Linking ecology, morphology, and metabolism: Niche differentiation in sympatric populations of closely related species of the genus Littorina (Neritrema).

ABSTRACT: Divergence of ecological niches in phylogenetically closely related species indicates the importance of ecology in speciation, especially for sympatric species are considered. Such ecological diversification provides an advantage of alleviating interspecies competition and promotes more efficient exploitation of environmental resources, thus being a basis for ecological speciation. We analyzed a group of closely related species from the subgenus Neritrema (genus Littorina, Caenogastropoda) from the gravel-bouldery shores. In two distant sites at the Barents and Norwegian Sea, we examined the patterns of snail distribution during low tide (quantitative sampling stratified by intertidal level, presence of macrophytes, macrophyte species, and position on them), shell shape and i

SUBMITTER: Maltseva AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8366845 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature