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Biogeographic patterns in the feeding habits of the opportunist and semiaquatic Neotropical otter

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Abstract

We evaluated the biogeographic factors that influence composition and diversity of the Neotropical otter diet. We also tested whether Lontra longicaudis selected fish in its diet per their availability. We collected data from 41 studies, covering most of the otter’s distribution, 32 of which had prey identified to family level. Fish was the main prey for L. longicaudis throughout the species range. However, its frequency was higher in sites farther from the coast and at higher slopes. Alternative prey items compensate the decrease in fish. Temperature seasonality, slope, and distance to coast were the most important factors determining the diversity of the otter’s diet. Populations in areas with more variation in temperature and/or closer to the coast showed a more diverse diet with an increase of alternative prey. Trophic diversity was positively correlated with temperature seasonality but negatively correlated with the slope and distance to coast. As an opportunist, semiaquatic predator with a wide distribution range, L. longicaudis has a flexible diet, and this plasticity might be explained by the wide range of habitats occupied by otters. Furthermore, Neotropical otter diet was also found to be more similar in geographically closer areas, as well as in similar environment types.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Marcus Vinicius Vieira, Erica Pellegrini Caramaschi, Renata Pardini, Mariana Moncassin Vale and Gonzalo Medina-Vogel, and the team of Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação de Populações/UFRJ for fruitful discussion on the study design and preliminary results; the researchers that provided the raw data included in the analyses; two anonymous reviewers and the associate editor for their valuable comments on the manuscript, and Margherita Bandini and Bernardo Araujo for the English review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Carlos Chagas Filho 373-Prédio do CCS - Bloco A - Sala A2-102, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 21941-902, Brazil

    Marcelo Lopes Rheingantz & Fernando Antonio dos Santos Fernandez

  2. Departamento de Biologia e Biotecnologia, Instituto Federal do Rio de Janeiro, R. Sen. Furtado, Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 20270-021, Brazil

    Maron Galliez

  3. Marco and Louise Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, SIDEER, BIDR, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 8499000, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Jorge Fernando Saraiva de Menezes

Authors
  1. Marcelo Lopes Rheingantz
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  2. Jorge Fernando Saraiva de Menezes
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  3. Maron Galliez
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  4. Fernando Antonio dos Santos Fernandez
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Correspondence to Marcelo Lopes Rheingantz.

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Handling editor: Lee B. Kats

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Rheingantz, M.L., de Menezes, J.F.S., Galliez, M. et al. Biogeographic patterns in the feeding habits of the opportunist and semiaquatic Neotropical otter. Hydrobiologia 792, 1–15 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3095-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3095-5

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