Drivers of individual niche variation in coexisting species

Abstract

Although neglected by classic niche theory, individual variation is now recognized as a prevalent phenomenon in nature with evolutionary and ecological relevance. Recent theory suggests that differences in individual variation across competitors can affect species coexistence and community patterns. However, the degree of individual variation is flexible across wild populations and we still know little about the ecological drivers of this variation across populations of single species and, especially, across coexisting species. Here, we aimed to (a) elucidate the major drivers of individual niche variation in natural communities and (b) to determine how consistent this variation is across coexisting species and communities. We analysed natural patterns of individual-level niche variation in four species of coexisting generalist frogs across a wide range of tropical communities. Specifically, we used gut contents and stable isotopes (δ C and δ N) from frog species and their prey to quantify individual niche specialization. Then, we combined data on local community structure, availability of prey, phylogenetic relationships and predator-prey size models to test how this variation is related to four ecological factors which are predicted to be key drivers of individual specialization: intraspecific competition, interspecific competition, ecological opportunity (i.e., diversity of resources) and predation. We found that the degree of individual trophic specialization varied by up to ninefold across populations within the same species. This sizable variation in trophic specialization across populations was at least partially explained by gradients of density of competitors (both conspecifics and heterospecifics) and intraguild predation. However, the specific relationships between individual specialization and these ecological gradients were strongly species-specific. As consequences, the identity of the species with more individual variation changed among sites and there was typically no spatial correlation in the degree of individual specialization across coexisting species. Our results show that individual niche specialization within and across species can be strongly context-dependent and that hierarchies of individual variation among coexisting species are not necessarily consistent across communities. Recent theory suggests that this pattern could lead to concurrent changes in competitive interactions across sites and thereby could play a key role in species coexistence at the landscape level. Our results suggest that individual variation across and within coexisting species has the potential to affect not only species coexistence at local communities, but also regional diversity patterns.

Individual niche trajectories drive fitness variation

“…We investigated niche and fitness variation in two congeneric species of thin‐toed frogs, Leptodactylus chaquensis and Leptodactylus podicipinus . Within the Pantanal, these syntopic species are particularly abundant and exhibit high but variable diet overlap (Costa‐Pereira, Rudolf, et al, ; Piatti & Souza, ). Both species forage on the ground and in low vegetation at night, feeding on a large variety of invertebrate and small vertebrate prey (Costa‐Pereira, Araújo, Olivier, Souza, & Rudolf, ; Costa‐Pereira, Rudolf, et al, ; Costa‐Pereira et al, ).…”

“…Within the Pantanal, these syntopic species are particularly abundant and exhibit high but variable diet overlap (Costa‐Pereira, Rudolf, et al, ; Piatti & Souza, ). Both species forage on the ground and in low vegetation at night, feeding on a large variety of invertebrate and small vertebrate prey (Costa‐Pereira, Araújo, Olivier, Souza, & Rudolf, ; Costa‐Pereira, Rudolf, et al, ; Costa‐Pereira et al, ). However, because L. podicipinus is smaller (max size: ~50 mm), this species tends to consume smaller‐sized and less diverse prey types when compared to L. chaquensis (max size: ~100 mm) (Costa‐Pereira, Rudolf, et al, ).…”

“…We sampled 15 populations of L. chaquensis and 12 populations of L. podicipinus around a total of 21 grassland lagoons in an extensive area of the Pantanal between mid‐November 2014 and early January 2015. In each sampled site, we established six 10 × 10 m plots and hand‐captured all individuals of L. chaquensis and L. podicipinus (see details in Costa‐Pereira, Rudolf, et al, ). Frogs were euthanized with an overdose of lidocaine and then stored in a −20°C freezer until laboratory processing.…”

“…However, ecologists have recently reconsidered this simplification because of the increasingly recognized relevance of intraspecific ecological variation. Mounting evidence across diverse taxa suggests that individuals within populations often differ in their resource use (Araújo, Bolnick, & Layman, ; Bolnick et al, ), which may have important consequences for community structure (Bolnick et al, ; Costa‐Pereira, Araújo, Souza, & Ingram, ; Costa‐Pereira, Rudolf, Souza, & Araújo, ; Hart, Schreiber, & Levine, ; Violle et al, ).…”

“…Environmental resource availability (i.e. prey community composition) shifts gradually over this time (Junk, Silva, Nunes da Cunha, & Wantzen, ; Wantzen et al, ), and thin‐toed frogs consume a wide spectrum of prey types (~70 invertebrate families, fish, anurans), though not without considerable individual specialization (Costa‐Pereira, Rudolf, et al, ). Here, we used multi‐tissue stable isotopes to evaluate whether the consistency of individuals' trophic niches over this key foraging period is predictive of fitness outcomes.…”