Phylogeny is a stronger predictor of activity than allometry in an African mammal community
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Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Abstract
In promoting coexistence, sympatric species often partition shared resources along spatio-temporal domains.
Similarly sized and phylogenetically close species, for instance, partition the times of day in which they are active
to limit interference competition. Given that variation in species body mass has evolutionary underpinnings,
species activity levels (time spent active in a 24-h daily cycle) within animal communities might be structured by
phylogeny. However, few studies have tested this hypothesis across animal communities, and none among mediumsized
to large mammals. We quantified the relative contributions of phylogeny and body mass in predicting activity
levels in a community of 22 sympatric mammal species in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. We show that
phylogeny is a stronger predictor of species activity levels than body mass. Our findings provide empirical evidence
for the phylogenetic structuring of mammal activity in diverse communities. More broadly, our results suggest that
evolutionary relationships mask allometry in predicting species traits in diverse animal communities.
Description
Keywords
Activity level, Body mass, Coexistence, Mammals, Phylogeny, Temporal niche partitioning
Citation
Kasozi, H., Moll, R. J., Kityo, R. M., & Montgomery, R. A. (2022). Phylogeny is a stronger predictor of activity than allometry in an African mammal community. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 135(3), 599-609.