Abstract
Species can occupy different realised niches when sharing the space with other congeneric species or when living in allopatry. Ecological niche models are powerful tools to analyse species niches and their changes over time and space. Analysing how species’ realised niches shift is paramount in ecology. Here, we examine the ecological realised niche of three species of wall lizards in six study areas: three areas where each species occurs alone; and three areas where they occur together in pairs. We compared the species’ realised niches and how they vary depending on species’ coexistence, by quantifying niche overlap between pairs of species or populations with the R package ecospat. For this, we considered three environmental variables (temperature, humidity, and wind speed) recorded at each lizard re-sighting location. Realised niches were very similar when comparing syntopic species occurring in the same study area. However, realised niches differed when comparing conspecific populations across areas. In each of the three areas of syntopy, the less abundant species shift its realised niche. Our study demonstrates that sympatry may shift species’ realised niche.
Highlights
Species frequently live in communities composed of two or more congeneric species [1,2]
We considered three endemic species of Iberian wall lizards: Podarcis bocagei (Seoane, 1885), a generalist species distributed in Atlantic habitats of the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula [37]; P. carbonelli Pérez-Mellado, 1981, a ground-dwelling species inhabiting Atlantic habitats with a fragmented distribution in western Iberia [37]; and P. guadarramae (Boscá, 1916), a saxicolous species of Atlantic and Mediterranean habitats of northwestern and north-central Iberia [38]
We captured a total of 219 individuals, with 1785 resightings (Table 2): 68 individuals and 625 resightings for P. bocagei; 61 individuals and 331 resightings for P. carbonelli; and 90 individuals and 829 resightings for P. guadarramae
Summary
Species frequently live in communities composed of two or more congeneric species [1,2]. When a species is sharing resources with another species, it may be forced to shift its niche to minimise competition or stress and to maximise success in resource acquisition and/or mating [3]. This segregation may occur in time, space, or in any other dimension of the niche (e.g., food resources, biotic interactions) [4]. When the species segregate temporally, they avoid using the same resources at the same time [5]. They may use resources from different locations [2], for instance by taking advantage of different microhabitats. The microhabitats may have different structural characteristics [6,7]: microclimate (e.g., temperature, humidity), food availability, predation pressure, parasite exposure, or abundance of refuges
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