The ecological causes of individual specialisation

Many generalist populations are composed of specialised individuals, whose niches are small subsets of the population niche. This 'individual specialisation' is a widespread phenomenon in natural populations, but until recently few studies quantified the magnitude of individual specialisation and how this magnitude varies among populations or contexts. Such quantitative approaches are necessary for us to understand how ecological interactions influence the amount of among-individual variation, and how the amount of variation might affect ecological dynamics. Herein, we review recent studies of individual specialisation, emphasising the novel insights arising from quantitative measures of diet variation.…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• DA
  David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• HH
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• UD
  U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• NI
  National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis
• CD
  Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior