Quantifying inter- and intra-population niche variability using hierarchical bayesian stable isotope mixing models.

ABSTRACT: Variability in resource use defines the width of a trophic niche occupied by a population. Intra-population variability in resource use may occur across hierarchical levels of population structure from individuals to subpopulations. Understanding how levels of population organization contribute to population niche width is critical to ecology and evolution. Here we describe a hierarchical stable isotope mixing model that can simultaneously estimate both the prey composition of a consumer diet and the diet variability among individuals and across levels of population organization. By explicitly estimating variance components for multiple scales, the model can deconstruct the niche width of a consumer population into relevant levels of population structure. We apply this new approach to stab

SUBMITTER: Semmens BX 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2704373 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature