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Niche partitioning in an assemblage of granivorous rodents, and the challenge of community-level conservation

Coexistence of competing species in the same foraging guild has long puzzled ecologists. In particular, how do small subordinate species persist with larger dominant competitors? This question becomes particularly important when conservation interventions, such as reintroduction or translocation, be...

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Autores principales: Chock, Rachel Y., Shier, Debra M., Grether, Gregory F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8858926/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35034220
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05104-5
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author Chock, Rachel Y.
Shier, Debra M.
Grether, Gregory F.
author_facet Chock, Rachel Y.
Shier, Debra M.
Grether, Gregory F.
author_sort Chock, Rachel Y.
collection PubMed
description Coexistence of competing species in the same foraging guild has long puzzled ecologists. In particular, how do small subordinate species persist with larger dominant competitors? This question becomes particularly important when conservation interventions, such as reintroduction or translocation, become necessary for the smaller species. Exclusion of dominant competitors might be necessary to establish populations of some endangered species. Ultimately, however, the goal should be to conserve whole communities. Determining how subordinate species escape competitive exclusion in intact communities could inform conservation decisions by clarifying the ecological conditions and processes required for coexistence at local or regional scales. We tested for spatial and temporal partitioning among six species of native, granivorous rodents using null models, and characterized the microhabitat of each species using resource-selection models. We found that the species’ nightly activity patterns are aggregated temporally but segregated spatially. As expected, we found clear evidence that the larger-bodied kangaroo rats drive spatial partitioning, but we also found species-specific microhabitat associations, which suggests that habitat heterogeneity is part of what enables these species to coexist. Restoration of natural disturbance regimes that create habitat heterogeneity, and selection of translocation sites without specific competitors, are among the management recommendations to consider in this case. More generally, this study highlights the need for a community-level approach to conservation and the usefulness of basic ecological data for guiding management decisions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00442-021-05104-5.
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spelling pubmed-88589262022-02-23 Niche partitioning in an assemblage of granivorous rodents, and the challenge of community-level conservation Chock, Rachel Y. Shier, Debra M. Grether, Gregory F. Oecologia Conservation Ecology–Original Research Coexistence of competing species in the same foraging guild has long puzzled ecologists. In particular, how do small subordinate species persist with larger dominant competitors? This question becomes particularly important when conservation interventions, such as reintroduction or translocation, become necessary for the smaller species. Exclusion of dominant competitors might be necessary to establish populations of some endangered species. Ultimately, however, the goal should be to conserve whole communities. Determining how subordinate species escape competitive exclusion in intact communities could inform conservation decisions by clarifying the ecological conditions and processes required for coexistence at local or regional scales. We tested for spatial and temporal partitioning among six species of native, granivorous rodents using null models, and characterized the microhabitat of each species using resource-selection models. We found that the species’ nightly activity patterns are aggregated temporally but segregated spatially. As expected, we found clear evidence that the larger-bodied kangaroo rats drive spatial partitioning, but we also found species-specific microhabitat associations, which suggests that habitat heterogeneity is part of what enables these species to coexist. Restoration of natural disturbance regimes that create habitat heterogeneity, and selection of translocation sites without specific competitors, are among the management recommendations to consider in this case. More generally, this study highlights the need for a community-level approach to conservation and the usefulness of basic ecological data for guiding management decisions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00442-021-05104-5. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2022-01-15 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC8858926/ /pubmed/35034220 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05104-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Conservation Ecology–Original Research
Chock, Rachel Y.
Shier, Debra M.
Grether, Gregory F.
Niche partitioning in an assemblage of granivorous rodents, and the challenge of community-level conservation
title Niche partitioning in an assemblage of granivorous rodents, and the challenge of community-level conservation
title_full Niche partitioning in an assemblage of granivorous rodents, and the challenge of community-level conservation
title_fullStr Niche partitioning in an assemblage of granivorous rodents, and the challenge of community-level conservation
title_full_unstemmed Niche partitioning in an assemblage of granivorous rodents, and the challenge of community-level conservation
title_short Niche partitioning in an assemblage of granivorous rodents, and the challenge of community-level conservation
title_sort niche partitioning in an assemblage of granivorous rodents, and the challenge of community-level conservation
topic Conservation Ecology–Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8858926/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35034220
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05104-5
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