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Individual variation of isotopic niches in grazing and browsing desert ungulates

  • Behavioral ecology - Original research
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Abstract

Ungulates often adjust their diet when food availability varies over time. However, it is poorly understood when and to what extent individuals change their diet and, if they do so, if all individuals of a population occupy distinct or similar dietary niches. In the arid Namibian Kunene Region, we studied temporal variations of individual niches in grazing gemsbok (Oryx gazella gazella) and predominantly browsing springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis). We used variation in stable C and N isotope ratios of tail hair increments as proxies to estimate individual isotopic dietary niches and their temporal plasticity. Isotopic dietary niches of populations of the two species were mutually exclusive, but similar in breadth. Isotopic niche breadth of gemsbok was better explained by within-individual variation than by between-individual variation of stable isotope ratios, indicating that gemsbok individuals were facultative specialists in using isotopically distinct local food resources. In contrast, inter- and intra-individual variations contributed similarly to the isotopic niche breadth of the springbok population, suggesting a higher degree of individual isotopic segregation in a more generalist ungulate. In both species, between-individual variation was neither explained by changes in plant primary productivity, sex, geographical position nor by group size. Within species, individual dietary niches overlapped partially, suggesting that both populations included individuals with distinct isotopic dietary niches. Our study provides the first evidence for isotopic dietary niche segregation in individuals of two distinct desert ungulates. Similar, yet isotopically distinct dietary niches of individuals may facilitate partitioning of food resources and thus individual survival in desert ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Namibia for granting us research permits (nos. 1534/2010 and 1676/2012). We are very grateful to the Torra Community-based Conservancy and its members for allowing this study to be performed on their communal territory. We thank Wilderness Safari Namibia for support in the field with logistics and field vehicle maintenance. We are thankful to the team of Damaraland Camp for assisting with logistics, especially Pascolena Florry, Maggie Vries, Efreida Hebach and Johann Cloete. We thank Anja Luckner, Karin Sörgel and Doris Fichte for preparing and analysing the samples in the stable isotope laboratory. We are grateful to Alexandre Courtiol for statistical advice. We thank Emilia Haimbili from the University of Namibia for assisting in data collection. We thank Ortwin Aschenborn, Bettina Wachter and Joerg Melzheimer for logistical advice and support in the field. We thank Norman Owen-Smith for providing useful comments. This study was approved by the Institutional Committee for Ethics and Animal Welfare of the IZW (no. 2009-10-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 10315, Berlin, Germany

    D. Lehmann & C. C. Voigt

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Namibia (UNAM), Windhoek, 13301, Namibia

    J. K. E. Mfune

  3. Torra Community-based Conservancy Office, Kunene Region, 462, Bergsig, Namibia

    E. Gewers

  4. Wilderness Safaris Namibia, 6850, Windhoek, Namibia

    C. Brain

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  1. D. Lehmann
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  4. C. Brain
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Correspondence to D. Lehmann.

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Communicated by Peggy Ostrom.

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Lehmann, D., Mfune, J.K.E., Gewers, E. et al. Individual variation of isotopic niches in grazing and browsing desert ungulates. Oecologia 179, 75–88 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3335-1

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