Dietary Niche Partitioning in Sympatric Afro‐Alpine Rodents: Habitat and Seasonal Dynamics in <i>Lophuromys flavopunctatus</i> and <i>Stenocephalemys griseicauda</i>

Abstract

ABSTRACT Dietary niche partitioning is an important strategy for species to reduce competition, but information on how two sympatric rodents, Lophuromys flavopunctatus and Stenocephalemys griseicauda , within the Guassa Menz Community Conservation area co‐exist is not known. Dietary composition, seasonality and habitat‐specific resource use within Festuca grassland, shrubland and swamp grass habitats were determined by examining stomach content through micro histology. The findings were that both species utilised diets with a main component of vegetative plants; L. flavopunctatus , however, the diet had a much greater invertebrate component, while S. griseicauda used plant material preferentially, especially in Festuca grassland environments. Seasonal variation in diet was highly conspicuous, and wet season diets were made up of higher proportion of invertebrates and fruits compared to the dry season diets, which were predominantly vegetation. Further, habitat in swamp grass exhibited greater dietary variation, which is an indication of resource availability. In contrast, niche overlap was, nonetheless, consistently high (0.86–0.98), reflecting low interspecific competition, perhaps mediated by microhabitat or temporal resource partitioning. These results highlight habitat heterogeneity and seasonally fluctuating resources as important determinants of coexistence in Afro‐alpine communities. The research highlights the ecological vulnerability of these species to environmental perturbations and adds to a better understanding of niche dynamics in Afroalpine rodent assemblages.