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One meadow for two sparrows: resource partitioning in a high elevation habitat

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Abstract

Resource partitioning is the basis of the coexistence of sympatric species and has therefore received much attention in ecological studies. However, how variation in environmental conditions (and particularly natural variation in resource availability) can influence resource partitioning in free-ranging animals is not well understood. In the present study, we addressed the hypothesis that natural changes in the availability of food resources affect food partitioning between sympatric species. To do so, we examined temporal changes in the plasma isotopic signature (δ15N and δ13C) of syntopic Lincoln’s sparrows Melospiza lincolnii and white-crowned sparrows Zonotrichia leucophrys, in parallel with seasonal changes in habitat maturity and food availability from spring to early summer. We found no apparent trophic segregation between Lincoln’s and white-crowned sparrows when resources were scarce in spring. But, interestingly, as resource availability and the number of breeding birds increased, Lincoln’s sparrows showed lower δ15N values than white-crowned sparrows, as they consumed more prey from lower trophic levels and less prey from higher trophic levels. This feeding divergence between sympatric species may be explained (1) by a change in foraging preferences and opportunities for Lincoln’s sparrows and (2) by the abundance of competitors that increased faster than resources, thus promoting interspecific competition and trophic segregation. These results provide clear evidence that trophic segregation is dynamically tied to variation in environmental conditions, which are therefore fundamental to consider when examining resource partitioning between co-existing species.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Emma Johnson, Caroline Jordan, Alex Rohtla and Daniel Bobrowski for their great help in the field. We are also grateful to Drs Amber Rice, André A. Dhondt, Martin L. Morton, and two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on this manuscript. The US Department of the Interior, Geological Service (permit 23370), the US Fish and Wildlife Service (permit MB099926-0), the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service (authorization COL584), the State of Colorado Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife (license 10TRb1056), the Town of Silverton, Colorado, USA, and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (protocol 08-089.0-B) each granted permission to conduct the procedures described in this study. This research was supported in part by NINDS R01 NS055125 to K.W.S.

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  1. Michaël Beaulieu

    Present address: Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Animal Ecology, Hauptstr. 1, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

    Michaël Beaulieu & Keith W. Sockman

  2. Curriculum in Neurobiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

    Keith W. Sockman

Authors
  1. Michaël Beaulieu
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  2. Keith W. Sockman
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Correspondence to Michaël Beaulieu.

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Communicated by Peggy Ostrom.

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Beaulieu, M., Sockman, K.W. One meadow for two sparrows: resource partitioning in a high elevation habitat. Oecologia 170, 529–540 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2327-7

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