scholarly journals Diurnal Changes in Hypoxia Shape Predator-Prey Interaction in a Bird-Fish System

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane Lukas ◽  
Felix Auer ◽  
Tobias Goldhammer ◽  
Jens Krause ◽  
Pawel Romanczuk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prey Species ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Behavioral Flexibility ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Diurnal Changes ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Cascading Effects ◽  
Oxygen Levels

Animals often face changing environments, and behavioral flexibility allows them to rapidly and adaptively respond to abiotic factors that vary more or less regularly. However, abiotic factors that affect prey species do not necessarily affect their predators. Still, the prey’s response might affect the predator indirectly, yet evidence from the wild for such a classical bottom-up effect of abiotic factors shaping several trophic levels remains sparse. In many aquatic environments, daily changes in oxygen concentrations occur frequently. When oxygen levels drop to hypoxic levels, many fishes respond with aquatic surface respiration (ASR), during which they obtain oxygen by skimming the upper, oxygenated surface layer. By increasing time at the surface, fish become more vulnerable to fish-eating birds. We explored these cascading effects in a sulfidic spring system that harbors the endemic sulphur molly (Poecilia sulphuraria) as prey species and several fish-eating bird species. Sulfide-rich springs pose harsh conditions as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is lethal to most metazoans and reduces dissolved oxygen (DO). Field sampling during three daytimes indicated that water temperatures rose from morning to (after)noon, resulting in the already low DO levels to decrease further, while H2S levels showed no diurnal changes. The drop in DO levels was associated with a decrease in time spent diving in sulphur mollies, which corresponded with an increase in ASR. Interestingly, the laboratory-estimated threshold at which the majority of sulphur mollies initiate ASR (ASR50: <1.7 mg/L DO) was independent of temperature and this value was exceeded daily when hypoxic stress became more severe toward noon. As fish performed ASR, large aggregations built up at the water surface over the course of the day. As a possible consequence of fish spending more time at the surface, we found high activity levels of fish-eating birds at noon and in the afternoon. Our study reveals that daily fluctuations in water’s oxygen levels have the potential to alter predator-prey interactions profoundly and thus highlights the joined actions of abiotic and biotic factors shaping the evolution of a prey species.

Scale-dependent drivers of ungulate patch use along a temporal and spatial gradient of snow depth

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (8) ◽  
pp. 972-983 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.C. Witt ◽  
C.R. Webster ◽  
R.E. Froese ◽  
T.D. Drummer ◽  
J.A. Vucetich
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Spatial Gradient ◽  
Winter Habitat ◽  
Generalist Species ◽  
Patch Use ◽  
Cascading Effects ◽  
Decrease Use

Anthropogenic changes in landscape composition or configuration have the potential to increase the abundance of generalist species, often resulting in cascading effects on other trophic levels and ecosystem function. The selection or utilization of individual patches of habitat, however, may vary in both time and space, as a result of patch and landscape attributes as well as dynamic abiotic factors (i.e., snowfall). We hypothesized that the use of high-quality habitat would be most strongly influenced by snow at local scales and by composition and the configuration of the landscape at greater spatial scales. To test this, we examined white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780)) selection of eastern hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carrière) patches as winter habitat over a 3-year period. Patch-level attributes were poor predictors of patch use in areas with strong gradients in abiotic factors relevant to the energetics of movement or forage acquisition. Additionally, heterogeneity in the greater landscape (3000 m radius buffer) served to increase use, while homogeneity appeared to decrease use. Our results suggest that interactions between deer migratory behavior, interannual variation in winter severity, and landscape context might provide spatial and temporal refugia for hemlock regeneration; a better understanding of which could aide conservation and restoration.

scholarly journals Derivation of Predator Functional Responses Using a Mechanistic Approach in a Natural System

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andréanne Beardsell ◽  
Dominique Gravel ◽  
Dominique Berteaux ◽  
Gilles Gauthier ◽  
Jeanne Clermont ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Mechanistic Model ◽  
Natural System ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Acquisition Rates

The functional response is at the core of any predator-prey interactions as it establishes the link between trophic levels. The use of inaccurate functional response can profoundly affect the outcomes of population and community models. Yet most functional responses are evaluated using phenomenological models which often fail to discriminate among functional response shapes and cannot identify the proximate mechanisms regulating predator acquisition rates. Using a combination of behavioral, demographic, and experimental data collected over 20 years, we develop a mechanistic model based on species traits and behavior to assess the functional response of a generalist mammalian predator, the arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), to various tundra prey species (lemmings and the nests of geese, passerines, and sandpipers). Predator acquisition rates derived from the mechanistic model were consistent with field observations. Although acquisition rates slightly decrease at high goose nest and lemming densities, none of our simulations resulted in a saturating response in all prey species. Our results highlight the importance of predator searching components in predator-prey interactions, especially predator speed, while predator acquisition rates were not limited by handling processes. By combining theory with field observations, our study provides support that the predator acquisition rate is not systematically limited at the highest prey densities observed in a natural system. Our study also illustrates how mechanistic models based on empirical estimates of the main components of predation can generate functional response shapes specific to the range of prey densities observed in the wild. Such models are needed to fully untangle proximate drivers of predator-prey population dynamics and to improve our understanding of predator-mediated interactions in natural communities.

