Coping with extremes:convergences of habitat use,territoriality,and diet in summer but divergences in winter between two sympatric snow finches on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau  

作　　者：Dongming LI Jason E.DAVIS Yanfeng SUN Gang WANG Ghulam NABI John C.WINGFIELD Fumin LEI 

机构地区：[1]Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology,Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Hebei Province,College of Life Sciences,Hebei Normal University,Shijiazhuang,Hebei Province,China [2]Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution,Institute of Zoology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing,China [3]Department of Neurobiology,Physiology and Behavior,University of California,Davis,California,USA [4]Department of Biology,Radford University,Radford,Virginia,USA [5]Ocean College,Hebei Agricultural University,Qinhuangdao,Hebei Province,China [6]University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing,China [7]Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Kunming,China

出　　处：《Integrative Zoology》2020年第6期533-543,共11页整合动物学（英文版）

摘　　要：On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,extreme environmental conditions have imposed intense selective pressure on the evolution of phenotypic traits of wild animals.To date,limited information is available on behavioral and ecological traits concerning niche differentiation among sympatric animals on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,especially during winter when the environments are most severe.Here,we studied the seasonal variations in habitat occurrence,territorial behavior,and diet in two sympatric snow finches(the white-rumped snow finch,Onychostruthus taczanowskii,WRSF;and the rufous-necked snow finch,Pyrgilauda ruficollis,RNSF)to determine convergence and divergence of ecological traits in such severe climatic conditions.Our results showed that:(i)WRSF occupied rural areas as a dominant species throughout the annual cycle while RNSF occupied the rural areas in summer and then shifted to human-occupied areas in winter and spring;(ii)WRSFs exhibited robust aggressive behavior and territoriality during winter relative to RNSFs;(iii)the diets of both species varied with the season but did not vary between species except that WRSF ate significantly more seeds but RNSF consumed more starchy material derived from human food waste during winter.Therefore,the separations in the spatial niche and territoriality between WRSF and RNSF,especially in winter,may contribute to alleviating the pressure of interspecific competition,and promoting the coexistence of the two sympatric snow finches in the extreme environments on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

关 键 词：DIET habitat use Qinghai-Tibet Plateau snow finch territorial behavior 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]