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McIntosh AR, Greig HS, Howard S. Regulation of open populations of a stream insect through larval density-dependence. J Anim Ecol 2022; 91:1582-1595. [PMID: 35362147 PMCID: PMC9541859 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
In organisms with complex life cycles, the various stages occupy different habitats creating demographically open populations. The dynamics of these populations will depend on the occurrence and timing of stochastic influences relative to demographic density dependence, but understanding of these fundamentals, especially in the face of climate warming, has been hampered by the difficulty of empirical studies. Using a logically feasible organism, we conducted a replicated density‐perturbation experiment to manipulate late‐instar larvae of nine populations of a stream caddisfly, Zelandopsyche ingens, and measured the resulting abundance over 2 years covering the complete life cycle of one cohort to evaluate influences on dynamics. Negative density feedback occurred in the larval stage, and was sufficiently strong to counteract variation in abundance due to manipulation of larval density, adult caddis dispersal in the terrestrial environment as well as downstream drift of newly hatched and older larvae in the current. This supports theory indicating regulation of open populations must involve density dependence in local populations sufficient to offset variability associated with dispersal, especially during recruitment, and pinpoints the occurrence to late in the larval life cycle and driven by food resource abundance. There were large variations in adult, egg mass and early instar abundance that were not related to abundance in the previous stage, or the manipulation, pointing to large stochastic influences. Thus, the results also highlight the complementary nature of stochastic and deterministic influences on open populations. Such density dependence will enhance population persistence in situations where variable dispersal and transitioning between life stages frequently creates mismatches between abundance and the local availability of resources, such as might become more common with climate warming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angus R McIntosh
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
| | - Hamish S Greig
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.,Present address: School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine, ME, USA
| | - Simon Howard
- Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand
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de Brouwer JHF, Kraak MHS, Besse-Lototskaya AA, Verdonschot PFM. The significance of refuge heterogeneity for lowland stream caddisfly larvae to escape from drift. Sci Rep 2019; 9:2140. [PMID: 30765828 PMCID: PMC6375960 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-38677-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2018] [Accepted: 01/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The process of macroinvertebrate drift in freshwater lowland streams is characterized by dislodgement, drift distance and subsequent return to the bottom. Refuges are important to all drift phases, since they may help larvae to avoid dislodgement and to escape from drift, even more so if the refuge structure is complex and heterogeneous. The aim of the present study was therefore to determine the influence of refuge heterogeneity on the ability of caddisfly larvae to return to the bottom from drift and to avoid secondary dislodgement. To this purpose a series of indoor flume experiments were undertaken, testing six Limnephilidae (Trichoptera) species, that occur on a gradient from lotic to lentic environments. Bed morphology (plain, refuges with or without leaf patches) and flow velocity (low (0.1 m/s), intermediate (0.3 m/s) and high (0.5 m/s) were manipulated. We showed that all species were favoured by refuges and that especially for species on the lentic end of the gradient (L. lunatus, L. rhombicus and A. nervosa), the ability to escape from drift and to avoid secondary dislodgement was increased. Moreover, we showed that all species spent more time in refuges than in open channel parts and more time in heterogeneous refuges (leaf patches) than in bare refuges, the latter being especially the case for larvae of the lotic species. For lentic species, not well adapted to high flow velocity, refuges are thus crucial to escape from drift, while for the lotic species, better adapted to high flow velocity, the structure of the refuge becomes increasingly important. It is concluded that refuges may play a crucial role in restoring and maintaining biodiversity in widened, channelized and flashy lowland streams.
