Character Displacement Through and Evolutionary Change in Ontogenetic niche shifts

In communities structured by body size, coexistence can occur through combinations of ontogenetic changes in competitive ability and dietary niche. Using stable isotopes, we examined ontogenetic niche shifts in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) and killifish (Rivulus hartii) in three types of natural communities (both species with predators, KGP; both without predators, KG; killifish only, KO) and four experimental KG communities, initiated with KGP guppies and KO killifish between 13 and 45 years ago. In all communities, killifish occupied higher trophic positions and changed their diet (δ^13 C) with body size. Only KGP guppies displayed an ontogenetic niche shift. The KG guppies displayed a significant difference in trophic niche from KGP guppies, a character displacement that can facilitate coexistence with killifish. In the experimental communities, the guppy trophic niche was intermediate between those in KGP and KG communities, indicating that evolution has driven the niche shift in KG guppies.

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Ontogenetic niche shifts and their implications for recruitment in three clonal Vaccinium shrubs: Vaccinium myrtillus, Vaccinium vitis-idaea, and Vaccinium oxycoccos

Canadian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1139/b02-044 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 80 (6) ◽

pp. 635-641 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Ove Eriksson

Keyword(s):

Negative Relationship ◽

Plant Ecology ◽

Vaccinium Myrtillus ◽

Niche Shift ◽

Ontogenetic Niche Shifts ◽

Ontogenetic Niche Shift ◽

Niche Shifts ◽

Recruitment Behavior ◽

Species Recruitment ◽

Ontogenetic Niche

Ontogenetic niche shifts, i.e., changes in niche breadth and (or) position during the life of individuals, have received rather limited attention in plant ecology. An experiment was designed to assess ontogenetic niche shifts in three clonal Vaccinium shrubs in order to examine their recruitment behavior. Seeds were sown, and juveniles transplanted, at sites along a gradient of changing occurrence of the three species. Recruitment was seed limited, varied among sites, and was correlated with juvenile survivorship. No niche shift occurred during seed to seedling stages for any of the plants. For Vaccinium myrtillus L., recruitment was not related to adult occurrence, whereas for Vaccinium oxycoccos L., recruitment was highest at the site where adults dominated. However, for both of these species, recruitment also occurred outside the range of adult occurrence. Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. exhibited a negative relationship between adult occurrence and recruitment and between adult occurrence and juvenile survivorship, indicating an ontogenetic niche shift. For V. myrtillus the results suggested an uncoupling of niche requirements of juvenile and adult stages, whereas for V. oxycoccos the results suggested a niche contraction towards the requirements for adults. Thus, the form of ontogenetic niche shifts differs among the species. These differences in niche shifts contribute to understanding dispersal and recruitment behavior of the species.Key words: clonal plants, dispersal, niche shifts, recruitment.

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Relative importance of size-based competitive ability and degree of niche overlap in inter-cohort competition of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) juveniles

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f2011-042 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 68 (6) ◽

pp. 969-976 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Sigurd Einum ◽

Eli Kvingedal

Keyword(s):

Body Size ◽

Atlantic Salmon ◽

Salmo Salar ◽

Niche Overlap ◽

Size Class ◽

Atlantic Salmon Salmo Salar ◽

Ontogenetic Niche Shifts ◽

Niche Shifts ◽

Ontogenetic Niche ◽

Competitive Abilities

The competitive effect of older cohorts on younger cohorts may strengthen with increasing size differences owing to increasing differences in competitive abilities. Alternatively, it may weaken owing to increasing partitioning of resources as a result of ontogenetic niche shifts. Here, we test this by creating spatial variation in densities of one size class of overyearling Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) and assess the effects on two size classes of young-of-the-year (YOY). The positive relationship between growth of overyearlings and final body size of YOY (a proxy for their growth) was steeper for the larger size class of YOY than for the smaller size class, which would be expected if the degree of niche overlap between two cohorts depended on their size difference. The negative relationship between overyearling density and YOY body size was also steeper for the larger size class (at least for body mass), suggesting that effects of body size differences on relative competitive abilities appear to be of less importance than the effects on degree of niche overlap. YOY should thus experience relatively less competition from older cohorts in rapidly growing populations, and this may also apply to many other fish species with ontogenetic niche shifts.

