Coexistence of two termite-eating specialists (Araneae)

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Publikace nespadá pod Pedagogickou fakultu, ale pod Přírodovědeckou fakultu. Oficiální stránka publikace je na webu muni.cz.
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PEKÁR Stanislav DUŠÁTKOVÁ Lenka MICHÁLEK Ondřej HADDAD Charles R.

Rok publikování 2020
Druh Článek v odborném periodiku
Časopis / Zdroj Ecological entomology
Fakulta / Pracoviště MU

Přírodovědecká fakulta

Citace
www https://doi.org/10.1111/een.12914
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/een.12914
Klíčová slova Activity; Araneae; competition; DNA gut content; Salticidae; Stenaelurillus
Popis Competition among closely-related specialist predators has rarely been studied, and thus the mechanism of their coexistence remains enigmatic. Interspecific competition among specialised co-occurring predators capturing termites should be high. Here we investigated various niche dimensions, namely temporal, spatial and trophic, of a couple of jumping spider species of the genusStenaelurillus(Stenaelurillus guttigerandS. modestus) from South Africa, to find whether these two species co-exist and along which niche dimension(s) they differentiate. The two species co-occurred in two out of five study sites. Body size was not significantly different between the species. The phenology was shifted so that one species matured earlier. Circadian activity was not different, as both species were diurnal and active at similar times. Both species preyed almost exclusively on termites. The fundamental trophic niche was very similar and rather narrow. The realised trophic niche at the prey order level of both species was similar, but at the genus level it was different. InS. modestusit was narrower, as it captured mainlyOdontotermes, whileS. guttigerexploited a few termite species. The size of prey captured was also similar between the two species. The frequency of intraguild predation was negligible. We conclude that bothStenaelurillusspecies are specialised termitophagous predators. The two species can coexist across broad spatial scales due to spatial segregation on the landscape. At the sites where they co-occur, the two species specialise on different termite prey, promoting local coexistence.
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