An ecological guild groups species if they share resources or exploit them in a similar manner, irrespective of their phylogenetic relationships. However, in variable environments where resource availability can fluctuate spatially and temporally, or for members of an ecological guild, species frequently compete for access to the same resources. Taken together, these findings suggest reasonable potential, for the first time, for competition and intraguild predation to occur between taxa as disparate as marsupials and spiders.Īs resources are limited across space and time, species often exploit different niches or partition shared resources. Major overlap (greater than 75% similarity) was found in diet and temporal activity, and weaker overlap in microhabitat use. Diet and prey availability were determined using direct observations and invertebrate pitfall trapping, microhabitat use by tracking individuals of both species-groups, and temporal activity using spotlighting and camera traps. Here, we test the hypothesis that this disproportionate predation is a product of frequent encounter rates between the interactants due to high overlap in their diets and use of space and time. The lesser hairy-footed dunnart ( Sminthopsis youngsoni, Dasyuridae) is a generalist marsupial insectivore in arid Australia, but consumes wolf spiders ( Lycosa spp., Lycosidae) disproportionately often relative to their availability. ![]() However, before IGP can be identified, organisms must be confirmed as members of the same guild and occur together in space and time. Intraguild predation (IGP) is a distinctive form of interference competition, where a dominant predator selectively kills subordinate rivals to gain increased access to resources. ![]() Interspecific competition may occur when resources are limited, and is often most intense between animals in the same ecological guild.
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