Spatial heterogeneity and individual variation in diet of an aquatic top predator

There was significant variation in diet among and within individual tiger salamander larvae Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum among and within sites in natural ponds. Intrapopulation variation in diet among sites is likely a consequence of adaptive phenotypic plasticity in feeding behavior of individuals on a spatially variable prey assemblage, supporting the hypothesis that selection should favor multiple phenotypes within populations. Variation in diet among sites is directly analogous to the within- and between-phenotype components of niche variation. Size-associated differences in diet represent a significant ontogenetic component to niche variation in feeding within populations of larval salamanders. -from Authors