Ecological speciation in a generalist consumer expands the trophic niche of a dominant predator.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Thomas SM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5562900 | biostudies-other | 2017 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Publications
Ecological speciation in a generalist consumer expands the trophic niche of a dominant predator.
Thomas Stephen M SM Harrod Chris C Hayden Brian B Malinen Tommi T Kahilainen Kimmo K KK
Scientific reports 20170818 1
Ecological speciation - whereby an ancestral founder species diversifies to fill vacant niches - is a phenomenon characteristic of newly formed ecosystems. Despite such ubiquity, ecosystem-level effects of such divergence remain poorly understood. Here, we compared the trophic niche of European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) and their predators in a series of contrasting subarctic lakes where this species had either diversified into four ecomorphologically distinct morphs or instead formed mono ...[more]
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