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87 results for “cascade effects”
Data from: The sign of cascading predator effects varies with prey traits in a detrital system
1. Theory and experiments show that the nature of 'green' trophic cascades, between predators, herbivores and plants, varies with several key species traits: predator hunting mode and predator and prey habitat domains. Meanwhile, 'brown' cascades between predators, environment-modifying detritivores and plants have been largely overlooked and the roles of species traits, particularly prey traits, in determining the nature of these cascades remains unclear. 2. We hypothesize that, in predator–detritivore–plant interaction chains, the burrowing ability of plant-facilitating detritivores determines their response to predators and thus the sign of indirect effect transmitted. In the dung-decomposer food web of an alpine meadow, we predicted that in the presence of above-ground predacious beetles: (i) non-burrowing detritivores will suffer mortality due to predation and transmit negative indirect effects to plants, whereas (ii) burrowing detritivores will escape predation by retreating deeper into the soil, transmitting positive indirect effects to plants. 3. In support of predictions, experiments showed that a single species of predacious beetle (i) reduced the density of the non-burrowing species and indirectly reduced dung loss rate, soil nutrient concentrations and plant biomass, but (ii) drove the burrowing species deeper, indirectly improved soil conditions and increased plant biomass. 4. These results show that the burrowing ability of a detritivore can determine whether it transmits a negative indirect effect mediated by a reduction in its density, or a positive indirect effect mediated by its behavioural response to predation risk. 5. We call for further tests of our detritivore-trait hypothesis in different regions and ecosystems to further develop a general trait-based framework for trophic cascades in detrital food webs. We further advance the general hypothesis that the locomotion traits of prey species (e.g. burrowing/flying ability) may help explain their behavioural response to predation risk and the nature of indirect effect they transmit from predators to plants.
Data from: Cascading effects of defaunation on the coexistence of two specialized insect seed predators
Identification of the mechanisms enabling stable coexistence of species with similar resource requirements is a central challenge in ecology. Such coexistence can be facilitated by species at higher trophic levels through complex multi-trophic interactions, a mechanism that could be compromised by ongoing defaunation. We investigated cascading effects of defaunation on Pachymerus cardo and Speciomerus giganteus, the specialized insect seed predators of the Neotropical palm Attalea butyracea, testing the hypothesis that vertebrate frugivores and granivores facilitate their coexistence. Laboratory experiments showed that the two seed parasitoid species differed strongly in their reproductive ecology. Pachymerus produced many small eggs that it deposited exclusively on the fruit exocarp (exterior). Speciomerus produced few large eggs that it deposited exclusively on the endocarp, which is normally exposed only after a vertebrate handles the fruit. When eggs of the two species were deposited on the same fruit, Pachymerus triumphed only when it had a long head start, and the loser always succumbed to intraguild predation. We collected field data on the fates of 6569 Attalea seeds across sites in central Panama with contrasting degrees of defaunation and wide variation in the abundance of vertebrate frugivores and granivores. Speciomerus dominated where vertebrate communities were intact, whereas Pachymerus dominated in defaunated sites. Variation in the relative abundance of Speciomerus across all 84 sampling sites was strongly positively related to the proportion of seeds attacked by rodents, an indicator of local vertebrate abundance. Synthesis. We show that two species of insect seed predators relying on the same host plant species are niche differentiated in their reproductive strategies such that one species has the advantage when fruits are handled promptly by vertebrates and the other when they are not. Defaunation disrupts this mediating influence of vertebrates and strongly favours one species at the expense of the other, providing a case study of the cascading effects of defaunation and its potential to disrupt coexistence of non-target species, including the hyperdiverse phytophagous insects of tropical forests.
