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Lapointe F, Karmalkar AV, Bradley RS, Retelle MJ, Wang F. Climate extremes in Svalbard over the last two millennia are linked to atmospheric blocking. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4432. [PMID: 38830858 PMCID: PMC11148056 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48603-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Arctic precipitation in the form of rain is forecast to become more prevalent in a warmer world but with seasonal and interannual changes modulated by natural modes of variability. Experiencing rapid hydroclimatic changes in the Arctic, Svalbard serves as an ideal study location due to its exposure to oceanic and atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic region. Here we use climate data from paleoproxies, observations, and a climate model to demonstrate that wet and warm extremes in Svalbard over the last two millennia are linked to the presence of atmospheric blocking regimes over Scandinavia and the Ural mountain region. Rainfall episodes lead to the deposition of coarse sediment particles and high levels of calcium in Linnévatnet, a lake in southwest Svalbard, with the coarsest sediments consistently deposited during atmospheric blocking events. A unique annually resolved sediment record from Linnévatnet confirms that this linkage has been persistent over the past 2000 years. Our record also shows that a millennial-scale decline in Svalbard precipitation ended around the middle of the 19th century, followed by several unprecedented extreme events in recent years. As warming continues and sea ice recedes, future Svalbard floods will become more intense during episodes of Scandinavian and Ural blocking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francois Lapointe
- Department of Earth, Geographic and Climate Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.
- World Climate Research Programme - Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Project, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.
| | | | - Raymond S Bradley
- Department of Earth, Geographic and Climate Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
- World Climate Research Programme - Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Project, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
| | - Michael J Retelle
- Earth and Climate Sciences, Bates College, Lewiston, ME, USA
- Department of Geology, The University Center in Svalbard, Svalbard, Norway
| | - Feng Wang
- Institut National de la recherche scientifique, University of Québec, Québec, QC, Canada
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2
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Ghislain M, Bonnet T, Godeau U, Dehorter O, Gimenez O, Henry PY. Synchrony in adult survival is remarkably strong among common temperate songbirds across France. Ecology 2024; 105:e4305. [PMID: 38679955 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2023] [Revised: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
Synchronous variation in demographic parameters across species increases the risk of simultaneous local extinction, which lowers the probability of subsequent recolonization. Synchrony therefore tends to destabilize meta-populations and meta-communities. Quantifying interspecific synchrony in demographic parameters, like abundance, survival, or reproduction, is thus a way to indirectly assess the stability of meta-populations and meta-communities. Moreover, it is particularly informative to identify environmental drivers of interspecific synchrony because those drivers are important across species. Using a Bayesian hierarchical multisite multispecies mark-recapture model, we investigated temporal interspecific synchrony in annual adult apparent survival for 16 common songbird species across France for the period 2001-2016. Annual adult survival was largely synchronous among species (73%, 95% credible interval [47%-94%] of the variation among years was common to all species), despite species differing in ecological niche and life history. This result was robust to different model formulations, uneven species sample sizes, and removing the long-term trend in survival. Synchrony was also shared across migratory strategies, which suggests that environmental forcing during the 4-month temperate breeding season has a large-scale, interspecific impact on songbird survival. However, the strong interspecific synchrony was not easily explained by a set of candidate weather variables we defined a priori. Spring weather variables explained only 1.4% [0.01%-5.5%] of synchrony, while the contribution of large-scale winter weather indices may have been stronger but uncertain, accounting for 12% [0.3%-37%] of synchrony. Future research could jointly model interspecific variation and covariation in breeding success, age-dependent survival, and age-dependent dispersal to understand when interspecific synchrony in abundance emerges and destabilizes meta-communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manon Ghislain
- Mécanismes adaptatifs et évolution (MECADEV UMR 7179), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Brunoy, France
- Centre de Recherches sur la Biologie des Populations d'Oiseaux (CRBPO), Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR 7204), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, CP135, Paris, France
- PatriNat (OFB-MNHN-CNRS-IRD), Centre d'expertise et de données sur le patrimoine naturel, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Timothée Bonnet
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, ANU College of Science, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC UMR 7372), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Villiers en Bois, France
| | - Ugoline Godeau
- Mécanismes adaptatifs et évolution (MECADEV UMR 7179), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Brunoy, France
- Centre de Recherches sur la Biologie des Populations d'Oiseaux (CRBPO), Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR 7204), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, CP135, Paris, France
- Institut national de Recherche en Sciences et Technologies pour l'Environnement et l'Agriculture, Ecosystèmes Forestiers (UR EFNO), Domaine des Barres, Nogent-Sur-Vernisson, France
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, UR 406 Abeilles et Environnement, Avignon, France
| | - Olivier Dehorter