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Affiliation(s)
- J H F de Brouwer
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research, Department of Freshwater Ecology, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - M H S Kraak
- University of Amsterdam, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), P.O. Box 94248, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - A A Besse-Lototskaya
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research, Department of Freshwater Ecology, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - P F M Verdonschot
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research, Department of Freshwater Ecology, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.,University of Amsterdam, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), P.O. Box 94248, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Fava F, Ponti M, Abbiati M. Role of Recruitment Processes in Structuring Coralligenous Benthic Assemblages in the Northern Adriatic Continental Shelf. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0163494. [PMID: 27701418 PMCID: PMC5049771 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2016] [Accepted: 09/09/2016] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Coralligenous biogenic reefs are among the most diverse marine habitats in the Mediterranean Sea. The northern Adriatic mesophotic coralligenous outcrops host very rich and diverse epibenthic assemblages. Several studies quantified the low temporal variability and high spatial heterogeneity of these habitats, while processes driving structuring and differentiation are still poorly understood. To shed light on these processes, temporal and spatial patterns of colonisation were investigated using travertine tiles deployed on three coralligenous outcrops, corresponding to the main typologies of benthic assemblages described in previous studies. Three years after deployment, assemblages colonising travertine tiles resembled the differentiation among sites revealed by the natural assemblages in terms of major ecological groups. Processes structuring and maintaining species diversity have been explored. Pioneer species with high reproduction rate, long distance larval dispersal and fast growth (e.g. the serpulid polychaete Spirobranchus triqueter and the bivalve Anomia ephippium), were the most abundant in the early stages of recruitment on the two outcrops further away from the coast and with lower sedimentation. Their success may vary according to larval availability and environmental conditions (e.g., sedimentation rates). At these sites early-stage lasted 10-12 months, during which even species from natural substrates began colonising tiles by settlement of planktonic propagules (e.g., encrusting calcareous Rhodophyta) and lateral encroachment (e.g., sponges and ascidians). On coastal outcrop, exposed to a higher sedimentation rates, tiles were colonised by fast-growing algal turfs. Resilience of northern Adriatic coralligenous assemblages, and maintenance of their diversity, appeared largely entrusted to asexual reproduction. Exploring the mechanisms that underlie the formation and maintenance of the species diversity is crucial to improve our understanding of ecological processes and to implement appropriate conservation strategies of the Adriatic coralligenous reefs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Fava
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche ed Ambientali (BiGeA) & Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca per le Scienze Ambientali (CIRSA), University of Bologna, CoNISMa, Ravenna, Italy
| | - Massimo Ponti
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche ed Ambientali (BiGeA) & Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca per le Scienze Ambientali (CIRSA), University of Bologna, CoNISMa, Ravenna, Italy
| | - Marco Abbiati
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche ed Ambientali (BiGeA) & Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca per le Scienze Ambientali (CIRSA), University of Bologna, CoNISMa, Ravenna, Italy
- Istituto di Scienze Marine, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bologna, Italy
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Large-scale manipulation of mayfly recruitment affects population size. Oecologia 2011; 168:967-76. [DOI: 10.1007/s00442-011-2147-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2011] [Accepted: 09/19/2011] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
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Encalada AC, Peckarsky BL. The influence of recruitment on within-generation population dynamics of a mayfly. Ecosphere 2011. [DOI: 10.1890/es11-00103.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
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White JW, Caselle JE. SCALE-DEPENDENT CHANGES IN THE IMPORTANCE OF LARVAL SUPPLY AND HABITAT TO ABUNDANCE OF A REEF FISH. Ecology 2008; 89:1323-33. [PMID: 18543625 DOI: 10.1890/07-0840.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- J Wilson White
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Fingerut JT, Hart DD, McNair JN. Silk filaments enhance the settlement of stream insect larvae. Oecologia 2006; 150:202-12. [PMID: 16927103 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-006-0517-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2005] [Accepted: 07/15/2006] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Many aquatic organisms need to settle in suitable benthic habitats while being transported via water currents. Such settlement is especially challenging for organisms that encounter complex benthic topography and lack the ability to move easily from the water column to the bed (e.g., via swimming). We conducted flume studies to examine whether the settlement of drifting stream insects is facilitated by adhesive filaments that extend from their bodies. Using a new tripwire visualization technique, we found that neonatal black flies (Simulium tribulatum) drifted with silk threads averaging six times their body length. These threads allowed larvae to contact or snag the bed from a greater height than would be possible through direct body-to-bed contact alone, and instantly arrested their downstream movement. Thus, silk increased their probability of settlement. We then performed an experiment to examine how settlement varied with bed topography and velocity. We tested whether settlement rate differed between a flat bed and an irregular bed that mimicked key aspects of their natural cobble-bed habitat. Velocities were similar for both bed treatments. Settlement on the irregular bed was 40 times greater than on the flat bed due to silk use. Settlement rate also exhibited a marginally significant decline with increasingly velocity on the flat bed, but not on the irregular bed. Silk threads should greatly increase the settlement rate of these nonswimming larvae on coarse-grained stream beds. Thus, silk snagging can potentially reduce the downstream distance that individuals are transported during a drift event, although the effects of silk on other phases of larval dispersal may differ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan T Fingerut
- Patrick Center for Environmental Research, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA.
