Segregation of Lizard Niches in the Mediterranean Region of Chile

Abstract

Quantitative studies on ecological and morphological characteristics of congeneric sympatric species have recently had a strong influence on the development of evolutionary theories concerning niche breadth as an inverse measure of specialization, and to niche overlap or distance between the niche as a measurement of competition (Hutchinson, 1965; Klopfer and MacArthur, 1960; MacArthur, 1968; Levins, 1968 a, b; Schoener, 1965; Schoener andGorman, 1968). The definition of these measurements has made it possible to enunciate several questions about the way in which the species segregate their niches, the size of the niche and the consequences of different niche breadths.