- Centre de Recherches sur la Biologie des Populations d'Oiseaux (CRBPO), Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR 7204), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, CP135, Paris, France
| | - Olivier Gimenez
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE UMR 5175), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Études, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Pierre-Yves Henry
- Mécanismes adaptatifs et évolution (MECADEV UMR 7179), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Brunoy, France
- Centre de Recherches sur la Biologie des Populations d'Oiseaux (CRBPO), Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR 7204), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, CP135, Paris, France
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3
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Clark MS, Hoffman JI, Peck LS, Bargelloni L, Gande D, Havermans C, Meyer B, Patarnello T, Phillips T, Stoof-Leichsenring KR, Vendrami DLJ, Beck A, Collins G, Friedrich MW, Halanych KM, Masello JF, Nagel R, Norén K, Printzen C, Ruiz MB, Wohlrab S, Becker B, Dumack K, Ghaderiardakani F, Glaser K, Heesch S, Held C, John U, Karsten U, Kempf S, Lucassen M, Paijmans A, Schimani K, Wallberg A, Wunder LC, Mock T. Multi-omics for studying and understanding polar life. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7451. [PMID: 37978186 PMCID: PMC10656552 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43209-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Polar ecosystems are experiencing amongst the most rapid rates of regional warming on Earth. Here, we discuss 'omics' approaches to investigate polar biodiversity, including the current state of the art, future perspectives and recommendations. We propose a community road map to generate and more fully exploit multi-omics data from polar organisms. These data are needed for the comprehensive evaluation of polar biodiversity and to reveal how life evolved and adapted to permanently cold environments with extreme seasonality. We argue that concerted action is required to mitigate the impact of warming on polar ecosystems via conservation efforts, to sustainably manage these unique habitats and their ecosystem services, and for the sustainable bioprospecting of novel genes and compounds for societal gain.
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Affiliation(s)
- M S Clark
- British Antarctic Survey, UKRI-NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK.
| | - J I Hoffman
- British Antarctic Survey, UKRI-NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK.
- Universität Bielefeld, VHF, Konsequenz 45, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany.
| | - L S Peck
- British Antarctic Survey, UKRI-NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK.
| | - L Bargelloni
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, Università degli Studi di Padova, Viale dell'Università 16, I-35020, Legnaro, Italy
| | - D Gande
- Microbial Ecophysiology Group, Faculty of Biology/Chemistry & MARUM, University of Bremen, Leobener Straße 3, 28359, Bremen, Germany
| | - C Havermans
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - B Meyer
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
- Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg (HIFMB), 23129, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - T Patarnello
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, Università degli Studi di Padova, Viale dell'Università 16, I-35020, Legnaro, Italy
| | - T Phillips
- British Antarctic Survey, UKRI-NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
| | - K R Stoof-Leichsenring
- Alfred-Wegener-Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, 14473, Potsdam, Germany
| | - D L J Vendrami
- Universität Bielefeld, VHF, Konsequenz 45, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - A Beck
- Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns, Botanische Staatssammlung München (SNSB-BSM), Menzinger Str. 67, 80638, München, Germany
| | - G Collins
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre & Loewe-Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, 231 Morrin Road St Johns, Auckland, 1072, New Zealand
| | - M W Friedrich
- Microbial Ecophysiology Group, Faculty of Biology/Chemistry & MARUM, University of Bremen, Leobener Straße 3, 28359, Bremen, Germany
| | - K M Halanych
- Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina, 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane, Wilmington, NC, 28409, USA
| | - J F Masello
- Universität Bielefeld, VHF, Konsequenz 45, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany
- Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Giessen, Germany
| | - R Nagel
- Universität Bielefeld, VHF, Konsequenz 45, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9TH, UK
| | - K Norén
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - C Printzen
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre & Loewe-Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - M B Ruiz
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
- Universität Duisburg-Essen, Universitätstrasse 5, 45151, Essen, Germany
| | - S Wohlrab
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg (HIFMB), 23129, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - B Becker
- Universität zu Köln, Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften, Zülpicher Str. 47b, 60674, Köln, Germany
| | - K Dumack
- Universität zu Köln, Terrestrische Ökologie, Zülpicher Str. 47b, 60674, Köln, Germany
| | - F Ghaderiardakani
- Institute for Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Lessingstraße 8, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - K Glaser
- Institute of Biological Sciences, Applied Ecology and Phycology, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Straße 3, 18059, Rostock, Germany
| | - S Heesch
- Institute of Biological Sciences, Applied Ecology and Phycology, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Straße 3, 18059, Rostock, Germany
| | - C Held
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - U John
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - U Karsten
- Institute of Biological Sciences, Applied Ecology and Phycology, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Straße 3, 18059, Rostock, Germany
| | - S Kempf
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - M Lucassen
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - A Paijmans
