Coexistence, competition, and character evolution in carnivores and primates

• T. Jonathan Davies

Abstract
Explaining species coexistence is one of the principal goals of ecology. Competition is thought to inhibit coexistence among species occupying the same ecological niche. Hence species sharing similar ecological traits are predicted to overlap less in their geographical range. However, the lack of robust null models and the scarcity of appropriate data have meant that the importance of competition in structuring ecological communities has proven hard to evaluate and remains controversial. In addition, other factors may dominate patterns of species overlap and trait similarity; for example, sympatric species might be similar due to convergent evolution as a consequence of sharing a similar environment or they may have only recently diverged, and therefore be similar by descent. Phylogenetic approaches enable the confounding influence of evolutionary history to be controlled for, and provide a simple null model for evaluating the relationship between coexistence and character divergence. This project uses new species-level phylogenetic trees along with extensive databases on species traits and distributions within mammals, to perform global analyses of species overlap and divergence across multiple carnivore and primate communities. Specifically, this project aims to evaluate whether divergence in ecological traits facilitates coexistence in these clades.