Data from: Cascading effects of mammalian herbivores on ground-dwelling arthropods: variable responses across arthropod groups, habitats and years
1. Large mammalian herbivores are well known to shape the structure and function of ecosystems worldwide and these effects can in turn cascade through systems to indirectly influence other animal species. A wealth of studies have explored the effects of large mammals on arthropods, but to date they have reported such widely varying results that generalizations have been elusive. Three factors are likely drivers of this variability: the widely varying life-history characteristics of different arthropod groups, the highly variable landscapes that mammalian herbivores commonly inhabit, and temporal variation in environmental conditions. 2. Here, we use an 18-year-old exclosure experiment stratified across three distinct coastal prairie habitats in northern California to address the effects of a reintroduced mammalian herbivore, tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) on the composition, richness, and abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods over two years with very different precipitation regimes. 3. We found that elk shifted the composition of arthropod communities, increasing the abundance of ants, beetles, spiders and mites, decreasing the abundance of woodlice and bristletails in some but not all habitats types, and having no effect on the abundance of bugs, crickets and springtails. Elk also increased richness and changed the composition of ant-genera and beetle morpho-species. Interestingly, the effects of elk on arthropod composition, richness and abundance varied little between years, despite very different precipitation levels, biomass accumulation, and thatch height. 4. Elk reduced shrub cover, aboveground herbaceous biomass, and thatch height and increased soil compaction, and these changes predicted the abundance and richness of arthropods, although taxonomic groups varied in their responses, presumably due to differences in environmental requirements. 5. Synthesis. Our research highlights the importance of using long-term experiments to assess the cascading effects of large herbivores on the composition of ground-dwelling arthropod communities and to identify the mechanisms that indirectly shape arthropod responses to herbivores among variable habitats and years in order to develop a greater understanding of the variable responses of arthropods to large mammalian herbivores.
Data from: Cascading effects of induced terrestrial plant defenses on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem function
Herbivores induce plants to undergo diverse processes that minimize costs to the plant, such as producing defences to deter herbivory or reallocating limited resources to inaccessible portions of the plant. Yet most plant tissue is consumed by decomposers, not herbivores, and these defensive processes aimed to deter herbivores may alter plant tissue even after detachment from the plant. All consumers value nutrients, but plants also require these nutrients for primary functions and defensive processes. We experimentally simulated herbivory with and without nutrient additions on red alder (Alnus rubra), which supplies the majority of leaf litter for many rivers in western North America. Simulated herbivory induced a defence response with cascading effects: terrestrial herbivores and aquatic decomposers fed less on leaves from stressed trees. This effect was context dependent: leaves from fertilized-only trees decomposed most rapidly while leaves from fertilized trees receiving the herbivory treatment decomposed least, suggesting plants funnelled a nutritionally valuable resource into enhanced defence. One component of the defence response was a decrease in leaf nitrogen leading to elevated carbon : nitrogen. Aquatic decomposers prefer leaves naturally low in C : N and this altered nutrient profile largely explains the lower rate of aquatic decomposition. Furthermore, terrestrial soil decomposers were unaffected by either treatment but did show a preference for local and nitrogen-rich leaves. Our study illustrates the ecological implications of terrestrial herbivory and these findings demonstrate that the effects of selection caused by terrestrial herbivory in one ecosystem can indirectly shape the structure of other ecosystems through ecological fluxes across boundaries.
Top-down cascading effects of seed-feeding beetles and their parasitoids on plants and leaf herbivores
<p><span>When feeding on a plant, herbivorous insects alter the quality of the plant as a food source. This affects other organisms interacting with the same plant. These so-called 'plant-mediated interactions' can be altered by parasitoids that attack the herbivores. So far, this research area has mainly focused on interactions at the leaf level, and very little is known about plant-mediated interactions via seeds. </span><span>It is still poorly understood if seeds that survive insect damage have fewer resources to allocate to plant growth and defence against leaf herbivores, and whether parasitoids that kill seed-feeding insects mitigate such negative effects.</span></p> <p><span>Using seeds of wild lima bean plants (<em>Phaseolus lunatus</em>) we studied the effect of the intensity of infestation by seed beetles (<em>Zabrotes subfasciatus</em>) and their parasitoids (<em>Stenocorse bruchivora</em>) on the following parameters under lab conditions: seed mass and germination, plant growth and defensive compounds (cyanogenic glycosides and flavonoids) and performance of a leaf herbivore species (<em>Spodoptera latifascia</em>). In addition, we performed a field experiment using seeds with or without insect damage to investigate the consequences on plant performance and fitness in the wild.</span></p> <p><span>Seed beetle infestation had an overall negative impact on seed germination. Lab experiments revealed that damaged seeds produced plants with slower growth and reduced concentration of defensive compounds, which increased the performance of the leaf herbivores. Effects of seed-feeding on seed germination and plant growth were attenuated by parasitism, resulting in a net increase of the number of viable offspring. In the field, we observed that seed damage impaired germination, delayed flowering time and increased leaf herbivory.</span></p> <p><span>Our results show that plant-mediated interactions between insect herbivores are not limited to leaf herbivores but extend to seed herbivores. In our study system, parasitoids had no apparent effect on these interactions, despite their strong beneficial effects on germination and plant performance. These findings confirm the long-lasting consequences of indirect plant-mediated interactions in a community-wide ecological context. Furthermore, they contribute to a better understanding of the important but understudied effects of parasitoids on plant fitness.</span></p>