- Universität Bielefeld, VHF, Konsequenz 45, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - K Schimani
- Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise-Straße 6-8, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - A Wallberg
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Husargatan 3, 751 23, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - L C Wunder
- Microbial Ecophysiology Group, Faculty of Biology/Chemistry & MARUM, University of Bremen, Leobener Straße 3, 28359, Bremen, Germany
| | - T Mock
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
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4
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Martin EC, Hansen BB, Herfindal I, Lee AM. The role of seasonal migration in spatial population synchrony. Ecology 2023; 104:e4158. [PMID: 37632351 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2023] [Revised: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 07/29/2023] [Indexed: 08/28/2023]
Abstract
Spatially synchronized population dynamics are common in nature, and understanding their causes is key for predicting species persistence. A main driver of synchrony between populations of the same species is shared environmental conditions, which cause populations closer together in space to be more synchronized than populations further from one another. Most theoretical and empirical understanding of this driver considers resident species. For migratory species, however, the degree of spatial autocorrelation in the environment may change across seasons and vary by their geographic location along the migratory route or on a nonbreeding ground, complicating the synchronizing effect of the environment. Migratory species show a variety of different strategies in how they disperse to and aggregate on nonbreeding grounds, ranging from completely shared nonbreeding grounds to multiple different ones. Depending on the sensitivity to environmental conditions off the breeding grounds, we can expect that migration and overwintering strategies will impact the extent and spatial pattern of population synchrony on the breeding grounds. Here, we use spatial population-dynamic modeling and simulations to investigate the relationship between seasonal environmental autocorrelation and migration characteristics. Our model shows that the effects of environmental autocorrelation experienced off the breeding ground on population synchrony depend on the number and size of nonbreeding grounds, and how populations migrate in relation to neighboring populations. When populations migrated to multiple nonbreeding grounds, spatial population synchrony increased with increasing environmental autocorrelation between nonbreeding grounds. Populations that migrated to the same place as near neighbors had higher synchrony at short distances than populations that migrated randomly. However, synchrony declined less across increasing distances for the random migration strategy. The differences in synchrony between migration strategies were most pronounced when the environmental autocorrelation between nonbreeding grounds was low. These results show the importance of considering migration when studying spatial population synchrony and predicting patterns of synchrony and population viability under global environmental change. Climate change and habitat loss and fragmentation may cause range shifts and changes in migratory strategies, as well as changes in the mean and spatial autocorrelation of the environment, which can alter the scale and patterns observed in spatial population synchrony.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ellen C Martin
- Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Brage Bremset Hansen
- Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Ivar Herfindal
- Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- The Gjaerevoll Centre for Biodiversity Foresight Analyses, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Aline Magdalena Lee
- Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- The Gjaerevoll Centre for Biodiversity Foresight Analyses, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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5
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Pregler KC, Lu X, Valentine GP, Kim S, Kanno Y. Temperature variation generates interspecific synchrony but spatial asynchrony in survival for freshwater fish communities. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10700. [PMID: 37964790 PMCID: PMC10641305 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Revised: 09/08/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Identifying environmental drivers of demographic variation is key to predicting community-level impacts in response to global change. Climate conditions can synchronize population trends and can occur both spatially for populations of the same species, and across multiple species within the same local community. The aim of this study was to investigate patterns of temporal variation in survival for freshwater fish communities in two geographically close but isolated sites and to understand the amount of variation accounted for by abiotic covariates including metrics of water temperature and stream flow. Using mark-recapture data, we estimated bi-monthly apparent survival in a Bayesian Cormack-Jolly-Seber framework. The model included random effects to quantify temporal variance to understand species synchrony with the rest of the fish community and between sites. Study species included bluehead chub (Nocomis leptocephalus), creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus), and striped jumprock (Moxostoma rupiscartes) in the southeastern USA. Results showed that survival varied over time and periods of low survival were associated with higher mean water temperature. However, temporal patterns of survival differed among species and between sites, where survival was synchronous among species within a site but asynchronous between sites for the same species despite their spatial proximity. Study streams differed in summer thermal regimes, which resulted in contrasting summer survival patterns, suggesting sensitivity of these fishes to warming. We found that interspecific synchrony was greater than spatial synchrony, where regional drivers such as temperature may interact with local habitat leading to differences in survival patterns at fine spatial scales. Finally, these findings show that changes in the timing and magnitude of environmental conditions can be critical in limiting vital rates and that some populations may be more resilient to climate variation than others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kasey C. Pregler
