From income to capital breeding: when diversified strategies sustain species coexistence.

ABSTRACT: There is empirical evidence of many diversified ways for energy to be acquired and allocated to reproduction, notably with strategies ranging from strict income breeding (females fueling their gametes with energy gained concomitantly during reproduction) to strict capital breeding (females storing nutrients prior reproduction). Until now, the question of whether diversification of these strategies might impact the way communities are organized has not been considered. Here, we suggest that diversified resource allocation strategies among competing species may contribute to their coexistence. We examined this hypothesis by focusing on communities composed of four phytophagous insect species that coexist and compete for egg-laying sites. From wild-caught females, we determined precisely the

SUBMITTER: Pelisson PF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3785430 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature