Effects of interspecific competition on food hoarding and pilferage in two sympatric rodents

Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (11) ◽  
pp. 1579-1596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongmao Zhang ◽  
Haiyang Gao ◽  
Zheng Yang ◽  
Zhenzhen Wang ◽  
Yang Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interspecific Competition ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Rodent Species ◽  
Nocturnal Activity ◽  
Food Hoarding ◽  
Intense Competition ◽  
Apodemus Peninsulae ◽  
Chinese White ◽  
Field Mice ◽  
Competition For Resources

Food hoarding and pilferage in rodents may be regulated by intense competition between sympatric species that have similar habitats, diets and activity, but studies exploring this remain rare. Here, we used semi-natural enclosures to investigate food-hoarding and cache pilferage interactions between sympatric Korean field mice (KFM) (Apodemus peninsulae) and Chinese white-bellied rats (CWR) (Niviventer confucianus). KFM and CWR have similar diets, habitat and nocturnal activity, but the smaller KFM larder and scatter hoards and larger CWR larder hoard only. We found that KFM harvest, larder-hoard and eat seeds at a greater intensity when CWR are present as an audience (present but cannot pilfer). KFM ate 11.5%, re-larder-hoarded 17.9% and re-scatter-hoarded 1.3% of their scatter-hoarded seeds, and ate 29.3% of their larder-hoarded seeds when CWR were present as pilferers. A total of 12.8% of the seeds scatter-hoarded and 50% of seeds directly put on the ground by KFM were pilfered by CWR. CWR did not alter hoarding intensity in the presence of KFM and their stores cannot be pilfered by KFM. These results indicate that large-sized rodent species (more dominant) significantly increase the hoarding intensity of small-sized species and show a unidirectional pilferage of seeds cached by small-sized species. The behavioural differences between these two species may reduce competition for resources and promote coexistence between sympatric rodents.

Comparison of food hoarding of two sympatric rodent species under interspecific competition

2013 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 60-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Feng Zhang ◽  
Lei Tong ◽  
Wei-Hong Ji ◽  
Ji-Qi Lu
Keyword(s):  
Interspecific Competition ◽  
Rodent Species ◽  
Food Hoarding

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 Isolation and characterization of hantavirus carried by Apodemus peninsulae in Jilin, China

2007 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 1295-1301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-Zhen Zhang ◽  
Yang Zou ◽  
Lai-Shun Yao ◽  
Guang-Wei Hu ◽  
Zhan-Shen Du ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Culture ◽  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Immunofluorescence Assay ◽  
Haemorrhagic Fever ◽  
Apodemus Peninsulae ◽  
Isolation And Characterization ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Field Mice

To provide a better understanding of hantavirus epidemiology in China, Korean field mice (Apodemus peninsulae) and striped field mice (Apodemus agrarius) were captured in Jilin province, China, where haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is endemic. Hantavirus antigens were detected in eight of the 130 A. peninsulae individuals and in four of the 193 A. agrarius individuals by using an immunofluorescence assay. Partial S and M segments were amplified from all of the antigen-positive samples. Furthermore, two hantaviruses (CJAp89 and CJAp93) were isolated successfully in cell culture and the entire S and M segments were amplified from one of them (CJAp93). Phylogenetic analysis of these sequences (partial or complete) showed that hantaviruses carried by A. peninsulae and A. agrarius form two distinct lineages, although viruses carried by A. peninsulae are similar to those isolated previously from A. agrarius in China and from HFRS patients in Russia. However, the viruses detected in A. peninsulae in China are genetically different from those detected in A. peninsulae in other countries. These data suggest that A. peninsulae is also a natural host for HTNV in north-eastern China.

scholarly journals Differences in hoarding behavior between captive and wild sympatric rodent species

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 725-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongmao Zhang ◽  
Yu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Ground Surface ◽  
Individual Experience ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Small Rodents ◽  
Scatter Hoarding ◽  
Chinese White ◽  
Hoarding Behavior ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Field Mice ◽  
Pregnant Mothers

