The importance of individual and species-level traits for trophic niches among herbivorous coral reef fishes

Author:

Allgeier Jacob E.1ORCID,Adam Thomas C.2,Burkepile Deron E.32

Affiliation:

1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

2. Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

3. The Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Abstract

Resolving how species compete and coexist within ecological communities represents a long-standing challenge in ecology. Research efforts have focused on two predominant mechanisms of species coexistence: complementarity and redundancy. But findings also support an alternative hypothesis that within-species variation may be critical for coexistence. Our study focuses on nine closely related and ecologically similar coral reef fish species to test the importance of individual- versus species-level traits in determining the size of dietary, foraging substrate, and behavioural interaction niches. Specifically, we asked: (i) what level of biological organization best describes individual-level niches? and (ii) how are herbivore community niches partitioned among species, and are niche widths driven by species- or individual-level traits? Dietary and foraging substrate niche widths were best described by species identity, but no level of taxonomy explained behavioural interactions. All three niches were dominated by only a few species, contrasting expectations of niche complementarity. Species- and individual-level traits strongly drove foraging substrate and behavioural niches, respectively, whereas the dietary niche was described by both. Our findings underscored the importance of species-level traits for community-level niches, but highlight that individual-level trait variation within a select few species may be a key driver of the overall size of niches.

Funder

NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine

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