Project title: The Amphibians’ Trophic Niche

Project duration: NA

Funding organization: NA

Description (short description): This project aims to study multiple aspects of the trophic niche of Italian amphibians, evaluating similarities and divergences occurring among conspecific populations, as well as among different species. This project uses Italian species as models to develop a standardized methodology that allows to collect comparable data on amphibians from all over the world.

About the project

Description: This long-term study aims to shed light on different aspects of the trophic niche of amphibians, with special focus on Italian species. The first part of this project involves the use of the not invasive technique of stomach flushing to obtain stomach contents from individuals in the wild. The analysis of stomach contents (e.g., recognition, count, measures) will allow to obtain data on species/populations trophic niche, individuals’ diet specialization, and how these traits change in time and space. Particular attention will be paid to cases of syntopic species, to assess the potential occurrence of competition between them and how such interactions affect the resulting trophic niche of the considered populations. The second part involves the development of specific models aiming to explain the differences and similarities of the trophic niche between different amphibian species and, among them, between populations occurring in different environments and characterized by different history. The third part of the project involves the use of selected model species to test different behavioral traits related to their trophic niche, such as prey preference, optimal foraging and competition.