Coexistence of three sympatric cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.); partitioning of time as an ecological resource
Resource partitioning is well known along food and habitat for reducing competition among sympatric species, yet a study on temporal partitioning as a viable basis for reducing resource competition is not empirically investigated. Here, I attempt to identify the mechanism of temporal partitioning by...
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| Format: | Online |
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The Royal Society
2016
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4892461/ |
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pubmed-48924612016-06-10 Coexistence of three sympatric cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.); partitioning of time as an ecological resource Mahendiran, Mylswamy Biology (Whole Organism) Resource partitioning is well known along food and habitat for reducing competition among sympatric species, yet a study on temporal partitioning as a viable basis for reducing resource competition is not empirically investigated. Here, I attempt to identify the mechanism of temporal partitioning by intra- and interspecific diving analyses of three sympatric cormorant species at different freshwater wetlands around the Delhi region. Diving results indicated that cormorants opted for a shallow diving; consequently, they did not face any physiological stress. Moreover, diving durations were linked with seasons, foraging time and foraging habitats. Intraspecific comparison suggested that cormorants spent a longer time underwater in early hours of the day. Therefore, time spent for dive was higher in the forenoon than late afternoon, and the interspecific analysis also yielded a similar result. When Phalacrocorax niger and Phalacrocorax fuscicollis shared the same foraging habitat, they tended to differ in their foraging time (forenoon/afternoon). However, when P. niger and Phalacrocorax carbo shared the same foraging time, they tended to use different foraging habitats (lentic/lotic) leading to a mechanism of resource partitioning. Thus, sympatric cormorants effectively use time as a resource to exploit the food resources and successful coexistence. The Royal Society 2016-05-18 /pmc/articles/PMC4892461/ /pubmed/27293799 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160175 Text en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © 2016 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Mahendiran, Mylswamy |
| spellingShingle |
Mahendiran, Mylswamy Coexistence of three sympatric cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.); partitioning of time as an ecological resource |
| author_facet |
Mahendiran, Mylswamy |
| author_sort |
Mahendiran, Mylswamy |
| title |
Coexistence of three sympatric cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.); partitioning of time as an ecological resource |
| title_short |
Coexistence of three sympatric cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.); partitioning of time as an ecological resource |
| title_full |
Coexistence of three sympatric cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.); partitioning of time as an ecological resource |
| title_fullStr |
Coexistence of three sympatric cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.); partitioning of time as an ecological resource |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Coexistence of three sympatric cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.); partitioning of time as an ecological resource |
| title_sort |
coexistence of three sympatric cormorants (phalacrocorax spp.); partitioning of time as an ecological resource |
| description |
Resource partitioning is well known along food and habitat for reducing competition among sympatric species, yet a study on temporal partitioning as a viable basis for reducing resource competition is not empirically investigated. Here, I attempt to identify the mechanism of temporal partitioning by intra- and interspecific diving analyses of three sympatric cormorant species at different freshwater wetlands around the Delhi region. Diving results indicated that cormorants opted for a shallow diving; consequently, they did not face any physiological stress. Moreover, diving durations were linked with seasons, foraging time and foraging habitats. Intraspecific comparison suggested that cormorants spent a longer time underwater in early hours of the day. Therefore, time spent for dive was higher in the forenoon than late afternoon, and the interspecific analysis also yielded a similar result. When Phalacrocorax niger and Phalacrocorax fuscicollis shared the same foraging habitat, they tended to differ in their foraging time (forenoon/afternoon). However, when P. niger and Phalacrocorax carbo shared the same foraging time, they tended to use different foraging habitats (lentic/lotic) leading to a mechanism of resource partitioning. Thus, sympatric cormorants effectively use time as a resource to exploit the food resources and successful coexistence. |
| publisher |
The Royal Society |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4892461/ |
| _version_ |
1613588556664537088 |