Data from: Cascading effects of pre-adult survival on sexual selection
<p>Sexual selection influences broad-scale patterns of biodiversity. While a large body of research has investigated the effect of mate competition on sexual selection, less work has examined how pre-adult life history influences sexual selection. We used a mathematical framework to explore the influence of pre-adult survival on sexual selection. Our model suggests that pre-adult male mortality will affect the strength of sexual selection when a fixed number of adult males have an advantageous mate-acquisition trait. When a fixed number of males have an advantageous mate-acquisition trait, sexual selection is expected to increase when pre-adult mortality is relatively low. In contrast, if a fixed proportion (rather than number) of adult males have a mate-acquisition trait, pre-adult male mortality is not expected to affect the strength of sexual selection. Further, if the advantageous mating trait affects pre-adult survival, natural and sexual selection can interact to influence the overall selection on the mating trait. Given that pre-adult mortality is often shaped by natural selection, our results highlight conditions under which natural selection can have cascading effects on sexual selection.</p>
Data from: Boom and bust: The effects of masting on seed predator range dynamics and trophic cascades
<p><strong>Aim: </strong>Spatiotemporal variation in resource availability is a strong driver of animal distributions. In northern hardwood and boreal forests of the northeastern United States, tree mast events provide resource pulses that drive the population dynamics of small mammals, including the American red squirrel (<em>Tamiasciurus hudsonicus</em>), a primary songbird nest predator. This study sought to determine whether mast availability ameliorates their abiotic limits, enabling red squirrel elevational distributions to temporarily expand and negatively impact high elevation songbirds.</p> <p><strong>Location: </strong>Northeastern United States</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> We used two independent datasets to evaluate our hypotheses. First, we fit a dynamic occupancy model using data from camera trap surveys to evaluate red squirrel distributional responses to pulses in tree mast. We also assessed population responses using systematic auditory surveys analyzed with an open-population binomial mixture model. Further, we used modeled red squirrel abundance in nest-survival models to evaluate whether their abundance is correlated with daily nest survival of three songbird species.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> Tree mast provided a critical resource pulse that resulted in a two-fold increase in the annual elevational distribution of red squirrels. The elevational distribution of red squirrels ranged from a minimum of ~450 m (range: 663 – 1145 m asl) following two consecutive years without a masting event to a maximum of over 1000 m (range: 443 – 1545 m asl) after a large mast event. Daily nest survival of three songbird species tended to decline with an increase in the abundance of red squirrels.</p> <p><strong>Main Conclusions:</strong> Tree mast is a central biological phenomenon in many temperate and boreal forests. This study reveals how this resource pulse results in range changes in a small mammal that is both a seed and bird predator, as well as prey for many carnivores. Thus, understanding this phenomenon can inform the conservation and management of northern forests, including breeding songbirds.</p>
Data from: Top carnivore decline has cascading effects on scavengers and carrion persistence
Top carnivores have suffered widespread global declines, with well-documented effects on mesopredators and herbivores. We know less about how carnivores affect ecosystems through scavenging. Tasmania's top carnivore, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), has suffered severe disease-induced population declines, providing a natural experiment on the role of scavenging in structuring communities. Using remote cameras and experimentally-placed carcasses, we show that mesopredators consume more carrion in areas where devils have declined. Carcass consumption by the two native mesopredators was best predicted by exploitation competition for carrion, whereas consumption by the invasive mesopredator, the feral cat (Felis catus), was better predicted by the landscape-level abundance of devils, suggesting a relaxed landscape of fear where devils are suppressed. Reduced discovery of carcasses by devils was balanced by increased discovery by mesopredators. Nonetheless, carcasses persisted ~2.6-fold longer where devils have declined, highlighting their importance for rapid carrion removal. The major beneficiary of increased carrion availability was the forest raven (Corvus tasmanicus). Population trends of ravens increased 2.2-fold from 1998-2017, the period of devil decline, but this increase occurred Tasmania-wide, making the cause unclear. This case study provides a little-studied potential mechanism for mesopredator release, with broad relevance to the vast areas of the world that have suffered carnivore declines.
