Coexistence of temporally partitioned spiny mice: Roles of habitat structure and foraging behavior

Two coexisting species of spiny mice in rocky deserts in Israel temporally partition activity in opposite parts of the diel cycle. Acomys cahirinus is nocturnal and A. russatus is diurnal. although it becomes nocturnal if its congener is experimentally removed, suggesting that the temporal partition ing is driven by interspecific competition. Such extreme temporal partition ing within the diel cycle has not previously been recorded elsewhere among mammals. Using artificial food patches. we studied microhabitat use and for aging efficiencies under seasonally variable predator regimes and physiolog ical pressures to assess the roles that habitat structure and foraging beha vior might play in coexistence. The two species showed trade-offs in foragi ng efficiency leading to different strategies of microhabitat use that may help promote coexistence. A. cahirinus is a "cream skimmer," a relatively i nefficient forager that gives up at relatively high giving-up densities, an d a habitat generalist: whereas A. russatus is a habitat specialist, perhap s compensating for this restricted niche by foraging very efficiently to lo w giving-up densities. Seasonal shifts in foraging microhabitat suggest tha t the response to predation risk from snakes in summer overrides and oppose s the effects of physiological costs and risk from owls and diurnal raptors , leading to increased predatory risk and foraging microhabitat overlap in summer. Temporal partitioning of the food resource may compensate for decre ased partitioning of the habitat resource in summer. Provision of cover was more important than escape distance in determining habitat and microhabita t use. Boulder fields in rocky deserts provide a physical structure that is more complex and provides more continuous cover than is available in open deserts, where most research on community structure of desert rodents has b een carried out. We propose that this physical structure of rocky deserts, in conjunction with the desert adaptations of A. russatus, may enable the e xtreme temporal partitioning to opposite parts of the diel cycle and, there fore, contributes to coexistence in this community.