4.5 Article

Individual specialists in a generalist population: results from a long-term stable isotope series

期刊

BIOLOGY LETTERS
卷 6, 期 5, 页码 711-714

出版社

ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0124

关键词

isotopic niche; resource use; sea turtles; specialist; stable isotopes

资金

  1. National Marine Fisheries Service
  2. US Fish
  3. Wildlife Service
  4. Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund
  5. FWC Marine Turtle Grants Program
  6. Cape Canaveral National Seashore
  7. NSF-GRFP

向作者/读者索取更多资源

Individual variation in resource use has often been ignored in ecological studies, but closer examination of individual patterns through time may reveal significant intrapopulation differences. Adult loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) are generalist carnivores with a wide geographical range, resulting in a broad isotopic niche. We microsampled scute, a persistent and continuously growing tissue, to examine longterm variation in resource use (up to 12 years) in 15 nesting loggerhead turtles. Using stable isotopes of nitrogen and carbon, we examined the resource use patterns (integration of diet, habitat and geographical location) and demonstrate that individual loggerheads are long-term specialists within a generalist population. We present our results in the context of a conceptual model comparing isotopic niches in specialist and generalist populations. Individual consistency may have important ecological, evolutionary and conservation consequences, such as the reduction of intraspecific competition.

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