Sediment Cascade Database: Post wildfire effects on Mediterranean and contrasting ecosystems
<p>This review examines the effects of wildfire in Mediterranean and contrasting ecosystems through the concept of sediment cascade (i.e. the dynamic transfer of sediments across different landscape compartments, linking sources, transport channels and sedimentation areas in an interconnected ecosystem). The main objective of the current review was to synthesize current knowledge while identifying critical gaps in our understanding of the interactions between these factors (wildfire, erosion, and contaminants).</p> <p>The database compile all the Journal articles related to post-wildfire erosion under Mediterranean climates, to sediment sources, biodiversity (i.e. with a focus on environmental DNA), and contaminants were retrieved from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database as of 9 September 2025. </p> <p>The search used specific keyword combinations for each topic. For soil erosion, "erosion," "wildfire," "soil," "sediment," and "Mediterranean" yielded 99 articles. For sediment sources, "sediment," "wildfire," and "tracers" identified 20 articles. Biodiversity searches using " environmental", "DNA", "wildfire", and "ecosystems" resulted in 23 articles. Finally, three keyword combinations on firefighting impacts (e.g., "fire-retardant" and "fire-suppressant" with "wildfire" and "ecosystems") identified 19 articles.</p>
Social-ecological cascade effects of land-use on vertebrate pest dynamics in arid agricultural communities
<p>Extensive land conversion to agriculture in drylands and associated resource use have wide-ranging impacts on desert ecosystems globally. Incorporating the impacts of human-social aspects is thus imperative in examining ecological interactions. The provision of agricultural inputs in these resource-scarce regions supports invasive and pest species, negatively impacting both agricultural productivity and native desert ecosystems. Understanding the spatial dynamics of invasive and pest species requires analyzing both bottom-up resource availability factors underlying animal distributions and top-down biological controls. Here, we evaluate the social-ecological cascading effects of dryland agriculture on vertebrate pest communities in dryland agricultural communities of Israel. Our study region is characterized by 18 agricultural cooperatives with distinct crop regimes due to contrasting social decision-making and resource allocation schemes (i.e., communal Kibbutzim vs. privatized Moshavim). Crop choices further affect land management (e.g., enclosed vs. open farm systems) and resource intensity. This system is ideal to study trophic mechanisms underlying animal assemblages between agricultural regimes. We examine the role of agricultural land-use practices on pest spatial distributions based on multi-year vertebrate pest observations with agricultural datasets. We use structural equation modelling (SEM) to quantify the relative importance of added agricultural resources underlying bottom-up and top-down trophic processes regulating vertebrate pest assemblages. Results reveal that crop choices determine pest distributions through bottom-up processes directly, while simultaneously driving pest competitive interactions through indirect top-down cascades impacting pest communities. For example, due to the indirect negative effect of wolves on meso-predators (foxes and jackals) mediated by livestock, the total positive effect of livestock on the abundance of meso-predators is reduced. Our study illustrates the social-ecological cascading effects of agricultural regimes on pest community assemblages mediated by contrasting agricultural land-use practices. Considering the expansion of dryland agro-ecological systems globally, understanding the intricate cascading pathways of predator- and prey-pest communities has important implications for agricultural management, biological invasions in drylands and fragile desert environments.</p>
Data from: Cascading effects of thermally-induced anemone bleaching on associated anemonefish hormonal stress response and reproduction
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Data from: Boom and bust: The effects of masting on seed predator range dynamics and trophic cascades
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Data from: Intraguild predation leads to cascading effects on habitat choice, behaviour and reproductive performance
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Data from: Top carnivore decline has cascading effects on scavengers and carrion persistence
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Data from: Cascading effects of mammalian herbivores on ground-dwelling arthropods: variable responses across arthropod groups, habitats and years
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Top-down cascading effects of seed-feeding beetles and their parasitoids on plants and leaf herbivores
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Data from: The sign of cascading predator effects varies with prey traits in a detrital system
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Using proxies of microbial community‐weighted means traits to explain the cascading effect of management intensity, soil and plant traits on ecosystem resilience in mountain grasslands
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Social-ecological cascade effects of land-use on vertebrate pest dynamics in arid agricultural communities
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Data from: Cascading effects of defaunation on the coexistence of two specialized insect seed predators
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