Population studies: animal ecology and demography

Hutchinson, Gillian

doi:10.1007/bf02459641

Cited by 96 publications

(146 citation statements)

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“…The tendency to concentrate use on a small subset of the resources may be explained by factors such as the use of memory to guide foraging patterns (Sherry 1989), resource partitioning and competition (Hutchinson 1957), morphology (Moermond and Denslow 1985) and changing seasonal nutritional requirements (Wheelright 1988). It is puzzling why particular bird species may prefer some fruits so strongly and ignore others, but the unique morphology and physiology of each avian species are probable underlying factors (Moermond and Denslow 1983;Martínez del Rio 1988).…”

Section: Fruit Preferencementioning

confidence: 98%

Avian fruit preferences across a Puerto Rican forested landscape: pattern consistency and implications for seed removal

2003

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Avian fruit consumption may ensure plant reproductive success when frugivores show consistent preference patterns and effectively remove and disperse seeds. In this study we examined avian fruit preferences and their seed-removal services at five study sites in north-central Puerto Rico. At each site, we documented the diet of seven common fruit-eating avian species from February to September 1998. Using foraging observations and area-based estimates of fruit abundance, we examined preference patterns of birds. We found that 7 out of 68 fleshy-fruited plant species were responsible for most of the fruit diet of birds. Seventeen plant species were preferred and four of them were repeatedly preferred across several study sites and times by at least one avian species. Preferred plant species comprised a small percentage of fleshy fruits at each site (<15% in four out of five study sites), but showed extended phenology patterns. The quantity of seeds removed by frugivore species was not strictly related to preferences. Some frugivores showing no preference could effectively remove more seeds from plants at some locations than species exhibiting constancy in their patterns of preference. Only two frugivores, Euphonia musica and Vireo altiloquous, removed most of the seeds of plants for which they exhibited repeated preference across the landscape. Preference patterns, particularly those exhibiting consistency in space and time for plant species having prolonged fruiting periods, may have important mechanistic consequences for the persistence, succession, and regeneration of tropical plant communities.

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Section: Fruit Preferencementioning

confidence: 98%

Avian fruit preferences across a Puerto Rican forested landscape: pattern consistency and implications for seed removal

2003

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“…While these three variables are not strictly independent (e.g., disturbance undoubtedly impacts the plant community) we believe they represent independent processes and can be investigated separately. We consider the three proposed axes to have the potential to explain a signiWcant amount of beta, or among-site diversity, but we acknowledge there are likely additional niche axes that constitute the overall hypervolume describing the niche requirements of individual AMF species (Hutchinson 1957). Some of the most important additional axes likely include temporal niche partitioning, partitioning of soil depth, and selective predation (Chesson 2000;Dickie et al 2002;Pringle and Bever 2002;Reynolds et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Scale-dependent niche axes of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

2008

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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are mutualistic with most species of plants and are known to influence plant community diversity and composition. To better understand natural plant communities and the ecological processes they control it is important to understand what determines the distribution and diversity of AMF. We tested three putative niche axes: plant species composition, disturbance history, and soil chemistry against AMF species composition to determine which axis correlated most strongly with a changing AMF community. Due to a scale dependency we were not able to absolutely rank their importance, but we did find that each correlated significantly with AMF community change at our site. Among soil properties, pH and NO(3) were found to be especially good predictors of AMF community change. In a similar analysis of the plant community we found that time since disturbance had by far the largest impact on community composition.

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“…Ecologists have long been interested in how ecological specialization, or "niche specificity" (Hutchinson 1957), influences the relative abundance of closely related species (Hutchinson 1953;MacArthur 1957). More recently, Brown (1984) hypothesized that differences in ecological specialization among species might account for the commonly observed abundance-distribution relationship.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The scale of resource specialization and the distribution and abundance of lycaenid butterflies

Hughes¹

2000

Oecologia

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Numerous hypotheses have been proposed for the commonly observed, positive relationship between local abundance and geographic distribution in groups of closely related species. Here I consider how hostplant specialization and abundance affect the relative abundance and distribution of lycaenid butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). I first discuss three components of specialization: local specialization, turnover of specialization across a species' range, and the minimum number of resources (or habitats) required by a species. Within this framework, I then consider one dimension of a lycaenid species' niche, larval hostplant specialization. In a subalpine region of Colorado, I surveyed 11 lycaenid species and their hostplants at 17 sites. I compare this local information to continental hostplant use and large-scale distributions of the lycaenids and their hostplants. Local abundance of a lycaenid species is positively correlated with its local distribution (the number of sites occupied), but not with its regional or continental distribution. Neither local specialization (the number of hostplants used within one habitat) nor continental specialization (the number of hostplants used across many habitats) is correlated with local lycaenid abundance. Continental specialization is positively correlated with a species' continental distribution, however. Finally, while generalist butterflies tend to have more hostplant available to them, differences in resource availability do not explain the differences in butterfly abundance. Although local abundance is correlated only with local distribution, I suggest that abundance-distribution relationships might emerge at regional and continental scales if local abundance were averaged across many habitat types. Consideration of the scale of a species' resource specialization (within or among habitats) appears to be key to understanding the relationships between resource specialization, resource availability, and a species' abundance and distribution.

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Population studies: animal ecology and demography

Cited by 96 publications

References 0 publications

Avian fruit preferences across a Puerto Rican forested landscape: pattern consistency and implications for seed removal

Avian fruit preferences across a Puerto Rican forested landscape: pattern consistency and implications for seed removal

Scale-dependent niche axes of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

The scale of resource specialization and the distribution and abundance of lycaenid butterflies

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