Loading…

Habitat partitioning of two closely related pond frogs, Pelophylax nigromaculatus and Pelophylax porosus brevipodus, during their breeding season

Parapatric distributions of closely related species are common in many taxonomic groups. However, habitat overlap in sympatric areas within both species’ ranges is complex and driven by the nature of the interactions between species as well as each species’ ecological requirements. We therefore inve...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolutionary ecology 2020-10, Vol.34 (5), p.855-866
Main Authors: Nakanishi, Kosuke, Honma, Atsushi, Furukawa, Mariko, Takakura, Koh-Ichi, Fujii, Nobuyuki, Morii, Kiyohito, Terasawa, Yuki, Nishida, Takayoshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Parapatric distributions of closely related species are common in many taxonomic groups. However, habitat overlap in sympatric areas within both species’ ranges is complex and driven by the nature of the interactions between species as well as each species’ ecological requirements. We therefore investigated the distribution of breeding habitats for two congeneric frogs, Pelophylax nigromaculatus and Pelophylax porosus brevipodus , in a region of Japan where these species co-occur, based on observation of mating calls as an index of the abundance of males engaging in reproductive activities. Among a total of 381 surveyed sites, P. nigromaculatus and P. porosus brevipodus were found at 171 and 229 sites, respectively. Pelophylax porosus brevipodus was widely distributed throughout the study area and was more abundant than P. nigromaculatus in sympatric sites. Analysis using cumulative link mixed models revealed that the abundance of calling males was negatively affected by the presence of calling males of the other species and by landscape factors. Interspecific differences in this negative effect appear to favor P. porosus brevipodus over P. nigromaculatus in our study area. Due to differences in the primary habitat preferences of the two species during the non-breeding season, habitat partitioning during the breeding season is likely driven by negative interspecific interactions during the reproductive process (i.e., reproductive interference).
ISSN:0269-7653
1573-8477
DOI:10.1007/s10682-020-10061-1