What Do Stable Isotopes Tell Us About the Trophic Ecology of Thamnodynastes Hypoconia (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) in Southern Brazil? T
Zoology 141 (2020) 125812 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Zoology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/zool What do stable isotopes tell us about the trophic ecology of Thamnodynastes hypoconia (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) in southern Brazil? T Marluci Müller Rebelatoa,b,*, Kirk O. Winemillerb, Andrew M. Dursoc, Alexandro Marques Tozettid, Plínio Barbosa de Camargoe, Laura Verrastrof a Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Animal, Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, Agronomia, 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil b Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA c Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Gulf Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd. S., Fort Myers, FL, 33965, USA d Laboratório de Ecologia de Vertebrados Terrestres, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Avenida Unisinos 950, 93022-000, São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil e Laboratório de Ecologia Isotópica, Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Avenida Centenário 303, São Dimas, 13416-000, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil f Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, Agronomia, 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Snakes are a useful model for ecological studies because they are gape-limited predators that may undergo Diet ontogenetic changes in diet. We analyzed carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios to estimate percent con- Isotopic niche tributions of different prey to snake biomass, trophic positions and isotopic niche width of juveniles and adults of Ontogeny the snake Thamnodynastes hypoconia. We also estimated the isotopic niche overlap between the two age cate- Snakes gories.
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