Sexual dimorphism in a top predator (Notophthalmus viridescens) drives aquatic prey community assembly.

ABSTRACT: Intraspecific variation can have important consequences for the structure and function of ecological communities, and serves to link community ecology to evolutionary processes. Differences between the sexes are an overwhelmingly common form of intraspecific variation, but its community-level consequences have never been experimentally investigated. Here, we manipulate the sex ratio of a sexually dimorphic predacious newt in aquatic mesocosms, then track their impact on prey communities. Female and male newts preferentially forage in the benthic and pelagic zones, respectively, causing corresponding reductions in prey abundances in those habitats. Sex ratio differences also explained a large proportion (33%) of differences in the composition of entire pond communities. Ultimately, we demon

SUBMITTER: Start D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6235045 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature