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48 results for “predator control”
Functional identity of dominant species in a predator community prevails over functional diversity in shaping the top-down control of herbivores
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Data for: Predation and biophysical context control long-term carcass nutrient inputs in an Andean ecosystem
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Data from: Fox control and fire influence the occurrence of invasive predators and threatened native prey
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Bottom-up when it is not top-down: Predators and plants control biomass of grassland arthropods
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The shape of the predator biomass distribution affects biological pest control services in agricultural landscapes
<p>1. Understanding how community composition of service-providing organisms affects ecosystem functioning is a key challenge in ecology. Although it has been proposed that taxonomic diversity and functional traits mediate this relationship, how several facets of community structure affect the delivery of key ecosystem services remains to be explored.</p> <p>2. In this study, we investigated how abundance, taxonomic richness as well as the shape of biomass distribution in predator communities affect biological pest control services in vineyard landscapes. Our analyses were based on a dataset combining samples of arthropod predators, measures of predation rates of grape pests and characterization of environmental covariables for 42 fields located in South-Western France.</p> <p>3. We found that beside the abundance or the taxonomic richness of predators, the shape of biomass distribution (mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis of the distribution) influences the level of biological control. Predator communities largely dominated by low biomass species provided the bulk of biological control services. Lower levels of predation resulted from increased proportions of large biomass species and more evenly distributed biomass values in the communities.</p> <p>4. Our results indicate that the top-down control provided by low biomass species decreases as the relative proportion of large biomass species increases in the predator community. This suggests that biological control may be affected by negative interactions (e.g., intraguild predation, behavioural interactions) between predators arising from the recruitment of large individuals in the community.</p> <p>5. Our study revealed that the shape of biomass distribution is a major aspect of functional diversity in predator communities providing insights into the mechanisms that link biodiversity and ecosystem services. While our study focuses on biomass, considering other traits involved in trophic interactions may increase our ability to predict the level of biological control in ecosystems.</p>
Data from: Indirect effects of predators control herbivore richness and abundance in a benthic eelgrass (Zostera marina) mesograzer community
1. Herbivore communities can be sensitive to changes in predator pressure (top-down effects) and resource availability (bottom-up effects) in a wide range of systems. However, it remains unclear whether such top-down and bottom-up effects reflect direct impacts of predators and/or resources on herbivores, or are indirect, reflecting altered interactions among herbivore species. 2. We quantified direct and indirect effects of bottom-up and top-down processes on an eelgrass (Zostera marina) herbivore assemblage. In a field experiment, we factorially manipulated water column nutrients (with Osmocote™ slow-release fertilizer) and predation pressure (with predator exclusion cages) and measured the effects on herbivore abundance, richness and beta diversity. We examined likely mechanisms of community responses by statistically exploring the response of individual herbivore species to trophic manipulations. 3. Predators increased herbivore richness and total abundance, in both cases through indirect shifts in community composition. Increases in richness occurred through predator suppression of common gammarid amphipod species (Monocorophium acherusicum and Photis brevipes), permitting the inclusion of rarer gammarid species (Aoroides columbiae and Pontogeneia rostrata). Increased total herbivore abundance reflected increased abundance of a caprellid amphipod species (Caprella sp.), concurrent with declines in the abundance of other common species. Furthermore, predators decreased beta diversity by decreasing variability in Caprella sp. abundance among habitat patches. 4. Osmocote™ fertilization increased nutrient concentrations locally, but nutrients dissipated to background levels within 3 m of the fertilizer. Nutrient addition weakly affected the herbivore assemblage, not affecting richness and increasing total abundance by increasing one herbivore species (Caprella sp.). Nutrient addition did not affect beta diversity. 5. We demonstrated that assemblage-level effects of trophic manipulations on community structure are the result of distinct and often indirect responses of herbivore species. These results underscore the importance of understanding herbivore–herbivore interactions in a system commonly subjected to both eutrophication and overfishing.
