Geographic variability of Octopus insularis diet: from oceanic island to continental populations

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dc.contributor.authorLeite, Tatiana S.
dc.contributor.authorBatista, Allan T.
dc.contributor.authorLima, Francoise D.
dc.contributor.authorBarbosa, Jaciana C.
dc.contributor.authorMather, Jennifer
dc.date.accessioned2019-11-30T23:35:34Z
dc.date.available2019-11-30T23:35:34Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.descriptionSherpa Romeo green journal. Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) applies.en_US
dc.description.abstractA predator’s choice of prey can be affected by many factors. We evaluated various influences on population dietary composition, individual specialization and size of prey in Octopus insularis populations from 2 continental and 4 insular locations. We expected that habitat diversity would lead to diet heterogeneity. Furthermore, in keeping with MacArthur & Wilson’s (1967) theory of island biogeography, we expected that diet diversity would be lower around islands than on the coast of the mainland. Both predictions were confirmed when prey remains from octopus middens were examined. The 2 continental areas exhibited a richer habitat diversity and a wider variety of prey. Niche widths in the continental areas were 2.42 and 2.03, with the lowest niche widths exhibited by the population from the most distant oceanic islands (1.30, 0.85). We found variation in the proportion of specialist relative to generalist individuals across areas based on the proportional similarity index. The correlation between habitat diversity and niche width (R2 = 0.84) was highly significant, as was distance from the continental shelf and niche width (R2 = 0.89). This study reaffirms the central position of octopuses in the nearshore benthic ecosystem, and supports MacArthur & Wilson’s (1967) prediction of a lower diversity of species on islands—which applies not only to the species themselves, but also indirectly for the diet of their predators.en_US
dc.description.peer-reviewYesen_US
dc.identifier.citationLeite, T. S., Batista, A. T., Lima, F. D., Barbosa, J. C., & Mather, J. (2016). Geographic variability of Octopus insularis diet: From oceanic island to continental populations. Aquatic Biology, 25, 17-27. doi: 10.3354/ab00655en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/5598
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherInter Researchen_US
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Psychologyen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Scienceen_US
dc.publisher.institutionFederal University of Rio Grande do Norteen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Lethbridgeen_US
dc.publisher.urlhttps://dx.doi.org/10.3354/ab00655
dc.subjectOctopusen_US
dc.subjectFeeding nichesen_US
dc.subjectDieten_US
dc.subjectPopulationen_US
dc.titleGeographic variability of Octopus insularis diet: from oceanic island to continental populationsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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