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Age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization facilitate seasonal resource partitioning in a migratory shorebird

1. Dietary specialization is common in animals and has important implications for individual fitness, inter‐ and intraspecific competition, and the adaptive potential of a species. Diet composition can be influenced by age‐ and sex‐related factors including an individual's morphology, social st...

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Autores principales: Hall, Laurie A., De La Cruz, Susan E. W., Woo, Isa, Kuwae, Tomohiro, Takekawa, John Y.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7882968/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33614009
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7175
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author Hall, Laurie A.
De La Cruz, Susan E. W.
Woo, Isa
Kuwae, Tomohiro
Takekawa, John Y.
author_facet Hall, Laurie A.
De La Cruz, Susan E. W.
Woo, Isa
Kuwae, Tomohiro
Takekawa, John Y.
author_sort Hall, Laurie A.
collection PubMed
description 1. Dietary specialization is common in animals and has important implications for individual fitness, inter‐ and intraspecific competition, and the adaptive potential of a species. Diet composition can be influenced by age‐ and sex‐related factors including an individual's morphology, social status, and acquired skills; however, specialization may only be necessary when competition is intensified by high population densities or increased energetic demands. 2. To better understand the role of age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization in facilitating seasonal resource partitioning, we inferred the contribution of biofilm, microphytobenthos, and benthic invertebrates to the diets of western sandpipers (Calidris mauri) from different demographic groups during mid‐winter (January/February) and at the onset of the breeding migration (April) using stable isotope mixing models. Western sandpipers are sexually dimorphic with females having significantly greater body mass and bill length than males. 3. Diet composition differed between seasons and among demographic groups. In winter, prey consumption was similar among demographic groups, but, in spring, diet composition differed with bill length and body mass explaining 31% of the total variation in diet composition. Epifaunal invertebrates made up a greater proportion of the diet in males which had lesser mass and shorter bills than females. Consumption of Polychaeta increased with increasing bill length and was greatest in adult females. In contrast, consumption of microphytobenthos, thought to be an important food source for migrating sandpipers, increased with decreasing bill length and was greatest in juvenile males. 4. Our results provide the first evidence that age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization in western sandpipers facilitate seasonal resource partitioning that could reduce competition during spring at the onset of the breeding migration. 5. Our study underscores the importance of examining resource partitioning throughout the annual cycle to inform fitness and demographic models and facilitate conservation efforts.
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spelling pubmed-78829682021-02-19 Age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization facilitate seasonal resource partitioning in a migratory shorebird Hall, Laurie A. De La Cruz, Susan E. W. Woo, Isa Kuwae, Tomohiro Takekawa, John Y. Ecol Evol Original Research 1. Dietary specialization is common in animals and has important implications for individual fitness, inter‐ and intraspecific competition, and the adaptive potential of a species. Diet composition can be influenced by age‐ and sex‐related factors including an individual's morphology, social status, and acquired skills; however, specialization may only be necessary when competition is intensified by high population densities or increased energetic demands. 2. To better understand the role of age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization in facilitating seasonal resource partitioning, we inferred the contribution of biofilm, microphytobenthos, and benthic invertebrates to the diets of western sandpipers (Calidris mauri) from different demographic groups during mid‐winter (January/February) and at the onset of the breeding migration (April) using stable isotope mixing models. Western sandpipers are sexually dimorphic with females having significantly greater body mass and bill length than males. 3. Diet composition differed between seasons and among demographic groups. In winter, prey consumption was similar among demographic groups, but, in spring, diet composition differed with bill length and body mass explaining 31% of the total variation in diet composition. Epifaunal invertebrates made up a greater proportion of the diet in males which had lesser mass and shorter bills than females. Consumption of Polychaeta increased with increasing bill length and was greatest in adult females. In contrast, consumption of microphytobenthos, thought to be an important food source for migrating sandpipers, increased with decreasing bill length and was greatest in juvenile males. 4. Our results provide the first evidence that age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization in western sandpipers facilitate seasonal resource partitioning that could reduce competition during spring at the onset of the breeding migration. 5. Our study underscores the importance of examining resource partitioning throughout the annual cycle to inform fitness and demographic models and facilitate conservation efforts. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-01-20 /pmc/articles/PMC7882968/ /pubmed/33614009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7175 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This article has been contributed to by US Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Hall, Laurie A.
De La Cruz, Susan E. W.
Woo, Isa
Kuwae, Tomohiro
Takekawa, John Y.
Age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization facilitate seasonal resource partitioning in a migratory shorebird
title Age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization facilitate seasonal resource partitioning in a migratory shorebird
title_full Age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization facilitate seasonal resource partitioning in a migratory shorebird
title_fullStr Age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization facilitate seasonal resource partitioning in a migratory shorebird
title_full_unstemmed Age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization facilitate seasonal resource partitioning in a migratory shorebird
title_short Age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization facilitate seasonal resource partitioning in a migratory shorebird
title_sort age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization facilitate seasonal resource partitioning in a migratory shorebird
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7882968/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33614009
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7175
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