In tropical forests, the diets of many frugivorous mammals overlap, yet how hyper-diverse assemblages of consumers exploit resources and coexist remains poorly understood. We evaluated competitive interactions among three species of terrestrial frugivorous mammals, the ungulate Tayassu pecari (white-lipped peccary), its close relative Pecari tajacu (collared peccary), and a large rodent (Dasyprocta azarae, agouti), in their exploitation strategies of palm resources of different quality. We conducted the study in a large isolated fragment at the tropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil, where these mammal species show high spatial and temporal overlap. We evaluated if body mass and foraging group size define a hierarchy in exploitation of preferentially richer palm resources. We used camera traps and two-species occupancy models to examine patterns of co-occurrence and variable interaction strength between these consumers and three species of palms. Our analyses supported the hypothesis of partial resource overlap but no competition among frugivores, and a body mass dominance hierarchical exploitation of resources. The larger frugivore (white-lipped peccary) dominated patches of the lipid-rich palm Euterpe edulis, where the smallest frugivore (agouti) was absent. Instead, the smallest frugivore concentrated its foraging in areas with the poorest palm resource, Syagrus oleracea. Collared peccaries preferred areas of high abundance of Syagrus romanzoffiana when the other two mammal species were rarely detected or absent, strongly avoided patches of E. edulis, and showed higher average detection probabilities when agoutis were present. Our study highlights the important role of behavioral plasticity in promoting coexistence and indicates that through context-dependent interactions and hierarchical partitioning of resources, consumers can avoid strong competition, even under conditions of high spatial and temporal overlap and high levels of habitat fragmentation and isolation.

中文翻译：

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新热带食果哺乳动物棕榈资源划分的优势等级

在热带森林中，许多食果哺乳动物的饮食重叠，但对高度多样化的消费者群体如何利用资源和共存仍知之甚少。我们评估了三种陆生食果哺乳动物、有蹄类动物 Tayassu pecari（白唇野猪）、其近亲 Pecari tajacu（有领野猪）和大型啮齿动物（Dasyprocta azarae、agouti）在棕榈油开发策略中的竞争性相互作用。不同质量的资源。我们在巴西热带大西洋森林的一个大型孤立片段中进行了这项研究，这些哺乳动物物种在那里表现出高度的空间和时间重叠。我们评估了体重和觅食群体规模是否定义了优先利用更丰富的棕榈资源的层次结构。我们使用相机陷阱和两种物种的占用模型来检查这些消费者与三种棕榈树之间的共现模式和可变交互强度。我们的分析支持部分资源重叠但食果动物之间没有竞争的假设，以及资源的体重优势分层开发。较大的食果动物（白唇野猪）在富含脂质的棕榈树 Euterpe edulis 中占主导地位，其中没有最小的食果动物（刺豚鼠）。相反，最小的食果动物将其觅食集中在棕榈资源最贫乏的地区，即 Syagrus oleracea。当其他两种哺乳动物很少被发现或不存在时，有项圈的野猪更喜欢 Syagrus romanzoffiana 的高丰度区域，强烈避开 E. edulis 的斑块，并且当存在刺鼠时表现出更高的平均检测概率。我们的研究强调了行为可塑性在促进共存方面的重要作用，并表明通过依赖于环境的相互作用和资源的分层划分，即使在空间和时间高度重叠以及栖息地高度破碎和隔离的条件下，消费者也可以避免激烈的竞争。