Data from: A test of the niche variation hypothesis in a ruminant herbivore ...

• Main Author: Jesmer, Brett
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2020
• Subjects: Alces alces
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqz9q; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqz9q

1. Despite the shared prediction that the width of a population’s dietary niche expands as food becomes limiting, the Niche Variation Hypothesis (NVH) and Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT) offer contrasting views about how individuals alter diet selection when food is limited. 2. Classical OFT predicts that dietary preferences do not change as food becomes limiting, so individuals expand their diets as they compensate for a lack of preferred foods. In contrast, the NVH predicts that among-individual variation in cognition, physiology, or morphology create functional trade-offs in foraging efficiency, thereby causing individuals to specialize on different subsets of food. 3. To evaluate (a) the predictions of the NVH and OFT and (b) evidence for physiological and cognitive-based functional trade-offs, we used DNA microsatellites and metabarcoding to quantify the diet, microbiome, and genetic relatedness (a proxy for social learning) of 218 moose (Alces alces) across six populations that varied in their degree of ...