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Science 20 May 1977:
Vol. 196. no. 4292, pp. 880 - 882
DOI: 10.1126/science.196.4292.880
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Articles

Competition Between Seed-Eating Rodents and Ants in Desert Ecosystems

JAMES H. BROWN 1 and DIANE W. DAVIDSON 2

1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721
2 Department of Zoology, University of Texas, Austin 78712

Three kinds of evidence indicate that desert rodents and ants compete for seeds: (i) extensive overlaps in diet, (ii) reciprocal increases when one taxon is experimentally excluded, and (iii) complementay patterns of diversity and biomass in georadients of productivity. The effect on seed resources and annual plan geoseems to be similar whether rodents, ants, or both are foraging.

Submitted on October 29, 1976
Revised on December 14, 1976


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