Diet and Trophic Niche of Two Sympatric Physalaemus Species in Central Brazil

Abstract

Given the increasing use of sympatric species to investigate niche differentiation and resource partition in biological communities, our study analyzes diet composition differences and trophic niche overlap between the sympatric species Physalaemus cuvieri and P. atim in the municipalities of Silvânia and Leopoldo Bulhões, Brazil. We used stomach flushing to obtain stomach contents from each individual and identified 11 prey categories for P. cuvieri and 17 for P. atim. Isoptera had the highest proportional volume in both species. No difference was found in the mean prey volume per stomach. Detrended correspondence analysis distribution scores indicated a greater diet breadth for P. atim than P. cuvieri, which is consistent with a higher trophic niche breadth in P. atim than P. cuvieri. According to a multi-response permutation procedure analysis, P. cuvieri and P. atim have different diet compositions. Our findings suggest that these congeneric species occupy sufficiently different dietary niches to enable them to persist in sympatry.