Data from: Assessing the effect of predator control on an endangered goose population subjected to predator-mediated food web dynamics
1. Assessing the effectiveness of conservation actions to halt population declines is challenging when confounded by other factors. We assessed whether culling of red fox, a predator currently increasing in the sub-Arctic, contributed to recent recovery of the critically endangered Fennoscandian population of Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus, while controlling for potentially confounding food web dynamics. 2. Using 19 years of data, 10 before and 9 after the implementation of annual red fox culling, we estimated the effect of this action on annual performance of the goose population. We corrected for the potentially confounding effects of cyclic rodent dynamics and semi-domestic reindeer carrion abundance, both of which are expected to trigger predator functional and numerical responses, as well as for annual variation in spring phenology. 3. Goose reproductive success fluctuated in synchrony with the rodent cycle and was negatively related to abundant carrion. When accounting for these aspects of food web dynamics, there was no evidence for an effect of red fox culling on reproductive success. There was, however, a tendency for fox culling to increase adult survival. 4. Our analysis suggests that goose performance in their breeding area is influenced by fluctuating offspring predation, mediated by mainly natural (rodents) and partly anthropogenic (semi-domestic reindeer) dynamic components of the food web. 5. Synthesis and applications. The effect of a decade-long red fox culling on goose reproductive success and survival is currently uncertain. This is despite the fact that predation drives reproductive success through changes in rodent and reindeer carrion abundance. New management actions may consist of regulation of reindeer herd sizes and/or removal of carcasses to reduce the subsidizing effect of reindeer carrion on mesopredators. Getting robust evidence regarding the impact of red fox culling on population recovery depends on continuing research to disentangle food web dynamics and efficiency of management actions.
Data from: Mesocarnivore community structure under predator control: unintended patterns in a conservation context
Across the Mediterranean, conservation programmes often operate concomitantly with hunting interests within game-lands. Carnivore guilds lie at the interface between contrasting management goals, being simultaneously fundamental components of ecosystems and targets of predator control to reduce predation on game species. Here, we evaluate the composition and spatial structure of a mesocarnivore community in a protected area of Southeast Portugal, with high economic investment in conservation and significant hunting activity. Between June and August 2015, we deployed 77 camera-traps across a ~80 km2 area. We report on interspecific disparities in mesocarnivore occupancy and associated environmental determinants. Contrasting occupancy states suggest an unbalanced community, biased towards the widespread occurrence of the red fox Vulpes vulpes ("ψ" ̂ = 0.92±0.04) compared to other species (stone marten Martes foina, European badger Meles meles, Egyptian mongoose Herpestes ichneumon, common genet Genetta genetta, and Eurasian otter Lutra lutra) exhibiting spatially-restricted occupancy patterns ("ψ" ̂ / naïve occupancy < 0.35). The feral cat Felis silvestris catus was the exception ("ψ" ̂ = 0.48±0.11) and, together with the stone marten, exhibited a positive association with human settlements. These findings are consistent with theoretical predictions on how mesocarnivore communities are shaped by the effects of non-selective predator control, paradoxically favouring species with higher population growth rates and dispersal abilities, such as the red fox. Our results reinforce the need to understand the role of predator control as a community structuring agent with potential unintended effects, while exposing issues hindering such attempts, namely non-selective illegal killing or biased/concealed information on legal control measures.
