Details zur Publikation

Kategorie Textpublikation
Referenztyp Zeitschriften
DOI 10.1098/rspb.2020.2653
Lizenz creative commons licence
Titel (primär) Impacts of predator-mediated interactions along a climatic gradient on the population dynamics of an alpine bird
Autor Bowler, D.E.; Kvasnes, M.A.J.; Pedersen, H.C.; Sandercock, B.K.; Nilsen, E.B.
Quelle Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
Department iDiv; ESS
Band/Volume 287
Heft 1941
Seite von art. 20202653
Sprache englisch
Daten-/Softwarelinks https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tx95x69w9
Supplements https://ndownloader.figstatic.com/files/25693264
Keywords boreal ecosystems; climate change; indirect interactions; population cycles; predator-prey interactions
Abstract According to classic theory, species' population dynamics and distributions are less influenced by species interactions under harsh climatic conditions compared to under more benign climatic conditions. In alpine and boreal ecosystems in Fennoscandia, the cyclic dynamics of rodents strongly affect many other species, including ground-nesting birds such as ptarmigan. According to the ‘alternative prey hypothesis’ (APH), the densities of ground-nesting birds and rodents are positively associated due to predator–prey dynamics and prey-switching. However, it remains unclear how the strength of these predator-mediated interactions change along a climatic harshness gradient in comparison with the effects of climatic variation. We built a hierarchical Bayesian model to estimate the sensitivity of ptarmigan populations to interannual variation in climate and rodent occurrence across Norway during 2007–2017. Ptarmigan abundance was positively linked with rodent occurrence, consistent with the APH. Moreover, we found that the link between ptarmigan abundance and rodent dynamics was strongest in colder regions. Our study highlights how species interactions play an important role in population dynamics of species at high latitudes and suggests that they can become even more important in the most climatically harsh regions.
dauerhafte UFZ-Verlinkung https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=24147
Bowler, D.E., Kvasnes, M.A.J., Pedersen, H.C., Sandercock, B.K., Nilsen, E.B. (2020):
Impacts of predator-mediated interactions along a climatic gradient on the population dynamics of an alpine bird
Proc. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci. 287 (1941), art. 20202653 10.1098/rspb.2020.2653