Congeneric predators fill discrete niches created by the relative abundances of their prey species

IF 1.5 3区 生物学 Q1 ORNITHOLOGY
Eliot T. Miller, Oisin Mac Aodha, Emma I. Greig, David N. Bonter, Wesley M. Hochachka
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

To what degree is niche partitioning driven by underlying patterns in resources such as food, rather than by competition itself? Do discrete niches exist? We address these questions in the context of Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks, two broadly sympatric, North American, bird-eating raptors in the genus Accipiter. We find that the resource base, as quantified by body masses of birds at bird feeders, is approximately lognormal (smallest birds are most abundant), with lesser modes (peaks) in abundance at larger body mass. The predators appear to exploit peaks in the resource base, with sharp-shinned hawks focusing on small prey items (median of 26.5 g), and Cooper's hawks taking prey from the two most abundant peaks (both the small body mass peak and a lesser peak at medium body mass ~90 g). We tested the ability of citizen scientists to distinguish these notoriously similar species, and we determined the influence of potential false positive detections on our conclusions. We find that citizen scientists struggle to distinguish these predators from one another, and 18% of Cooper's hawks were identified as sharp-shinned hawks, while 27% of sharp-shinned hawks were identified as Cooper's hawks. Yet, simulations show that this uncertainty did not jeopardize our qualitative conclusions.

Abstract Image

同类捕食者填补了由其猎物物种的相对丰度所造成的离散生态位
在多大程度上,利基划分是由食物等资源的潜在模式驱动的,而不是由竞争本身驱动的?分立的利基市场存在吗?我们以库伯鹰和尖光鹰为例来解决这些问题,这两种广泛分布在北美的食鸟猛禽属鹰。我们发现,在鸟类喂食处,以鸟类的体重量化的资源基础近似为对数正态(最小的鸟类数量最多),在较大的体重处,丰度的模式(峰值)较少。捕食者似乎在资源基础上利用峰值,锐利的鹰专注于小型猎物(中位数为26.5 g),而库珀鹰从两个最丰富的峰值(小体重峰值和中等体重~90 g的较小峰值)中获取猎物。我们测试了公民科学家区分这些出了名的相似物种的能力,并确定了潜在的假阳性检测对我们结论的影响。我们发现,公民科学家很难区分这些掠食者,18%的库珀鹰被认定为锐光鹰,而27%的锐光鹰被认定为库珀鹰。然而,模拟表明,这种不确定性并没有危及我们的定性结论。
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来源期刊
Journal of Avian Biology
Journal of Avian Biology 生物-鸟类学
CiteScore
3.70
自引率
0.00%
发文量
56
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: Journal of Avian Biology publishes empirical and theoretical research in all areas of ornithology, with an emphasis on behavioural ecology, evolution and conservation.
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