scholarly journals Effects of Intraguild Predation: Evaluating Resource Competition between Two Canid Species with Apparent Niche Separation

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J. Kozlowski ◽  
Eric M. Gese ◽  
Wendy M. Arjo

Many studies determine which habitat components are important to animals and the extent their use may overlap with competitive species. However, such studies are often undertaken after populations are in decline or under interspecific stress. Since habitat selection is not independent of interspecific stress, quantifying an animal's current landscape use could be misleading if the species distribution is suboptimal. We present an alternative approach by modeling the predicted distributions of two sympatric species on the landscape using dietary preferences and prey distribution. We compared the observed habitat use of kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) and coyotes (Canis latrans) against their predicted distribution. Data included locations of kit foxes and coyotes, carnivore scat transects, and seasonal prey surveys. Although habitats demonstrated heterogeneity with respect to prey resources, only coyotes showed habitat use designed to maximize access to prey. In contrast, kit foxes used habitats which did not align closely with prey resources. Instead, habitat use by kit foxes represented spatial and behavioral strategies designed to minimize spatial overlap with coyotes while maximizing access to resources. Data on the distribution of prey, their dietary importance, and the species-specific disparities between predicted and observed habitat distributions supports a mechanism by which kit fox distribution is derived from intense competitive interactions with coyotes.

1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 385 ◽  
Author(s):  
DG Read

Habitat use by Sminthopsis crassicaudata, Planigale gilesi and P. tenuirostris was investigated in the arid zone of New South Wales. All species showed considerable flexibility in habitat use at all times, and abundance was poorly predicted from easily measured parameters of the habitat. However, evidence was found for separation of microhabitat among these sympatric species. Multiple regression analysis indicated that abundance of S. crassicaudata was negatively associated with height of vegetation and the depth and density of soil cracks, and that of P. gilesi was positively associated with these habitat variables. Plant height was positively associated with abundance of P. tenuirostris and it was the only important predictor for this species. These results are discussed in conjunction with trapping records from other habitats.


1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 1897-1903 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Cardwell ◽  
J. G. Dulka ◽  
N. E. Stacey

The discovery that released hormones (steroids and prostaglandins) and their metabolites function as potent pheromones in some fishes provides an opportunity to determine whether these chemically identified pheromones are species specific. As a first step in studying this complex issue, we used an extracellular electrophysiological recording technique (electro-olfactogram) to investigate the olfactory sensitivity of two sympatrically spawning catostomid species (white sucker, Catostomus commersoni, and longnose sucker, Catostomus catostomus; Cypriniformes: Catostomidae) to steroids and prostaglandins that might function as sex pheromones. Both species were acutely sensitive to F-series prostaglandins, particularly prostaglandin-F2α and its metabolite 15-ketoprostaglandin-F2α, but exhibited no olfactory responses to free or conjugated gonadal steroids. The data from tests of olfactory sensitivity to a range of gonadal steroids, though negative, provide preliminary evidence that maturational steroid hormones do not function as pheromones in catostomids as they do in other cypriniform fishes. We were unable to detect species differences in receptor-level olfactory sensitivity to hormones or hormone metabolites, although we cannot discount possible differences at other levels of the olfactory system.


2013 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Plourde ◽  
Ian H. McQuinn ◽  
Frédéric Maps ◽  
Jean-François St-Pierre ◽  
Diane Lavoie ◽  
...  

Abstract Plourde, S., McQuinn, I. H., Maps, F., St-Pierre, J-F., Lavoie, D., and Joly, P. 2014. Daytime depth and thermal habitat of two sympatric krill species in response to surface salinity variability in the Gulf of St Lawrence, eastern Canada. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 71: 272–281. We describe the response of acoustically determined weighted mean depth (WMD) of two sympatric species of krill, Thysanoessa raschii and Meganyctiphanes norvegica, to variations in surface salinity during summer in the Gulf of St Lawrence. In this coastal system, non-living particulates and CDOM carried by the freshwater run-off of the St Lawrence River and several large rivers have a strong impact on turbidity and light attenuance in the surface layer. The WMD of T. raschii and M. norvegica were significantly and positively related to surface salinity. However, M. norvegica was found deeper and in warmer water than T. raschii, and the latter had a steeper response to surface salinity. The species-specific relationships between daytime WMD and surface salinity enabled us to estimate both species regional and interannual variations in summertime temperature habitat during a 21-year period (1991–2011). The variability in daytime WMD resulted in significant inter- and intraspecific differences in the temperature experienced by adult krill that may impact development, growth, and reproduction. Our study illustrated the importance of considering species-specific responses to environmental forcing in coupled biophysical models that aim to explore the impacts of environmental variations on krill dynamics.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Göran Birgersson ◽  
Mark J. Dalusky ◽  
Karl E. Espelie ◽  
C. Wayne Berisford

Hindgut volatiles from attacking, unmated males ofIps avulsus, I. calligraphus, I. grandicollis, andI. piniwere analyzed by combined gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Based on the quantitative identifications of hindguts and subsequent individual aerations, baits were formulated and a combined species-specific subtractive field bioassay was set up for the four bark beetle species. The bioassays were subtractive for the compounds identified in the hindgut analysis of each species, and volatiles identified in sympatric species were added as potential inhibitors alone and in combination. The trap catches from this bioassay revealed strong interspecific inhibition. The subtractive assays showed thatI. grandicollisandI. calligraphusshare (–)-(4S)-cis-verbenol as one pheromone component, while their second, synergistic pheromone component, (–)-(S)-ipsenol inI. grandicollisand (±)-ipsdienol inI. calligraphus, acts as an interspecific inhibitor to the other species.I. avulsusandI. piniwere found to have very similar production of hindgut volatiles, and both use ipsdienol and lanierone as synergistic pheromone components. No beetle-produced interspecific inhibitor was identified between these two species. Lanierone was found to be an interspecific inhibitor for bothI. calligraphusandI. grandicollis.


Ecology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 96 (10) ◽  
pp. 2575-2582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sinead M. Crotty ◽  
Mark D. Bertness

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (7) ◽  
pp. 1157-1164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph E Duchamp ◽  
Dale W Sparks ◽  
John O Whitaker, Jr.

We compared habitat use of two sympatric species of bat in a rural area undergoing suburban development. The two species are similar in diet and foraging-habitat use but differ in current roosting habitat, and exhibit contrasting regional population trends. Evening bat, Nycticeius humeralis (Rafinesque, 1818), populations are declining in central Indiana, whereas big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus (Beauvois, 1796), populations are increasing. We assessed habitat selection by 22 adult female bats using radiotelemetry and compositional analysis. Eptesicus fuscus used several roosts across the study area; all but one roosted in human-made structures. Nycticeius humeralis clustered roosts within a small group of woodlots; all roosted in tree cavities. Eptesicus fuscus foraged for longer periods of time and nonreproductive individuals of this species had larger foraging ranges than N. humeralis. Both species foraged primarily in agricultural and wooded areas. During foraging, N. humeralis showed greater foraging-site fidelity and a stronger selection for agricultural and wooded areas than E. fuscus. We suggest that N. humeralis in our study area is probably more sensitive to suburban development near their roosts than E. fuscus.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian W. MURRAY ◽  
Hilary M. LEASE ◽  
Robyn S. HETEM ◽  
Duncan MITCHELL ◽  
Andrea FULLER ◽  
...  

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