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Abstract
Applying the recent developments of scale transition theory, we demonstrate a systematic approach to the problem of scaling up local scale interactions to regional scale dynamics with field data. Dynamics on larger spatial scales differ from the predictions of local dynamics alone because of an interaction between nonlinearity in population dynamics at the local scale and spatial variation in density and environmental factors over the regional population. Our systematic approach to scaling up involves the following five steps. First, define a model for dynamics on the local spatial scale. Second, apply scale transition theory to identify key interactions between nonlinearity and spatial variation that translate local dynamics to the regional scale. Third, measure local-scale model parameters to determine nonlinearities at local scales. Fourth, measure spatial variation. Finally, combine nonlinearity and variation measures to obtain the scale transition. Using field data for the dynamics of grazers and periphyton in a freshwater stream, we show that scale transition terms greatly reduce the growth and equilibrium density of the periphyton population at the stream scale compared to rock scale populations, confirming the importance of spatial mechanisms to stream-scale dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brett A Melbourne
- Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis 95616, USA.
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Bond NR, Lake PS. Local habitat restoration in streams: Constraints on the effectiveness of restoration for stream biota. ECOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT & RESTORATION 2003. [DOI: 10.1046/j.1442-8903.2003.00156.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 201] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Jenkins KM, Boulton AJ. CONNECTIVITY IN A DRYLAND RIVER: SHORT-TERM AQUATIC MICROINVERTEBRATE RECRUITMENT FOLLOWING FLOODPLAIN INUNDATION. Ecology 2003. [DOI: 10.1890/02-0326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 128] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Boyero L, Bosch J. Spatial and Temporal Variation of Macroinvertebrate Drift in Two Neotropical Streams1. Biotropica 2002. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2002.tb00575.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Downes BJ, Hindell JS. What’s in a site? Variation in lotic macroinvertebrate density and diversity in a spatially replicated experiment. AUSTRAL ECOL 2001. [DOI: 10.1046/j.1442-9993.2000.01019.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Bond NR, Perry GLW, Downes BJ. Dispersal of organisms in a patchy stream environment under different settlement scenarios. J Anim Ecol 2000. [DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2656.2000.00420.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Mac Nally R. Modelling confinement experiments in community ecology: differential mobility among competitors. Ecol Modell 2000. [DOI: 10.1016/s0304-3800(00)00216-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Mcnair JN. Turbulent transport of suspended particles and dispersing benthic organisms: the hitting-time distribution for the local exchange model. J Theor Biol 2000; 202:231-46. [PMID: 10660477 DOI: 10.1006/jtbi.1999.1057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Fine particles suspended in turbulent water exhibit highly irregular trajectories as they are buffeted by fluid eddies. The Local Exchange Model provides a stochastic diffusion approximation to the randomlike motion of such particles (e.g. dispersing benthic organisms in a stream). McNair et al. (1997, J. theor. Biol.188, 29) used this model to derive equations governing the mean hitting time, which is the expected time until a particle hits bottom for the first time from a given initial elevation. The present paper derives equations governing the probability distribution of the hitting time, then studies the distribution's dependence on a particle's initial elevation and two dimensionless parameters. The results show that for fine particles suspended in moderately to highly turbulent water, the hitting-time distribution is strongly skewed to the right, with mode<median<mean. Because of the distribution's thick upper tail, there is a significant probability that a particle's hitting time will greatly exceed the mean. The results also show that the position of the mode depends strongly on a particle's initial elevation but, compared to the median or mean, is relatively insensitive to the particle's fall velocity.
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Affiliation(s)
- J N Mcnair
- Patrick Center for Environmental Research, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA.
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Robson BJ, Chester ET. Spatial patterns of invertebrate species richness in a river: the relationship between riffles and microhabitats. AUSTRAL ECOL 1999. [DOI: 10.1046/j.1442-9993.1999.01007.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Hart DD, Finelli CM. Physical-Biological Coupling in Streams: The Pervasive Effects of Flow on Benthic Organisms. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1999. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.30.1.363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 345] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- David D. Hart
- Patrick Center for Environmental Research, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103; e-mail: ,
| | - Christopher M. Finelli
- Patrick Center for Environmental Research, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103; e-mail: ,
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Constable AJ. Ecology of benthic macro-invertebrates in soft-sediment environments: A review of progress towards quantitative models and predictions. AUSTRAL ECOL 1999. [DOI: 10.1046/j.1442-9993.1999.00977.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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