scholarly journals Within-species trait diversity reorganizes consumer competitive hierarchy and prey community structure in an experimental microbial ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane L Hogle ◽  
Iina Hepolehto ◽  
Lasse Ruokolainen ◽  
Johannes Cairns ◽  
Teppo Hiltunen
Keyword(s):  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Phenotypic Trait ◽  
Microbial Ecosystem ◽  
Cascading Effects ◽  
Trait Diversity ◽  
Trait Variance ◽  
Species Trait ◽  
High Trait

Phenotypic trait differences between species are expected to play an essential role in community assembly. However, the magnitude of trait variability between individuals of the same species is increasingly recognized to have significant ecological effects, including maintaining species diversity. Here we ask how within-species trait diversity at the consumer trophic level affects consumer competition and prey community dynamics at lower trophic levels in an experimental microbial ecosystem consisting of ciliated protozoa, nematode worms, and bacterial prey. Although the nematode had an inherent competitive advantage and rapidly excluded ciliates with low trait variance, we found that high trait variance in the ciliate inverted the consumer hierarchy, ultimately excluding the nematode. Competition between the high trait variance ciliate and the nematode altered the temporal trajectories of individual prey species in non-additive ways, mediated by prey traits related to growth rate and defense. We performed pairwise co-cultures with each consumer and prey species and found that high trait variance in the ciliate increased the mean prey consumption rate over the low trait variance ciliate, which led to an increase in selective feeding in the presence of all prey species. Overall, our results are consistent with predictions from the coexistence theory framework and are compelling evidence that intraspecific trait diversity in consumer species 1) modulates competitive differences between species at higher trophic levels and 2) generates cascading effects on the community composition at lower trophic levels.

The population dynamics of bite-sized predators: prey dependence, territoriality, and mobility

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Lambin
Keyword(s):  
Prey Species ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Biological Barrier ◽  
Reciprocal Interactions ◽  
Demographic Rates ◽  
Risk Of Predation ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Rodent Prey ◽  
Small Mustelids

The dependency of mustelid demographic rates on prey abundance has the potential to cause a strong coupling between predator-prey populations. Data on mustelid dynamics show that such strong reciprocal interactions only materialise in some restricted conditions. Bite-size mustelid predators searching for scarce, depleted prey expose themselves to increased risk of predation by larger predators of small mammal that are themselves searching for similar prey species. As voles or muskrats become scarcer, weasels and mink searching for prey over larger areas become increasingly exposed to intra-guild predation, unless they operate in a habitat refuge such as the sub-nivean space. Where larger predators are sufficiently abundant or exert year-round predation pressure on small mustelids, their impact on mustelids may impose biological barrier to dispersal that are sufficient to weaken the coupling between small mustelids and their rodent prey, and thus impose a degree of top down limitation on mustelids.

Trophic Cascades in Grasslands

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Wilsey
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Temperate Grasslands ◽  
Cascading Effect ◽  
Top Predators ◽  
Invertebrate Predators ◽  
Ecology Of Fear

Top predators have effects that can ‘cascade down’ on lower trophic levels. Because of this cascading effect, it matters how many trophic levels are present. Predators are either ‘sit and wait’ or ‘active’. Wolves are top predators in temperate grasslands and can alter species composition of smaller-sized predators, prey, and woody and herbaceous plant species, either through direct effects or indirect effects (‘Ecology of Fear’). In human derived grasslands, invertebrate predators fill a similar ecological role as wolves. Migrating populations of herbivores tend to be more limited by food than non-migratory populations. The phenology and synchrony of births vary among prey species in a way that is consistent with an adaptation to predation. Precocious species have highly synchronous birth dates to satiate predators. Non-precocious species (‘hiders’) have asynchronous births. Results from studies that manipulate both predators and food support the hypothesis that bottom-up and top-down effects interact.

scholarly journals Temperature and Prey Species Richness Drive the Broad-Scale Distribution of a Generalist Predator

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Danai-Eleni Michailidou ◽  
Maria Lazarina ◽  
Stefanos P. Sgardelis
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Generalist Predator ◽  
Distributional Patterns ◽  
The Future ◽  
Grass Snake ◽  
Broad Scale

