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Activity Patterns in Small Mammals pp 159–176Cite as

Gerbils and Heteromyids — Interspecific Competition and the Spatio-Temporal Niche

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Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 141))

Abstract

Competition theory has had a major influence on ecological thought for at least the last 60 years, with a special focus during the late 1950s through the 1970s (e.g. Hutchinson 1957, MacArthur and Levins 1964; Schoener 1974a). This led to the extensive development of niche theory (e.g. Hutchinson 1957; Pianka 1974; Whittaker and Levin 1975), linking competition pressures with observed resource use by competitors, both inter- and intraspecific (see Colwell and Fuentes 1975; Giller 1984 for reviews). As a result, terms such as niche release, niche shift and niche expansion are used to describe a species’ response to its competitor’s presence or absence. Dissimilarity between competing species in their foraging behaviour or habitat use is sometimes called ‘niche differentiation’. Previous theoretical (e.g. May 1973) and experimental (e.g. Park 1962) studies on interspecific competition concluded that niche differentiation is necessary for competitive coexistence in interactive communities (i.e., communities that are mainly influenced by density-dependent processes such as competition and predation). As a result, the way in which ecologically-related species partition resources to avoid competitive exclusion has attracted the attention of ecologists for many years (e.g. MacArthur 1958; Schoener 1974a, b, 1986a).

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Authors
  1. Yaron Ziv
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  2. Jeffrey A. Smallwood
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Dornburger Str. 159, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Stefan Halle

  2. Department of Biology Division of Zoology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1050, Blindern, 03160 Oslo 3, Norway

    Nils Christian Stenseth

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Ziv, Y., Smallwood, J.A. (2000). Gerbils and Heteromyids — Interspecific Competition and the Spatio-Temporal Niche. In: Halle, S., Stenseth, N.C. (eds) Activity Patterns in Small Mammals. Ecological Studies, vol 141. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18264-8_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18264-8_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-62128-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-18264-8

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