Too Close for Comfort? Isotopic Niche Segregation in New Zealand’s Odontocetes
Species occurring in sympatry and relying on similar and limited resources may partition resource use to avoid overlap and interspecific competition. Aotearoa, New Zealand hosts an extraordinarily rich marine megafauna, including 50% of the world’s cetacean species. In this study, we used carbon and...
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2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081179 |
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2079-7737/11/8/1179/ 2023-08-20T04:09:17+02:00 Too Close for Comfort? Isotopic Niche Segregation in New Zealand’s Odontocetes Katharina J. Peters Sarah J. Bury Bethany Hinton Emma L. Betty Déborah Casano-Bally Guido J. Parra Karen A. Stockin agris 2022-08-05 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081179 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Ecology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology11081179 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Biology; Volume 11; Issue 8; Pages: 1179 diet dolphins stable isotopes nitrogen carbon feeding ecology trophic relationships SGD14 Text 2022 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081179 2023-08-01T05:58:38Z Species occurring in sympatry and relying on similar and limited resources may partition resource use to avoid overlap and interspecific competition. Aotearoa, New Zealand hosts an extraordinarily rich marine megafauna, including 50% of the world’s cetacean species. In this study, we used carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes as ecological tracers to investigate isotopic niche overlap between 21 odontocete (toothed whale) species inhabiting neritic, mesopelagic, and bathypelagic waters. Results showed a clear niche separation for the bathypelagic Gray’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon grayi) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), but high isotopic niche overlap and potential interspecific competition for neritic and mesopelagic species. For these species, competition could be reduced via temporal or finer-scale spatial segregation or differences in foraging behaviour. This study represents the first insights into the coexistence of odontocetes in a biodiverse hotspot. The data presented here provide a critical baseline to a system already ongoing ecosystem change via ocean warming and subsequent effects on prey abundance and distributions. Text Physeter macrocephalus toothed whale MDPI Open Access Publishing New Zealand Biology 11 8 1179 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
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ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
diet dolphins stable isotopes nitrogen carbon feeding ecology trophic relationships SGD14 |
spellingShingle |
diet dolphins stable isotopes nitrogen carbon feeding ecology trophic relationships SGD14 Katharina J. Peters Sarah J. Bury Bethany Hinton Emma L. Betty Déborah Casano-Bally Guido J. Parra Karen A. Stockin Too Close for Comfort? Isotopic Niche Segregation in New Zealand’s Odontocetes |
topic_facet |
diet dolphins stable isotopes nitrogen carbon feeding ecology trophic relationships SGD14 |
description |
Species occurring in sympatry and relying on similar and limited resources may partition resource use to avoid overlap and interspecific competition. Aotearoa, New Zealand hosts an extraordinarily rich marine megafauna, including 50% of the world’s cetacean species. In this study, we used carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes as ecological tracers to investigate isotopic niche overlap between 21 odontocete (toothed whale) species inhabiting neritic, mesopelagic, and bathypelagic waters. Results showed a clear niche separation for the bathypelagic Gray’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon grayi) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), but high isotopic niche overlap and potential interspecific competition for neritic and mesopelagic species. For these species, competition could be reduced via temporal or finer-scale spatial segregation or differences in foraging behaviour. This study represents the first insights into the coexistence of odontocetes in a biodiverse hotspot. The data presented here provide a critical baseline to a system already ongoing ecosystem change via ocean warming and subsequent effects on prey abundance and distributions. |
format |
Text |
author |
Katharina J. Peters Sarah J. Bury Bethany Hinton Emma L. Betty Déborah Casano-Bally Guido J. Parra Karen A. Stockin |
author_facet |
Katharina J. Peters Sarah J. Bury Bethany Hinton Emma L. Betty Déborah Casano-Bally Guido J. Parra Karen A. Stockin |
author_sort |
Katharina J. Peters |
title |
Too Close for Comfort? Isotopic Niche Segregation in New Zealand’s Odontocetes |
title_short |
Too Close for Comfort? Isotopic Niche Segregation in New Zealand’s Odontocetes |
title_full |
Too Close for Comfort? Isotopic Niche Segregation in New Zealand’s Odontocetes |
title_fullStr |
Too Close for Comfort? Isotopic Niche Segregation in New Zealand’s Odontocetes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Too Close for Comfort? Isotopic Niche Segregation in New Zealand’s Odontocetes |
title_sort |
too close for comfort? isotopic niche segregation in new zealand’s odontocetes |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081179 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
New Zealand |
genre |
Physeter macrocephalus toothed whale |
genre_facet |
Physeter macrocephalus toothed whale |
op_source |
Biology; Volume 11; Issue 8; Pages: 1179 |
op_relation |
Ecology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology11081179 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081179 |
container_title |
Biology |
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11 |
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8 |
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1179 |
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1774722127145992192 |