title: Stable isotope ecology of a hyper-diverse community of scincid lizards from arid Australia.
abstract: We assessed the utility of stable isotope analysis as a tool for understanding community ecological structure in a species-rich clade of scincid lizards from one of the world's most diverse lizard communities. Using a phylogenetic comparative framework, we tested whether δ15N and δ13C isotopic composition from individual lizards was correlated with species-specific estimates of diet and habitat use. We find that species are highly divergent in isotopic composition with significant correlations to habitat use, but this relationship shows no phylogenetic signal. Isotopic composition corresponds to empirical observations of diet for some species but much variation remains unexplained. We demonstrate the importance of using a multianalytical approach to questions of long-term dietary preference, and suggest that the use of stable isotopes in combination with stomach content analysis and empirical data on habitat use can potentially reveal patterns in ecological traits at finer scales with important implications for community structuring.
authors.affiliation: Museum of Zoology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America.
authors.forename: Maggie R
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7104-0494
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Grundler
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology C0930, University of Texas at Austin, One University Station, Austin, Texas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Eric R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Pianka
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación de la Herpetofauna, Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal, (IDEA, CONICET-UNC), and Centro de Zoología Aplicada (UNC), Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Nicolás
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pelegrin
authors.affiliation: Department of Parks and Wildlife, Wanneroo, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.affiliation: Museum of Zoology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America.
authors.forename: Daniel L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Rabosky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D004463:Ecology; D017753:Ecosystem; D008116:Lizards; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes