Partage des ressources spatiales et trophiques au sein d'un peuplement de lézards insectivores des Jbilets centrales (Maroc Occidental) (original) (raw)
Spatial and trophic resource partitioning among seven sympatric insectivorous !izard species was investigated in arid area in the central Jbilet mountains (Western Morocco) during spring 1995. Two foraging guilds are apparent: a specialist sit-and-wait (Agama impalearis, Ta rentola mauritanica et Saurodactylus brosseti) and a generalist one (Eumeces algeriensis, Chalcides polylepis, Acanthodactylus erythrurus and Mesa/ina simoni). The studied !izard species differentiate from each other in substrate use relatively to their respective adaptive morphological traits. A. impalearis and T. mauritanica occur mainly in rocky areas, E. al geriensis and M. simoni appear mostly on rocky and pebbly-bare ground substrates, A. erythrurus and C. po/y/epis are found on sandy-pebbly substrates while S. brosseti occurs in pebbly soils. By contrast, there were large overlaps in the taxonomie composition of their diets which are numerically dominated by Formicidae, lsoptera, Coleoptera and Araneidae with different proportions according to !izard species. However, important prey-size differ ences between species allowed to reduce trophic overlap. A selectivity analysis of !izard diet revealed patterns of prey selection based on criteria inherent either to predator (foraging behaviour, morphological constraints) or prey (size, abundance and activity). Results suggest that spatial and trophic segregation along with taxonomie divergence make possible the coexistence of these !izard species.
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