Data from: Phenotypic diversity facilitates niche partitioning in a sky island assemblage of spiny lizards
Data files
Mar 28, 2025 version files 80.39 KB
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README.md
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Westeen-2023-morphologyDataRaw.csv
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Westeen-2023-nicheData.csv
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Abstract
If closely-related species should be more similar and, therefore, more likely to compete for resources, why do we see so many examples of species-rich congeneric communities in nature? To avoid competition, many species possess suites of traits associated with differential resource use—or ecomorphologies—that promote niche differentiation with co-occurring species. Yet, the axes through which niche partitioning evolves and the traits involved are still poorly understood in most systems. Island systems, in which species interactions can form strong forces of selection due to limited resources, provide valuable insights into how ecomorphological diversity contributes to coexistence. Here, we examined axes of resource use and morphological traits that facilitate niche partitioning in a community of spiny lizards (genus Sceloporus) in a sky island system, the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. By quantifying structural, temporal, and thermal niche use for over 300 co-occurring lizards from four species over three field seasons, we show that sympatric species diverge primarily in perch height and type but also in thermal and temporal resource use. Our results also demonstrate interspecific divergence in a suite of phenotypic traits known to covary with ecology in other lizard radiations, including body size, scale size, hindlimb length, foot length, and dorsal coloration. Studies of niche partitioning and ecomorphology, especially of closely-related species, deepen our understanding of how diverse communities assemble and how morphological diversity accumulates across the tree of life, and our findings highlight the importance of examining multiple axes of resource use to better understand these processes.
Dataset DOI: 10.6078/D1WH9X
Description of the data and file structure
Morphology and ecological data for individual Sceloporus lizards in Westeen et al. BJLS 2023. Lizards were caught in the field and aspects of their resource use and morphological measures were taken
Files and variables
File: Westeen-2023-nicheData.csv
Description:
Variables
- Information for each lizard including:
- location (name of site)
- time: time of first sighting of lizard
- substrate given as a categorical variable (e.g., rock, log)
- perch height in meters
- lizard temperature (C) measured with an infrared temperature gun pressed to the lizard’s cloaca
- substrate temperature (C) measured with an infrared temperature gun
- sex as determined in the field by examination of post-anal scales (male, female, or juvenile when sex cannot be determined due to lizard age)
- mass in grams as measured in the field with a digital scale
- body size as given by snout-to-vent length (SVL) as measured in the field in millimeters
- tail length in mm: broken = broken tail, not measured; regen = tail regenerated, not measured
- time of capture given by the GPS used to record capture location, given in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
- a value of NA indicates that measure was not taken in the field
File: Westeen-2023-morphologyDataRaw.csv
Description: Morphological data from images of field-caught lizards. Multiple measurements were taken by different reviewers at different time points; some reviewers measured a different subset of traits. Final measurements presented in the manuscript were generated by averaging measures per individual lizard and checking for consistency.
A value of NA indicates that measurement was not taken by the reviewer.
Variables
- specimen_no: individual lizard
- reviewer: initials of person conducting measurements
- linear measurements are listed in columns, measured in centimeters