10.6084/m9.figshare.6452117.v1
Stephen P. De Lisle
Stephen P.
De Lisle
Samuel Paiva
Samuel
Paiva
Locke Rowe
Locke
Rowe
Data from Habitat partitioning during character displacement between the sexes
The Royal Society
2018
sexual dimorphism
resource competition
partial migration
phenotypic plasticity
2018-06-06 17:45:28
Dataset
https://rs.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Data_from_Habitat_partitioning_during_character_displacement_between_the_sexes/6452117
Ecological differences between the sexes are often interpreted as evidence of within-species ecological character displacement (ECD), a hypothesis with almost no direct tests. Here, we experimentally test two predictions that are direct corollaries of ECD between the sexes, in a salamander. First, we find support for the prediction that each sex has a growth rate advantage in the aquatic microhabitat where it is most commonly found. Second, we test the prediction that selection for ECD in the breeding environment may affect partial migration out of this environment. We found that phenotype-dependent migration resulted in a shift in the phenotypic distribution across treatments, with the highest sexual dimorphism occurring among residents at high founding density, suggesting that migration and ECD can both be driven by competition. Our work illustrates how complex patterns of habitat partitioning evolve during ECD between the sexes and suggest ECD and partial migration can interact to effect both ecological dynamics and evolution of sexual dimorphism.