially in species with small colony size. What is not known is how the decision to recruit or follow varies according to the immediate context. That is, how fine adjustments in information transfer affect immediate foraging decisions at the colony level. Here, we studied individually marked workers and evaluated their foraging decisions when food items varied in nature (protein vs carbohydrate), size, and distance from the nest at different temperatures and humidity levels. Our results show that tandem run leaders and potential followers adjust their behaviour according to a combination of external factors. While 84.2% of trips were solitary, most ants (81%) performed at least one tandem run. However, tandem runs were more frequent for nearby resources and at higher relative humidity. Interestingly, when food items were located far away, tandem runs were more successful when heading to protein sources (75%) compared to carbohydrate sources (42%). Our results suggest that the social information transfer between leaders and followers conveys more information than previously thought, and also relies on their experience and motivation.

scholarly journals Ecological speciation in darkness? Spatial niche partitioning in sibling subterranean spiders (Araneae : Linyphiidae : Troglohyphantes)

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Mammola ◽  
Miquel A. Arnedo ◽  
Paolo Pantini ◽  
Elena Piano ◽  
Nicolò Chiappetta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Character Displacement ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Trace Back ◽  
Potential Case ◽  
Spatial Niche ◽  
Parapatric Speciation

Speciation in subterranean habitats is commonly explained as the result of divergent selection in geographically isolated populations; conversely, the contribution of niche partitioning in driving subterranean species diversification has been rarely quantified. The present study integrated molecular and morphological data with a hypervolume analysis based on functional traits to investigate a potential case of parapatric speciation by means of niche differentiation in two sibling spiders inhabiting contiguous subterranean habitats within a small alpine hypogean site. Troglohyphantes giachinoi, sp. nov. and T. bornensis are diagnosed by small details of the genitalia, which are likely to be involved in a reproductive barrier. Molecular analysis recovered the two species as sister, and revealed a deep genetic divergence that may trace back to the Messinian (~6 million years ago). The hypervolume analysis highlighted a marginal overlap in their ecological niches, coupled with morphological character displacement. Specifically, T. giachinoi, sp. nov. exhibits morphological traits suitable for thriving in the smaller pores of the superficial network of underground fissures (Milieu Souterrain Superficiel, MSS), whereas T. bornensis shows a greater adaptation to the deep subterranean habitat. Our results suggest that different selective regimes within the subterranean environment, i.e. deep caves v. MSS, may either drive local speciation or facilitate contiguous distributions of independently subterranean adapted species.

scholarly journals Niche partitioning and coexistence of two spiders of the genusPeucetia(Araneae, Oxyopidae) inhabitingTrichogoniopsis adenanthaplants (Asterales, Asteraceae): a population approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
German Antonio Villanueva-Bonilla ◽  
Suyen Safuan-Naide ◽  
Mathias Mistretta Pires ◽  
João Vasconcellos-Neto
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Altitudinal Distribution ◽  
Differential Distribution ◽  
Plant Parts ◽  
Spatial Niche

AbstractNiche theory suggests that the coexistence of ecologically similar species at the same site requires some form of resource partitioning that reduces or avoids interspecific competition. Here, we investigated the temporal and spatial niche differentiation of two sympatric congeneric spiders,Peucetia rubrolineataandP. flava, inhabitingTrichogoniopsis adenantha(Asteraceae) plants along an altitudinal gradient in various shaded and open areas in an Atlantic forest in Serra do Japi, SP, Brazil. In theory, the coexistence of twoPeucetiaspecies could be explained by: (1) temporal segregation; (2) differential use of the branches of the plant; (3) differential use of specific parts of the branches of the plant; (4) differential distribution in shaded and open areas; and (5) differential altitudinal distribution of the twoPeucetiaspecies. With respect to temporal niche, we observed that the two spider species had a similar age structure and similar fluctuation in abundance throughout the year. With respect to micro-habitat use, in both species, different instars used different plant parts, while the same instars of both species used the same type of substrate. However, the twoPeucetiaspecies segregated by meso-habitat type, withP. rubrolineatapreferringT. adenanthaplants in shaded areas andP. flavapreferring those in open areas. Our results support the hypothesis of niche partitioning begetting diversity, and highlight the importance of analysing habitat use at multiple scales to understand mechanisms related to coexistence.

scholarly journals Niche partitioning by photosynthetic plankton as a driver of CO2-fixation across the oligotrophic South Pacific Subtropical Ocean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Duerschlag ◽  
Wiebke Mohr ◽  
Timothy G. Ferdelman ◽  
Julie LaRoche ◽  
Dhwani Desai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Euphotic Zone ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
The South ◽  
The Core ◽  
Photosynthetic Eukaryotes ◽  
Phytoplankton Communities