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The influence of juvenile dinosaurs on community structure and diversity

Science ◽

10.1126/science.abd9220 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 371 (6532) ◽

pp. 941-944

Author(s):

Katlin Schroeder ◽

S. Kathleen Lyons ◽

Felisa A. Smith

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Body Size ◽

Size Range ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

The Body ◽

Niche Shift ◽

Specific Effects ◽

Ontogenetic Niche Shift ◽

Ontogenetic Niche

Despite dominating biodiversity in the Mesozoic, dinosaurs were not speciose. Oviparity constrained even gigantic dinosaurs to less than 15 kg at birth; growth through multiple morphologies led to the consumption of different resources at each stage. Such disparity between neonates and adults could have influenced the structure and diversity of dinosaur communities. Here, we quantified this effect for 43 communities across 136 million years and seven continents. We found that megatheropods (more than 1000 kg) such as tyrannosaurs had specific effects on dinosaur community structure. Although herbivores spanned the body size range, communities with megatheropods lacked carnivores weighing 100 to 1000 kg. We demonstrate that juvenile megatheropods likely filled the mesocarnivore niche, resulting in reduced overall taxonomic diversity. The consistency of this pattern suggests that ontogenetic niche shift was an important factor in generating dinosaur community structure and diversity.

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A Parent-Offspring Trade-Off Limits the Evolution of an Ontogenetic Niche Shift

The American Naturalist ◽

10.1086/692066 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 190 (1) ◽

pp. 45-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Hanna ten Brink ◽

André M. de Roos

Keyword(s):

Niche Shift ◽

Trade Off ◽

Ontogenetic Niche Shift ◽

Ontogenetic Niche

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Predation and associational refuge drive ontogenetic niche shifts in an arctiid caterpillar

Ecology ◽

10.1890/14-1092.1 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 96 (1) ◽

pp. 80-89 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Patrick Grof-Tisza ◽

Marcel Holyoak ◽

Edward Antell ◽

Richard Karban

Keyword(s):

Ontogenetic Niche Shifts ◽

Niche Shifts ◽

Ontogenetic Niche ◽

Associational Refuge

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Alternative Stable States Generated by Ontogenetic Niche Shift in the Presence of Multiple Resource Use

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0014667 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. e14667 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Takefumi Nakazawa

Keyword(s):

Resource Use ◽

Alternative Stable States ◽

Niche Shift ◽

Stable States ◽

Ontogenetic Niche Shift ◽

Ontogenetic Niche ◽

Multiple Resource

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Optimistic Growth: Competition and an Ontogenetic Niche-Shift Select for Rapid Growth in Pumpkinseed Sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus)

Evolution ◽

10.2307/2411015 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 51 (6) ◽

pp. 1946 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Jeffrey D. Arendt ◽

David S. Wilson

Keyword(s):

Rapid Growth ◽

Niche Shift ◽

Lepomis Gibbosus ◽

Pumpkinseed Sunfish ◽

Ontogenetic Niche Shift ◽

Ontogenetic Niche

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Ontogenetic Niche Shifts, Predators, and Coexistence among Consumer Species

Population and Community Ecology of Ontogenetic Development ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691137575.003.0008 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

André M. de Roos ◽

Lennart Persson

Keyword(s):

Alternative Stable States ◽

Niche Partitioning ◽

Stage Structure ◽

Stable States ◽

Stable Coexistence ◽

Ontogenetic Niche Shifts ◽

Niche Shifts ◽

Ontogenetic Niche ◽

Dependent Growth ◽

Equal Population

This chapter considers how stage structure and ontogenetic niche shifts may affect the coexistence between two consumer species competing for two resources in the absence and presence of predators, and how ontogenetic niche shifts may give rise to alternative stable states. More specifically, the analysis will use techniques developed within the consumer-resource framework of Tilman (1982), including consumption and renewal vectors (Schellekens, de Roos, and Persson 2010). Tilman showed that stable coexistence between consumers feeding on the same two resources is possible if each consumer species feeds proportionally more on the resource that limits its own growth most. Stable coexistence is, however, also affected by the form of resource-dependent growth isoclines, which represent combinations of resource densities that lead to equal population growth of consumers. It is shown that ontogenetic niche shifts per se affect the form of resource-dependent growth isoclines, which in turn may lead to coexistence through niche partitioning. The chapter also discusses how predation may promote the performance of a species undergoing ontogenetic niche shifts even in the case where it is both the inferior competitor and the preferred prey of the predator.

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Summary

Population and Community Ecology of Ontogenetic Development ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691137575.003.0001 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

André M. de Roos ◽

Lennart Persson

Keyword(s):

Population Dynamics ◽

Life History ◽

General Framework ◽

Community Effects ◽

Present Volume ◽

Ontogenetic Niche Shifts ◽

Niche Shifts ◽

Different Types ◽

Emergent Community ◽

Ontogenetic Niche

This chapter provides a summary of the topics covered by the present volume. The summary serves the purpose of clearly showing how different chapters fit together in a general framework with respect to model approaches as well as results obtained. Reading this summary chapter will show readers the different types of community modules that will be analyzed as well as provide a clear impression of the results and insights that presented in this book. Topics discussed include biomass overcompensation, ontogenetic (a)symmetry in energetics, emergent community effects of biomass overcompensation, ontogenetic niche shifts in consumer life history, ontogenetic niche shifts in predator life history, competition between consumers with and without ontogenetic niche shifts, and ontogenetic (a)symmetry in energetics and population dynamics.

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