Abstract
Species’ niche depends on several ecological and evolutionary factors. Phylogenetically close species may present niche conservatism, retaining their ancestral ecological characteristics. Alternatively, in a situation of limited resources, species can differentiate themselves through changes in their ecological and morphological characteristics to reduce niche overlap, thus facilitating coexistence. In this study, we investigated the ecological niche of two phylogenetically closely related cryptobenthic reef fish species that co-occur in the southern Brazilian coast, Parablennius pilicornis and P. marmoreus. We examined possible overlap in three niche dimensions (thermal, spatial and trophic) to verify if species hold phylogenetic niche conservatism or are partitioning some niche dimension. For this, we studied their densities, microhabitat affinities and diets among four rocky reefs of southern Brazil. The two species presented differences in thermal distribution, and their abundance differed according to depth strata, but no differences were found for microhabitat preferences. They also presented a similar omnivorous diet, with crustaceans and algae as main prey types. The Pianka’s niche overlap values did not differ from the values expected in the null model for thermal and depth, and it was higher than expected by chance for microhabitat and diet. Considering all the niche dimensions analysed together, the total niche overlap was greater than expected at random. These results suggest that the two species are successfully coexisting despite considerable niche overlap. Thus, their coexistence may not depend on the evolution of divergent patterns of resource use, but on the evolutionary history of the species.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Gabriel S. Araújo, Thiago M. J. Fiuza, Gabriel B. Victorino, and Caroline Leão for sampling and field support. We thank the logistical support for fieldwork provided by ICMBio—REBIO Arvoredo. The sampling on the Arvoredo Island was authorized by ICMBio [#12543-1 and #72574-1 to SRF]. We thank Alberto Lindner, Bárbara Segal, Mariana Mazza and Thiago Mendes for laboratorial equipment and support. AMC and LTN received a scholarship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brazil (CAPES) [Financial code 001]. SRF is grateful to his research productivity grant provided by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq 307340/2019-8).
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AMC and LTN received a scholarship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brazil (CAPES) (financial code 001).
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AMC, LTN and SRF conceived the ideas and designed the study; AMC, LTN and SRF contributed to sampling effort; AMC and LTN performed the gut content analyses; AMC, LTN, and LGROS performed statistical analyses; AMC led the writing; all the authors contributed to the writing and discussions. All authors gave final approval for publication.
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We declare that all fishes were sampled according to the international and national guidelines for sampling. Permission for sampling in Brazil was given by the ICMBio Institute (SISBio #12543-1 and #72574-1 to SRF).
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Canterle, A.M., Nunes, L.T., Oliveira-Santos, L.G.R. et al. Syntopic cryptobenthic fishes can coexist with overlapping niches. Mar Biol 169, 26 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-04009-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-04009-4