Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 283, Issue 1827, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0144
Keywords
Cynomys leucurus; ground squirrel; interspecific competition; interspecific killing; lifetime fitness; Urocitellus elegans
Categories
Funding
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife
- Denver Zoological Foundation
- National Science Foundation
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1453971] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Interspecific competition commonly selects for divergence in ecology, morphology or physiology, but direct observation of interspecific competition under natural conditions is difficult. Herbivorous white-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys leucurus) employ an unusual strategy to reduce interspecific competition: they kill, but do not consume, herbivorous Wyoming ground squirrels (Urocitellus elegans) encountered in the prairie dog territories. Results from a 6-year study in Colorado, USA, revealed that interspecific killing of ground squirrels by prairie dogs was common, involving 47 different killers; 19 prairie dogs were serial killers in the same or consecutive years, and 30% of female prairie dogs killed at least one ground squirrel over their lifetimes. Females that killed ground squirrels had significantly higher annual and lifetime fitness than non-killers, probably because of decreased interspecific competition for vegetation. Our results document the first case of interspecific killing of competing individuals unrelated to predation (a) among herbivorous mammals in the wild, and show that IK enhances fitness for animals living, under natural conditions.
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