Stable isotope ecology of a hyper-diverse community of scincid lizards from arid Australia

PLoS One. 2017 Feb 28;12(2):e0172879. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172879. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

We assessed the utility of stable isotope analysis as a tool for understanding community ecological structure in a species-rich clade of scincid lizards from one of the world's most diverse lizard communities. Using a phylogenetic comparative framework, we tested whether δ15N and δ13C isotopic composition from individual lizards was correlated with species-specific estimates of diet and habitat use. We find that species are highly divergent in isotopic composition with significant correlations to habitat use, but this relationship shows no phylogenetic signal. Isotopic composition corresponds to empirical observations of diet for some species but much variation remains unexplained. We demonstrate the importance of using a multianalytical approach to questions of long-term dietary preference, and suggest that the use of stable isotopes in combination with stomach content analysis and empirical data on habitat use can potentially reveal patterns in ecological traits at finer scales with important implications for community structuring.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Australia
  • Carbon Isotopes / analysis
  • Ecology*
  • Ecosystem
  • Lizards*
  • Nitrogen Isotopes / analysis

Substances

  • Carbon Isotopes
  • Nitrogen Isotopes

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) grants OSIE-0612855 and DEB-0814277, and by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Field sampling at Matuwa/Lorna Glen Conservation Park was conducted under permit SF0004654 to D. L. Rabosky (Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife). E. R. Pianka thanks the National Geographic Society and the Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professorship in Zoology at UT Austin for financial support. N. Pelegrin thanks CONICET for the external postdoctoral fellowship to carry out research activities at the University of Texas at Austin. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.