Smaller islands, bigger appetites: evolutionary strategies of insular endemic skinks

Competitive dietary and morphological divergence among co-occurring species are fundamental aspects of ecological communities, particularly on islands. Cabo Verde (~570 km west of continental Africa) hosts several endemic reptiles descended from common ancestors, with sympatric species exhibiting wide morphological variation and competing for limited resources. To explore the mechanisms of resource partitioning between coexisting species, DNA metabarcoding was used to compare the diets of large and small skinks, Chioninia vaillantii and Chioninia delalandii, in sympatric and allopatric contexts on Fogo Island and in a more competitive context on the small and resource-poor Cima Islet. The morphological variation of all populations was also examined to test the character displacement hypothesis and to compare the effect of different competitive scenarios. Results showed significant differences in diet and linear measurements between species and populations. The two sympatric populations of C. delalandii on Fogo and Cima showed similar changes in head morphology compared to the allopatric population, supporting character displacement. The effect of higher competitive pressure on Cima was evidenced by the increased morphological and dietary variation observed. This study demonstrates how sister species develop dietary adaptations/morphologies to maintain stable coexistence, especially in highly competitive scenarios, providing useful insights for effective conservation strategies.

This research was funded by LinnéSys Systematics Research Fund and Portuguese funds by ‘Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P’ (FCT) through the projects BIGFIT EXPL/BIA-EVL/0470/2021 and UIDP/50027/2020, R.V. contract under the ‘Norma Transitória’ (DL 57/2016/CP1440/CP1646/CT0003) and C.J.P. PhD grant (SFRH/BD/145851/2019).

Peer reviewed