AbstractOligotrophic ocean gyre ecosystems may be expanding due to rising global temperatures [1–5]. Models predicting carbon flow through these changing ecosystems require accurate descriptions of phytoplankton communities and their metabolic activities [6]. We therefore measured distributions and activities of cyanobacteria and small photosynthetic eukaryotes throughout the euphotic zone on a zonal transect through the South Pacific Ocean, focusing on the ultraoligotrophic waters of the South Pacific Gyre (SPG). Bulk rates of CO2 fixation were low (0.1 µmol C l−1 d−1) but pervasive throughout both the surface mixed-layer (upper 150 m), as well as the deep chlorophyll a maximum of the core SPG. Chloroplast 16S rRNA metabarcoding, and single-cell 13CO2 uptake experiments demonstrated niche differentiation among the small eukaryotes and picocyanobacteria. Prochlorococcus abundances, activity, and growth were more closely associated with the rims of the gyre. Small, fast-growing, photosynthetic eukaryotes, likely related to the Pelagophyceae, characterized the deep chlorophyll a maximum. In contrast, a slower growing population of photosynthetic eukaryotes, likely comprised of Dictyochophyceae and Chrysophyceae, dominated the mixed layer that contributed 65–88% of the areal CO2 fixation within the core SPG. Small photosynthetic eukaryotes may thus play an underappreciated role in CO2 fixation in the surface mixed-layer waters of ultraoligotrophic ecosystems.

scholarly journals Inter- and intraspecific variation in the Artibeus species complex demonstrates size and shape partitioning among species

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11777
Author(s):  
Brandon P. Hedrick
Keyword(s):  
Species Complex ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Fruit Size ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Cranial Morphology ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Shape Variation ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Ecological Resources ◽  
Artibeus Lituratus

Neotropical leaf-nosed bats (family Phyllostomidae) are one of the most diverse mammalian families and Artibeus spp. is one of the most speciose phyllostomid genera. In spite of their species diversity, previous work on Artibeus crania using linear morphometrics has uncovered limited interspecific variation. This dearth of shape variation suggests that differences in cranial morphology are not contributing to niche partitioning across species, many of which are often found in sympatry. Using two-dimensional geometric morphometric methods on crania from eleven species from the Artibeus species complex, the current study demonstrates substantial cranial interspecific variation, sexual size and shape dimorphism, and intraspecific geographic variation. The majority of species were shown to have a unique size and shape, which suggests that each species may be taking advantage of slightly different ecological resources. Further, both sexual size and shape dimorphism were significant in the Artibeus species complex. Male and female Artibeus are known to have sex specific foraging strategies, with males eating near their roosts and females feeding further from their roosts. The presence of cranial sexual dimorphism in the Artibeus species complex, combined with previous work showing that different fruit size and hardness is correlated with different cranial shapes in phyllostomids, indicates that the males and females may be utilizing different food resources, leading to divergent cranial morphotypes. Additional field studies will be required to confirm this emergent hypothesis. Finally, significant geographical shape variation was found in a large intraspecific sample of Artibeus lituratus crania. However, this variation was not correlated with latitude and instead may be linked to local environmental factors. Additional work on ecology and behavior in the Artibeus species complex underlying the morphological variation uncovered in this study will allow for a better understanding of how the group has reached its present diversity.

scholarly journals Diet composition of the raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) and badger (Meles meles) in Czech Republic

2004 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Hana Šuláková
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Diet Composition ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Relative Volume ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Nyctereutes Procyonoides ◽  
Raccoon Dog ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Competition For Food ◽  
Frequency Occurrence

Diets of the raccoon dog and badger were studied in the Landscape Protected Area (LPA) Litovelské Pomoraví from 2000 to 2001 by collecting faeces from latrines during March – December every year. The relative volume and frequency occurrence of each food item in the feaces were calculated. Vertebrates and invertebrates constituted the bulk of the raccoon dog diet, while plants and invertebrates were most frequently eaten by the badger. Insecta and Rodentia were important to the raccoon dog, but it also consumed other food items. The raccoon dog was more omnivorous that the badger. Badger fed very frequently on plant material, raccoon dog, instead, frequently ate insects, especially beetles. In conclusion, the diet of the raccoon dog overlaps largely with that of badger, and some competition for food may occur between these species in the LPA Litovelské Pomoraví; however, their preferred food sources differ to some extent, which helps them to avoid competition.

Identification of trophic niches of subterranean diving beetles in a calcrete aquifer by DNA and stable isotope analyses

2014 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tessa M. Bradford ◽  
William F. Humphreys ◽  
Andrew D. Austin ◽  
Steven J. B. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Trophic Ecology ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Trophic Niche ◽  
Coi Gene ◽  
Stable Isotope Analyses ◽  
Prey Preferences ◽  
Diving Beetles ◽  
Isotope Analyses

The Yilgarn calcrete aquifers in Western Australia are an interesting system for investigating the process of speciation within subterranean habitats, because of the limited opportunities for dispersal between isolated calcretes. The presence of different-sized diving beetles (Dytiscidae) in separate calcretes, including sympatric sister-species pairs, suggests that species may have evolved within calcretes by an adaptive shift as a result of ecological-niche differentiation. We have studied the potential for trophic niche partitioning in a sister triplet of diving beetles, of distinctly different sizes, from a single aquifer. Fragments of the mitochondrial COI gene, specific to known species of amphipods and copepods, were polymerase chain reaction-amplified from each of the three beetle species, indicating that there is an overlap in their prey items. Significant differences were found in the detected diets of the three species, and results showed a propensity for prey preferences of amphipods by the large beetles and one species of copepod for the small beetles. A terrestrial source of carbon to the calcrete was suggested by stable isotope analyses. The combined approach of molecular, stable isotope and behavioural studies have provided insight into the trophic ecology of this difficult-to-access environment, providing a framework for more fine-scale analyses of the diet of different-sized species to examine speciation underground.

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