Diferenciação sazonal de nicho trófico de uma comunidade de anuros no Cerrado Sul-Mato-Grossense

Abstract

Competition for resources can be mitigated by niche specialization, allowing multiple species to coexist in the same environment. In the Cerrado, one of the world's most biodiverse savannas, various species of anurans coexist and may develop behaviors that minimize niche overlap, such as selective prey choice or variation in activity periods, to reduce competition for resources. Additionally, in the Cerrado, prey availability varies significantly between the dry and rainy seasons, which can influence species' diets and their overlap. This study aimed to assess whether co-occurrence is facilitated by niche differentiation or if there is significant overlap. To this end, we actively collected anurans over the course of one year in a Cerrado area in the municipality of Campo Grande (MS) and analyzed their stomach contents. The study revealed high trophic niche overlap among the analyzed anurans during both the rainy and dry seasons, suggesting shared food resources. In the rainy season, the increased availability of prey may have facilitated co-occurrence, with high overlap observed between species such as L. labyrinthicus and L. macrosternum (0.96). Conversely, in the dry season, prey limitation may have driven the use of different feeding strategies, with nearly complete overlap, such as between S. fuscovarius and S. nasicus (0.97). This highlights the importance of trophic ecology in understanding interactions among organisms, particularly in seasonal environments like the Cerrado, where prey availability varies significantly.