The ongoing climate change and the unprecedented rate of biodiversity loss render the need to accurately project future species distributional patterns more critical than ever. Mounting evidence suggests that not only abiotic factors, but also biotic interactions drive broad-scale distributional patterns. Here, we explored the effect of predator-prey interaction on the predator distribution, using as target species the widespread and generalist grass snake (Natrix natrix). We used ensemble Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) to build a model only with abiotic variables (abiotic model) and a biotic one including prey species richness. Then we projected the future grass snake distribution using a modest emission scenario assuming an unhindered and no dispersal scenario. The two models performed equally well, with temperature and prey species richness emerging as the top drivers of species distribution in the abiotic and biotic models, respectively. In the future, a severe range contraction is anticipated in the case of no dispersal, a likely possibility as reptiles are poor dispersers. If the species can disperse freely, an improbable scenario due to habitat loss and fragmentation, it will lose part of its contemporary distribution, but it will expand northwards.

Three-dimensional predator–prey interactions: a computer simulation of bird flocks and aircraft

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (11) ◽  
pp. 2624-2633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter F. Major ◽  
Lawrence M. Dill ◽  
David M. Eaves
Keyword(s):  
Computer Simulation ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Aircraft Engine ◽  
Aquatic Environments ◽  
Aircraft Engines ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Simulation Techniques ◽  
Computer Simulation Techniques ◽  
Individual Prey

Three-dimensional interactions between grouped aerial predators (frontal discs of aircraft engines), either linearly arrayed or clustered, and flocks of small birds were studied using interactive computer simulation techniques. Each predator modelled was orders of magnitude larger than an individual prey, but the prey flock was larger than each predator. Expected numbers of individual prey captured from flocks were determined for various predator speeds and trajectories, flock–predator initial distances and angles, and flock sizes, shapes, densities, trajectories, and speeds. Generally, larger predators and clustered predators caught more prey. The simulation techniques employed in this study may also prove useful in studies of predator–prey interactions between schools or swarms of small aquatic prey species and their much larger vertebrate predators, such as mysticete cetaceans.The study also provides a method to study problems associated with turbine aircraft engine damage caused by the ingestion of small flocking birds, as well as net sampling of organisms in open aquatic environments.

scholarly journals On a Periodic Predator-Prey System with Holling III Functional Response and Stage Structure for Prey

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Xiangzeng Kong ◽  
Zhiqin Chen ◽  
Li Xu ◽  
Wensheng Yang
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Stage Structure ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Prey System ◽  
Sufficient And Necessary Conditions ◽  
Holling Iii Functional Response

We propose and study the permanence of the following periodic Holling III predator-prey system with stage structure for prey and both two predators which consume immature prey. Sufficient and necessary conditions which guarantee the predator and the prey species to be permanent are obtained.

scholarly journals Identifying appropriate sampling and modelling approaches for analysing distributional patterns of Antarctic terrestrial arthropods along the Victoria Land latitudinal gradient

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 742-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tancredi Caruso ◽  
Ian D. Hogg ◽  
Roberto Bargagli
Keyword(s):  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Terrestrial Arthropods ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Dispersal Capability ◽  
Modelling Techniques

AbstractBiotic communities in Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems are relatively simple and often lack higher trophic levels (e.g. predators); thus, it is often assumed that species’ distributions are mainly affected by abiotic factors such as climatic conditions, which change with increasing latitude, altitude and/or distance from the coast. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that factors other than geographical gradients affect the distribution of organisms with low dispersal capability such as the terrestrial arthropods. In Victoria Land (East Antarctica) the distribution of springtail (Collembola) and mite (Acari) species vary at scales that range from a few square centimetres to regional and continental. Different species show different scales of variation that relate to factors such as local geological and glaciological history, and biotic interactions, but only weakly with latitudinal/altitudinal gradients. Here, we review the relevant literature and outline more appropriate sampling designs as well as suitable modelling techniques (e.g. linear mixed models and eigenvector mapping), that will more adequately address and identify the range of factors responsible for the distribution of terrestrial arthropods in Antarctica.

scholarly journals Permanence of Periodic Predator-Prey System with Functional Responses and Stage Structure for Prey

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Can-Yun Huang ◽  
Min Zhao ◽  
Hai-Feng Huo
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Stage Structure ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Predator Prey Model ◽  
Prey System ◽  
Sufficient And Necessary Conditions ◽  
Holling Ii Functional Response

A stage-structured three-species predator-prey model with Beddington-DeAngelis and Holling II functional response is introduced. Based on the comparison theorem, sufficient and necessary conditions which guarantee the predator and the prey species to be permanent are obtained. An example is also presented to illustrate our main results.

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