The Population Effects of Ecological Sympatry on Musk Turtles in Northern Florida

Comparisons were made between populations of Sternotherus minor and S. odoratus from five localities in northern Florida where they were allopatric, and two localities where they were sympatric. It was determined that the two species compete for food resources where they are sympatric since they overlap considerably in resource utilization, and do not spatially or temporally partition food resources. S. minor loses its specialized mollusk-eating adaptations at localities where it is sympatric with S. odoratus, or at those localities where the snail Goniobasis is absent. It is suggested that character convergence has been demonstrated at localities where the species are sympatric as a result of competition between the turtle species for generalized resources.