Christian C. Voigt (Author), Miha Krofel (Author), V. Menges (Author), Bettina Wachter (Author), Joerg Melzheimer (Author)

Abstract

Apex predators in terrestrial ecosystems, such as leopards in the African savanna,feed on a wide variety of prey species, yet it is unknown whether individuals spe-cialize on certain prey, and whether specialization changes with body traits. Here,we asked whether individual specialization of adult leopards (Panthera pardus ) var-ies with sex, body mass, body length and age classes. We used the variation ofstable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in 643 segments of whiskers as a tempo-ral record of past diets and established isotopic dietary niches for 36 adult leopards(18 males, 18 females). Based on a variance analysis for stable carbon isotoperatios, we found that between-individual variation was larger than within-individualvariation, indicating a high degree of overall specialization within the studied leop-ards. Female adult leopards exhibited larger isotopic dietary niche widths than maleadult leopards. Isotopic niche width did not vary with body mass, body length orage. Our data suggest a difference in the level of specialization between the sexes,which might be explained by more opportunistic feeding of small-sized femaleleopards, most likely connected with a higher use of small prey species of differentisotopic composition. Inter-sexual resource partitioning likely facilitates territorysharing between the sexes.

Keywords

leopard;Panthera pardus;plenjenje;prehrana;analiza stabilnih izotopov;Namibija;Afrika;predation;dietary specialization;stable isotope analysis;Namibia;Africa;

Data

Language: English
Year of publishing:
Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization: UL BF - Biotechnical Faculty
UDC: 630*15:630*14(6-13)
COBISS: 5073318 Link will open in a new window
ISSN: 0952-8369
Views: 850
Downloads: 901
Average score: 0 (0 votes)
Metadata: JSON JSON-RDF JSON-LD TURTLE N-TRIPLES XML RDFA MICRODATA DC-XML DC-RDF RDF

Other data

Secondary language: Slovenian
Secondary keywords: leopard;Panthera pardus;plenjenje;prehrana;analiza stabilnih izotopov;Namibija;Afrika;
Type (COBISS): Not categorized
Pages: str. 1-7
Volume: ǂVol. ǂ306
Issue: ǂiss. ǂ1
Chronology: 2018
DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12566
ID: 10930906
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