Journal
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 5, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/srep12164
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Funding
- CGS award from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
- projects Estacion Biologica de Donana-Severo Ochoa [SEV-2012-0262]
- ESFRI-LifeWatch
- NERC
- NERC [bas0100035, NE/I023503/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/I023503/1, bas0100035] Funding Source: researchfish
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According to niche theory, mechanisms exist that allow co-existence of organisms that would otherwise compete for the same prey and other resources. How seabirds cope with potential competition during the non-breeding period is poorly documented, particularly for small species. Here we investigate for the first time the potential role of spatial, environmental (habitat) and trophic (isotopic) segregation as niche-partitioning mechanisms during the non-breeding season for four species of highly abundant, zooplanktivorous seabird that breed sympatrically in the Southern Ocean. Spatial segregation was found to be the main partitioning mechanism; even for the two sibling species of diving petrel, which spent the non-breeding period in overlapping areas, there was evidence from distribution and stable isotope ratios for differences in habitat use and diving depth.
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