Ecological Interchangeability - Niche Identity/Similarity Analyses
Table 3 summarizes the ecological interchangeability analyses. AlthoughA. microunicolor has morphological and behavioral differences indicating adaptive divergence from A. unicolor A, the other lineage comparisons do not possess any obvious morphological or known behavioral differences (Hendrixson & Bond, 2005a, 2005b). Niche identity was rejected for all four sister lineage comparisons. However, for the niche similarity test three of the comparisons were not significantly more different or similar than expected regardless of the background region threshold: 1) A. microunicolor and A. unicolor A; 2) A. unicolor B1 and A. unicolor B2; 3)A. unicolor B1 + A. unicolor B2 and A. unicolor B3. The fourth comparison between A. microunicolor + A. unicolor A and A. unicolor B had conflicting results with three of the four background regions (50km, 75km, and 100km) while the 25km background region indicated no niche divergence or niche conservatism. Comparing A. microunicolor + A. unicolor A occurrences to the background regions of A. unicolor B suggests niche divergence (i.e., significantly more different than expected), whereas comparing the occurrences of A. unicolor B to the background regions ofA. microunicolor + A. unicolor A indicates niche conservatism (i.e., significantly more similar than expected).