Degree of feeding niche overlap uniformises the distribution of interspecific territories in a Malawian cichlid community

Abstract

AbstractCichlid fishes in the rocky littoral zones of Lake Malawi are among the most diverse endemic fish communities of the world. They segregate food resources, but considerable niche overlaps have been reported by numerous studies in this field. If their niches largely overlap, the heterospecific individuals are expected to behave like conspecific individuals. Instead of studying their niche segregation, we investigated the spatial distribution patterns of adult males of nine abundant cichlid species by point process analysis, with due attention to niche partitioning, as measured by stable isotope analysis. Because their feeding habitats are restricted by intra‐ and interspecific interferences over the mating and feeding territories respectively, we hypothesised that the interspecific feeding territories of species with nearly similar niche tended to be distributed uniformly. Although the typical territorial animals are expected to be distributed uniformly, the distribution pattern of intraspecific mating territory was judged to be uniform only for two out of nine species. This result suggests that each species has its specific preference for territorial locations or their locations are restricted by interspecific interactions. The latter explanation was partially supported by the agreed locations of gravity centres between intraspecific mating and interspecific feeding territories. Species pairs with similar isotope ratios tended to show a uniform distribution of interspecific feeding territories. Thus, individual species pairs keep a certain distance from each other by using nearly similar food resources. This result suggests that some cichlid species coexist not only through niche segregation but also through territorial interactions, like conspecific individuals.