I don’t like crickets, I love them: invertebrates are an important prey source for varanid lizards
Minimal annual rainfall in arid environments results in low productivity ecosystems with fluctuating food availability. Large mammalian predators that require frequent consumption of vertebrate prey tend to be less abundant in desert environments; however, such environments often support numerous la...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
WILEY
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/IC150100041 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87418 |
| _version_ | 1848764918252175360 |
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| author | Cross, Sophie Craig, M.D. Tomlinson, Sean Bateman, Bill |
| author_facet | Cross, Sophie Craig, M.D. Tomlinson, Sean Bateman, Bill |
| author_sort | Cross, Sophie |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Minimal annual rainfall in arid environments results in low productivity ecosystems with fluctuating food availability. Large mammalian predators that require frequent consumption of vertebrate prey tend to be less abundant in desert environments; however, such environments often support numerous large-bodied carnivorous reptiles. Diet is a fundamental component of an animal’s ecology, and we explore the diets of three coexisting, sympatric Varanus species occurring in arid Australia: V. tristis, V. gouldii and V. panoptes. We hypothesized that the diet of varanids living in arid environments would primarily consist of relatively abundant invertebrate prey, and that vertebrate prey items would largely be limited to opportunistically consumed mammalian carrion and small reptilian species. All three Varanus species had high dietary overlap and broad, generalist diets. Invertebrate prey, particularly Orthoptera, were key to the diets of all three species. Vertebrate prey was infrequently consumed by all three Varanus species; however, when consumed, tended to comprise small reptilian species and mammalian carrion. Unlike large mammalian predators, varanids can survive on invertebrate prey and infrequent feeds and can aestivate when conditions become unfavourable, contributing to their success in arid environments. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:26:59Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-87418 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:26:59Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | WILEY |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-874182022-01-28T04:09:08Z I don’t like crickets, I love them: invertebrates are an important prey source for varanid lizards Cross, Sophie Craig, M.D. Tomlinson, Sean Bateman, Bill Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Zoology feeding ecology reptile resource partitioning niche overlap Varanus diet prey arid environments REPRODUCTIVE-BIOLOGY FEEDING ECOLOGY RESOURCE PULSES ARID AUSTRALIA NICHE OVERLAP FELIS-CATUS FOOD-HABITS DIET DESERT FOXES Minimal annual rainfall in arid environments results in low productivity ecosystems with fluctuating food availability. Large mammalian predators that require frequent consumption of vertebrate prey tend to be less abundant in desert environments; however, such environments often support numerous large-bodied carnivorous reptiles. Diet is a fundamental component of an animal’s ecology, and we explore the diets of three coexisting, sympatric Varanus species occurring in arid Australia: V. tristis, V. gouldii and V. panoptes. We hypothesized that the diet of varanids living in arid environments would primarily consist of relatively abundant invertebrate prey, and that vertebrate prey items would largely be limited to opportunistically consumed mammalian carrion and small reptilian species. All three Varanus species had high dietary overlap and broad, generalist diets. Invertebrate prey, particularly Orthoptera, were key to the diets of all three species. Vertebrate prey was infrequently consumed by all three Varanus species; however, when consumed, tended to comprise small reptilian species and mammalian carrion. Unlike large mammalian predators, varanids can survive on invertebrate prey and infrequent feeds and can aestivate when conditions become unfavourable, contributing to their success in arid environments. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87418 10.1111/jzo.12750 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/IC150100041 WILEY restricted |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Zoology feeding ecology reptile resource partitioning niche overlap Varanus diet prey arid environments REPRODUCTIVE-BIOLOGY FEEDING ECOLOGY RESOURCE PULSES ARID AUSTRALIA NICHE OVERLAP FELIS-CATUS FOOD-HABITS DIET DESERT FOXES Cross, Sophie Craig, M.D. Tomlinson, Sean Bateman, Bill I don’t like crickets, I love them: invertebrates are an important prey source for varanid lizards |
| title | I don’t like crickets, I love them: invertebrates are an important prey source for varanid lizards |
| title_full | I don’t like crickets, I love them: invertebrates are an important prey source for varanid lizards |
| title_fullStr | I don’t like crickets, I love them: invertebrates are an important prey source for varanid lizards |
| title_full_unstemmed | I don’t like crickets, I love them: invertebrates are an important prey source for varanid lizards |
| title_short | I don’t like crickets, I love them: invertebrates are an important prey source for varanid lizards |
| title_sort | i don’t like crickets, i love them: invertebrates are an important prey source for varanid lizards |
| topic | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Zoology feeding ecology reptile resource partitioning niche overlap Varanus diet prey arid environments REPRODUCTIVE-BIOLOGY FEEDING ECOLOGY RESOURCE PULSES ARID AUSTRALIA NICHE OVERLAP FELIS-CATUS FOOD-HABITS DIET DESERT FOXES |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/IC150100041 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87418 |