IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v469y2011i7328d10.1038_nature09660.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Competition and phylogeny determine community structure in Müllerian co-mimics

Author

Listed:
  • Markos A. Alexandrou

    (Environment Centre Wales, Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University)

  • Claudio Oliveira

    (Instituto de Biociencias, Universidade Estadual Paulista)

  • Marjorie Maillard

    (Environment Centre Wales, Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University)

  • Rona A. R. McGill

    (NERC Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre)

  • Jason Newton

    (NERC Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre)

  • Simon Creer

    (Environment Centre Wales, Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University)

  • Martin I. Taylor

    (Environment Centre Wales, Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University)

Abstract

Mimic prey species keep their distance Müllerian mimics are poisonous or unpalatable potential prey species that are not closely related to the species they mimic but have evolved similar warning coloration to discourage shared predators, gaining in the process through strength in numbers. It is not clear if this effect is sufficient to maintain coexistence when competitive exclusion would be expected to favour one mimic at the expense of the others. Martin Taylor and colleagues address that question in a study of Müllerian mimicry in a species-rich group of tropical catfish. Using morphometric and stable isotope analysis, they find that mimics do not occupy identical niches so are not in direct competition for food, thus explaining their ability to coexist.

Suggested Citation

  • Markos A. Alexandrou & Claudio Oliveira & Marjorie Maillard & Rona A. R. McGill & Jason Newton & Simon Creer & Martin I. Taylor, 2011. "Competition and phylogeny determine community structure in Müllerian co-mimics," Nature, Nature, vol. 469(7328), pages 84-88, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:469:y:2011:i:7328:d:10.1038_nature09660
    DOI: 10.1038/nature09660
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09660
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature09660?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:469:y:2011:i:7328:d:10.1038_nature09660. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.