Distribution patterns predict individual specialization in the diet of dolphin gulls.

ABSTRACT: Many animals show some degree of individual specialization in foraging strategies and diet. This has profound ecological and evolutionary implications. For example, populations containing diverse individual foraging strategies will respond in different ways to changes in the environment, thus affecting the capacity of the populations to adapt to environmental changes and to diversify. However, patterns of individual specialization have been examined in few species. Likewise it is usually unknown whether specialization is maintained over time, because examining the temporal scale at which specialization occurs can prove difficult in the field. In the present study, we analyzed individual specialization in foraging in Dolphin Gulls Leucophaeus scoresbii, a scavenger endemic to the southernmo

SUBMITTER: Masello JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3699636 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature