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A37 - Climate Divergence as a Predictor of Trophic Niche Divergence in Vertebrate Sister Species
A major goal in evolutionary biology is to understand how species differentiate and adapt to their distinct environments.
A37 - Climate Divergence as a Predictor of Trophic Niche Divergence in Vertebrate Sister Species
Mentor: Tereza Jezkova, Ph.D.
A major goal in evolutionary biology is to understand how species differentiate and adapt to their distinct environments.
Ecological niche divergence is the process by which closely related species evolve different ecological roles by adapting to distinct resources or environmental conditions, often reducing competition.
Both biotic factors (e.g., diet and resource use) and abiotic factors (e.g., climate) are key drivers of this divergence.
Climate can influence species directly through physiological constraints and indirectly by shaping resource availability, while diet reflects how species utilize those resources.
Although both climate and diet contribute to niche divergence, the extent to which climatic differences drive dietary differences among closely related species remains unclear.
This study investigates the relationship between climate and diet in shaping niche divergence among sister species.
To do this, divergence was quantified along both climate (temperature and precipitation) and diet axes and compared across multiple mammalian families.