Abstract
Abstract A study was conducted in a typical steppe area in central Inner Mongolia to determine resource utilization in time, space, and food by grasshopper assemblages. Pattern of use for these resources was analyzed from three vegetation types by examining species‐specific niche breadths, overlaps and partitions of resource utilization as well as population sizes. Popular niche indices and the principal components analysis (PCA) procedure were used to indicate the interrelations among grasshopper species. In the heterogeneous grassland environments resulting from livestock grazing, eleven grasshopper species were categorized respectively based on the 3‐dimensional niche segregation and overlap degree. Population sizes were determined by the calorific values of their realized population biomass. Comparison in niche breadth displayed that species which had a broad niche along one dimension at least had a narrow niche along another one. There were sufficient differences between species for overall overlap associated with resource use to explain coexistence in the assemblages by resource segregation. Distinct rule of niche complementarity in overlap was not found. Evidence from this study implied that the species‐specific use of resource may be due primarily to grasshopper adaptive differentiation and to coevolutionary interactions between grasshopper and plant rather than interspecific competition among grasshopper species.
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