2018/05/17 by Castillo, Ciera, Hernandez, Katherine, Panza, Isabelle +1
#behavior #ecology #habitat #rodents
paper · doi:10.21973/n3bw8d
Understanding how species can coexistence in light of competition has long been a focus of ecological study. One of the many mechanisms that have been proposed to explain how species with overlapping niches can coexist is that they differ in their behavioral patterns. In our study we investigated how rodents in the genera Dipodomys and Peromyscus partition their habitat spatially and how their behaviors differ. To test for behavioral differences and spatial habitat partitioning in these species we monitored animals using traps and wildlife cameras and mapped their habitat use in space. We found that Peromyscus displayed risk averse strategies in their foraging and habitat use whereas Dipodomys displayed more variability in their movements and were more likely to take risks. These interspecific patterns help us to better understand community ecology as a whole, and can have broad implications for the structure of communities in sensitive desert habitats.