Data from: Contribution of predation to the biological control of a key herbivorous pest in citrus agroecosystems
Biological control has traditionally simplified the view of trophic relationships between herbivorous pests and their natural enemies in agriculture. The success or failure of this pest management strategy is still mainly attributed to the ability of a few key natural enemies to suppress the pest density. For example, successful regulation of the California red scale (Aonidiella aurantii) a key citrus pest, is generally credited to specific parasitoids of the Aphytis genus. Currently, research is revealing how herbivore regulation in agroecosystems can be alternatively achieved with a greater number of trophic associations within the system. The goals of the present study were: i) to unravel species‐specific trophic links between A. aurantii, and its natural enemies in citrus agroecosystems, and ii) to assess their contribution to control of A. aurantii. Predation and parasitism of this herbivorous pest were assessed through exclusion experiments. Species‐specific trophic links between this herbivorous pest and its natural enemies were studied using gut‐content analysis of field collected predators employing prey specific DNA molecular markers. Relative predation rates of the species involved in A. aurantii regulation were estimated. Predation was found to be the main biotic component of A. aurantii mortality, causing reductions of more than 75% in recently settled cohorts. Aonidiella aurantii DNA was detected in the digestive system of 11 species of predators. Generalist and stenophagous predators, mainly associated with other citrus pests such as aphids, proved to be the most important biological control agents of this pest. Complex trophic relationships, such as apparent competition between two key citrus pests, were revealed. The present study highlights the role of predation as biotic mortality factor of key pests in perennial agroecosystems; wherein, it is a rich complex of indigenous or naturalized generalist predators that are primarily responsible for this mortality. The results herein presented may therefore offer another perspective on the biological control of one of the key worldwide citrus pests; at least in those regions where specific parasitoids are not able to successfully regulate the scale populations.
Indirect control of decomposition by an invertebrate predator
<p>Datasets and R scripts for the above article.</p>
Water availability rather than temperature control soil fauna community structure and prey-predator interactions
<p>The ongoing climate change may strongly impact soil biodiversity with cascading effects on the processes they drive. Thus, it is of prime interest to improve our knowledge about responses by soil organisms such as collembolans to expected shifts in environmental conditions by considering communities comprising both detritivores and predators.</p> <p>The aim of the present study was to evaluate how simulated climate change and predation under laboratory conditions alter a collembolan community.</p> <p>To infer the impact of climate change, we applied a decreased level of soil moisture (60% <em>vs.</em> 30% soil water holding capacity) and an increasing air temperature (15 °C <em>vs. </em>25 °C) to a collembolan community constituted by four species (<em>Folsomia candida</em>, <em>Protaphorura fimata</em>, <em>Proisotoma minuta</em> and <em>Mesaphorura macrochaeta</em>) exhibiting distinct functional traits, e.g. body size and furca presence, in presence or absence of a predatory gamasid Acari (<em>Stratiolaelaps scimitus</em>) during two months in a microcosm experiment.</p> <p>We observed that decreasing soil moisture altered the collembolan community with species-specific responses. Interaction between soil moisture, temperature and predation indicates that low soil moisture reduced total collembolan abundance especially i) by suppressing the positive effect of increasing temperature and ii) by increasing the predatory control on collembolan abundance.</p> <p>These results highlight that soil moisture is the major driver of Collembola community and by consequence, a shift in climatic parameters with the ongoing climate change should strongly modify the Collembola community structure and the predator-prey interaction. Our findings are highly important since a strengthening of predation impact on Collembola prey could have major consequences on the whole soil food web being able to lead to a slowdown of key ecosystem processes they drive (e.g., litter decomposition and nutrient recycling). Finally, our study promotes the need to study more complex systems considering distinct soil-dwelling species, their functional traits and their trophic interactions to better predict the ecosystem responses to the ongoing climate change.</p>
Data from: Mesocarnivore community structure under predator control: unintended patterns in a conservation context
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Data from: Indirect effects of predators control herbivore richness and abundance in a benthic eelgrass (Zostera marina) mesograzer community
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Data from: Epibenthic predators control mobile macrofauna associated with a foundation species in a sub-arctic subtidal community
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The shape of the predator biomass distribution affects biological pest control services in agricultural landscapes
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Data from: Contribution of predation to the biological control of a key herbivorous pest in citrus agroecosystems
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Data from: Top-down control by an aquatic invertebrate predator increases with temperature but does not depend on individual behavioural type
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Water availability rather than temperature control soil fauna community structure and prey-predator interactions
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Data from: Assessing the effect of predator control on an endangered goose population subjected to predator-mediated food web dynamics
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Data from: Reversing the effects of evolutionary prey naiveté through controlled predator exposure
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Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
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