Perch Selection by Three Cooccurring Species of Celithemis (Odonata: Libellulidae): Testing for a Competitive Hierarchy among Similar Species
Joint Authors
Worthen, Wade B.
Morrow, Parker H.
Source
Issue
Vol. 2016, Issue 2016 (31 Dec. 2016), pp.1-8, 8 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2016-09-22
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
8
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
In many communities of perching dragonflies (Odonata: Libellulidae), a size-dependent competitive hierarchy creates a positive relationship between male body size and perch height.
We tested for this pattern among three similar-sized species: Celithemis elisa, C.
fasciata, and C.
ornata.
Males were caught and photographed from May to July 2015 at Ashmore Heritage Preserve, Greenville County, SC, USA, and perch heights and perch distance to open water were measured.
Five indices of body size were measured with ImageJ software: abdomen length, forewing length, hindwing length, area of forewing, and area of hindwing.
Celithemis fasciata was significantly larger than the other two species for all five anatomical characters and used perches that were significantly taller and closer to open water than the other species, though these differences changed over the summer.
Aggressive interactions between and within species were tallied and compared to expected distributions based on mean relative abundances derived from hourly abundance counts.
Patterns of interspecific aggression were also consistent with a size-dependent hierarchy: the large C.
fasciata was attacked less frequently, and the small C.
ornata more frequently, than predicted by their relative abundances.
We conclude that even small differences in body size may contribute to niche partitioning in perch selection.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Worthen, Wade B.& Morrow, Parker H.. 2016. Perch Selection by Three Cooccurring Species of Celithemis (Odonata: Libellulidae): Testing for a Competitive Hierarchy among Similar Species. Psyche،Vol. 2016, no. 2016, pp.1-8.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1115583
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Worthen, Wade B.& Morrow, Parker H.. Perch Selection by Three Cooccurring Species of Celithemis (Odonata: Libellulidae): Testing for a Competitive Hierarchy among Similar Species. Psyche No. 2016 (2016), pp.1-8.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1115583
American Medical Association (AMA)
Worthen, Wade B.& Morrow, Parker H.. Perch Selection by Three Cooccurring Species of Celithemis (Odonata: Libellulidae): Testing for a Competitive Hierarchy among Similar Species. Psyche. 2016. Vol. 2016, no. 2016, pp.1-8.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1115583
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1115583