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Comparison of Dietary Overlap between Allopatric and Sympatric Geckos

1994; The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles; Volume: 28; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1564624

1937-2418

Paul D. Klawinski, R. Kathryn Vaughan, Daniel Saenz, William Godwin,

Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior

Two gecko species, Hemidactylus turcicus and Cyrtopodion scabrum, have been introduced into the Port of Galveston, Texas. While H. turcicus has been established for a longer period of time, the relatively recent introduction of C. scabrum near the entrance of the Port has apparently led to the displacement of H. turcicus in that area. This has resulted in a distribution in which the two populations are largely allopatric except for a narrow band of sympatry at the periphery of each of their ranges. We examined stomach contents of both species in allopatry and sympatry in order to determine if dietary overlap in sympatry is less than that in allopatry. We calculated Pianka's (1973) symmetric overlap for geckos occupying sympatric areas (0.55) and allopatric areas (0.81)