Dietary niche partitioning in brown skuas (Stercorarius lonnbergi) during the chick-rearing period at Narębski Point on King George Island, Antarctica

The red ( Ailurus fulgens ) and giant ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca ) pandas are mammalian carnivores convergently adapted to a bamboo feeding diet. However, whereas Ailurus forages almost entirely on younger leaves, fruits and tender trunks, Ailuropoda relies more on trunks and stems. Such difference in foraging mode is considered a strategy for resource partitioning where they are sympatric. Here, we use finite-element analysis to test for mechanical differences and similarities in skull performance between Ailurus and Ailuropoda related to diet. Feeding simulations suggest that the two panda species have similar ranges of mechanical efficiency and strain energy profiles across the dentition, reflecting their durophagous diet. However, the stress distributions and peaks in the skulls of Ailurus and Ailuropoda are remarkably different for biting at all tooth locations. Although the skull of Ailuropoda is capable of resisting higher stresses than the skull of Ailurus , the latter is able to distribute stresses more evenly throughout the skull. These differences in skull biomechanics reflect their distinct bamboo feeding preferences. Ailurus uses repetitive chewing in an extended mastication to feed on soft leaves, and Ailuropoda exhibits shorter and more discrete periods of chomp-and-swallow feeding to break down hard bamboo trunks.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of DNA metabarcoding illuminates dietary niche partitioning by African large herbivores.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.725529249.793527870 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Deron Burkepile

Keyword(s):

Niche Partitioning ◽

Large Herbivores ◽

Dna Metabarcoding ◽

Dietary Niche

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Stable isotope evidence for changes in dietary niche partitioning among hadrosaurian and ceratopsian dinosaurs of the Hell Creek Formation, North Dakota

Paleobiology ◽

10.1666/08020.1 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 34 (4) ◽

pp. 534-552 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Henry C. Fricke ◽

Dean A. Pearson

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotope ◽

Oxygen Isotope ◽

Tooth Enamel ◽

Habitat Preferences ◽

Niche Partitioning ◽

Isotope Ratios ◽

Oxygen Isotope Ratios ◽

Carbon And Oxygen Isotope ◽

Dietary Niche ◽

Ceratopsian Dinosaurs

Questions related to dinosaur behavior can be difficult to answer conclusively by using morphological studies alone. As a complement to these approaches, carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of tooth enamel can provide insight into habitat and dietary preferences of herbivorous dinosaurs. This approach is based on the isotopic variability in plant material and in surface waters of the past, which is in turn reflected by carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of animals that ingested the organic matter or drank the water. Thus, it has the potential to identify and characterize dietary and habitat preferences for coexisting taxa.In this study, stable isotope ratios from coexisting hadrosaurian and ceratopsian dinosaurs of the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota are compared for four different stratigraphic levels. Isotopic offsets between tooth enamel and tooth dentine, as well as taxonomic differences in means and in patterns of isotopic data among taxa, indicate that primary paleoecological information is preserved. The existence of taxonomic offsets also provides the first direct evidence for dietary niche partitioning among these herbivorous dinosaur taxa. Of particular interest is the observation that the nature of this partitioning changes over time: for some localities ceratopsian dinosaurs have higher carbon and oxygen isotope ratios than hadrosaurs, indicating a preference for plants living in open settings near the coast, whereas for other localities isotope ratios are lower, indicating a preference for plants in the understory of forests. In most cases the isotope ratios among hadrosaurs are similar and are interpreted to represent a dietary preference for plants of the forest canopy. The inferred differences in ceratopsian behavior are suggested to represent a change in vegetation cover and hence habitat availability in response to sea level change or to the position of river distributaries. Given our current lack of taxonomic resolution, it is not possible to determine if dietary and habitat preferences inferred from stable isotope data are associated with single, or multiple, species of hadrosaurian/ceratopsian dinosaurs.

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