Abstract In hand reared birds and mammals, it is generally considered that the development of hoarding behavior is the result of an interaction between the development and maturation of the nervous system and learning from individual experience. However, few studies have been done on wild animals. We tested differences in hoarding behavior between captive reared and wild individuals of two sympatric small rodents, Korean field mice Apodemus peninsulae and Chinese white-bellied rats Niviventer confucianus. Our aim was to identify if lack of experience from the wild would result in poorly developed hoarding behavior. The Korean field mice perform scatterand larder-hoarding behaviors whereas Chinese white-bellied rats hoard food in larders only. Within outdoor enclosures we compared seed-hoarding behavior in reared juveniles (RJ, 40-50 d old, pregnant mothers were captured in the wild), wild juveniles (WJ, as young as the RJ) and wild adults (WA, over-winter animals). We found that a lack of experience from the wild had significant effects on seed-hoarding behavior for both species. The RJ-group removed and hoarded fewer seeds than the WJand WA-groups. The two latter groups hoarded seeds in a similar way. In the Korean filed mouse the RJ-group placed more seeds on the ground surface than other groups. These findings suggest that wild experience is important for the acquisition of an appropriate food-hoarding behavior (especially for scatter-hoarding) in these species.

scholarly journals Evidence of character displacement in microhabitat use between two tropical sympatric Holcosus lizard species (Reptilia, Teiidae)

2019 ◽  
pp. 379-388
Author(s):  
F. Ruiz Real ◽  
J. Martín
Keyword(s):  
Interspecific Competition ◽  
Competitive Exclusion ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Character Displacement ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
The Other ◽  
Microhabitat Use ◽  
Lizard Species ◽  
Species Shifts ◽  
Selection Of

Interspecific competition between sympatric related species leading to character displacement is critical for species coexistence, especially in tropical habitats. We examined microhabitat use of two sympatric species of tropical lizards of the genus Holcosus in relationship to the microhabitats available in two ecosystems. The species H. festivus lives exclusively in the forest and uses microhabitats in proportion to their availability; while the other, H. quadrilineatus, lives both in forest and on the beach and selects microhabitats with specific characteristics. In the ecosystem where these two lizards live in sympatry (forest), we observed a differential microhabitat use between the two species. However, these differences indicated changes in habitat use by H. quadrilineatus (the smaller species) concerning its patterns of habitat selection in the ecosystem (beach) where only this species occurs. The age of the lizards did not affect the patterns of selection of microhabitats of either species. Shifts in microhabitat use may allow coexistence in sympatry of both species, which might result from the competitive exclusion of the smaller species by the larger species. Key words: Interspecific competition, Holcosus, Lizards, Microhabitat use, Tropical habitats

scholarly journals Using endocarp-remains of seeds of wild apricot Prunus armeniaca to identify rodent seed predators

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 396-400
Author(s):  
Hongmao Zhang ◽  
Wei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Seed Coat ◽  
Prunus Armeniaca ◽  
Linear Discriminant ◽  
Hard Seed ◽  
Seed Predators ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Chinese White ◽  
Wild Apricot ◽  
Field Mice ◽  
Hard Seed Coat

Abstract Some rodent-dispersed seeds have a hard seed-coat (e.g.woody endocarp). Specific scrapes or dental marks on the hard seed-coat left by rodents when they eat these seeds can be used to identify seed predators. In this study we measured the morphological traits of endocarp-remains of seeds of wild apricot Prunus armeniaca used by Chinese white-bellied rats Niviventor confucianus and Korean field mice Apodemus peninsulae. We established their Fisher’s linear discriminant functions to separate endocarp-remains between the two predators. A total of 90.0% of the endocarp-remains left by Korean field mice and 88.0% of those left by Chinese white-bellied rats were correctly classified. The overall percentage of correct classification was 89.0%. One hundred and sixty endocarp-remains of unknown what species predated them were classified using the functions. The method may allow more reliable quantitative studies of the effects of Chinese white-bellied rats and Korean field mice on seed consumption and dispersal of wild apricot and this study might be used for reference in other studies of seed predators identification on hard seeds.

Environmental factors affecting sexual size dimorphism in the hermit crab Pagurus middendorffii

1999 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
pp. 953-954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Wada
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Interspecific Competition ◽  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Sexual Size Dimorphism ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Size Dimorphism ◽  
Population Comparisons

The effects of shell resource and interspecific competition on sexual size dimorphism of the hermit crab, Pagurus middendorffii (Decapoda: Paguridae), were examined from population comparisons. Degree of size dimorphism and mean shell size occupied by male and female P. middendorffii differed among adjacent sites, and there was a significant correlation between them. Although most large P. middendorffii occupied large Chlorostoma lischkei shells in both shell-limited and shell-unlimited populations, P. lanuginosus, a sympatric species, occupied large C. lischkei shells more frequently than P. middendorffii did in a shell-limited population. Environmental factors, shell availability and interspecific competition for shells, might play important roles in determining the degree of sexual size dimorphism of P. middendorffii.

Interspecific Competition between Two Sympatric Species of Dwarf Crawfishes

Ecology ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 793-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Henry Penn ◽  
J. F. Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Interspecific Competition ◽  
Sympatric Species
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