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation BiologyColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
- Department of Forestry and Environmental ConservationClemson UniversityClemsonSouth CarolinaUSA
| | - Xinyi Lu
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation BiologyColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
| | - George P. Valentine
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation BiologyColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
- Graduate Degree Program in EcologyColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
| | - Seoghyun Kim
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation BiologyColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
- Department of Forestry and Environmental ConservationClemson UniversityClemsonSouth CarolinaUSA
| | - Yoichiro Kanno
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation BiologyColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
- Department of Forestry and Environmental ConservationClemson UniversityClemsonSouth CarolinaUSA
- Graduate Degree Program in EcologyColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
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6
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Layton-Matthews K, Vriend SJG, Grøtan V, Loonen MJJE, Sæther BE, Fuglei E, Hansen BB. Extreme events, trophic chain reactions, and shifts in phenotypic selection. Sci Rep 2023; 13:15181. [PMID: 37704641 PMCID: PMC10499831 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41940-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Demographic consequences of rapid environmental change and extreme climatic events (ECEs) can cascade across trophic levels with evolutionary implications that have rarely been explored. Here, we show how an ECE in high Arctic Svalbard triggered a trophic chain reaction, directly or indirectly affecting the demography of both overwintering and migratory vertebrates, ultimately inducing a shift in density-dependent phenotypic selection in migratory geese. A record-breaking rain-on-snow event and ice-locked pastures led to reindeer mass starvation and a population crash, followed by a period of low mortality and population recovery. This caused lagged, long-lasting reductions in reindeer carrion numbers and resultant low abundances of Arctic foxes, a scavenger on reindeer and predator of migratory birds. The associated decrease in Arctic fox predation of goose offspring allowed for a rapid increase in barnacle goose densities. As expected according to r- and K-selection theory, the goose body condition (affecting reproduction and post-fledging survival) maximising Malthusian fitness increased with this shift in population density. Thus, the winter ECE acting on reindeer and their scavenger, the Arctic fox, indirectly selected for higher body condition in migratory geese. This high Arctic study provides rare empirical evidence of links between ECEs, community dynamics and evolution, with implications for our understanding of indirect eco-evolutionary impacts of global change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kate Layton-Matthews
- Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, NINA, Tromsø, Norway.
| | - Stefan J G Vriend
- Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Vidar Grøtan
- Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
| | | | - Bernt-Erik Sæther
- Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Eva Fuglei
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Brage Bremset Hansen
- Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, NINA, Trondheim, Norway
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7
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Geffen E, Roemer GW, Unnsteinsdóttir ER, Van Valkenburgh B. Sub-zero temperatures and large-scale weather patterns induce tooth damage in Icelandic arctic foxes. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:5211-5223. [PMID: 37349862 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 05/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Tooth damage in carnivores can reflect shifts in both diet and feeding habits, and in large carnivores, it is associated with increased bone consumption. Variation in tooth condition in Icelandic arctic foxes, a mesocarnivore, was recorded from 854 individual foxes spanning 29 years. We hypothesized that annual climatic variations, which can influence food abundance and accessibility, will influence tooth condition by causing dietary shifts toward less edible prey. We examined tooth condition in relation to four climatic predictors: mean annual winter temperature, indices of both the El Niño anomaly and North Atlantic subpolar gyre (SPG), and the number of rain-on-snow days (ROS). We found unequivocal evidence for a strong effect of annual climate on tooth condition. Teeth of Icelandic foxes were in better condition when winter temperatures were higher, when the SPG was more positive, and when the number of ROS was low. We also found a substantial subregional effect with foxes from northeastern Iceland having lower tooth damage than those from two western sites. Contradicting our original hypothesis that foxes from northeastern Iceland, where foxes are known to scavenge on large mammal remains (e.g., sheep and horses), would show the highest tooth damage, we suggest that western coastal sites exhibited greater tooth damage because cold winter temperatures lowered the availability of seabirds, causing a shift in diet toward abrasive marine subsidies (e.g., bivalves) and frozen beach wrack. Our study shows that monitoring tooth breakage and wear can be a useful tool for evaluating the impact of climate on carnivore populations and that climate change may influence the condition and fitness of carnivores in complex and potentially conflicting ways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eli Geffen
- School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | | | | | - Blaire Van Valkenburgh
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
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8
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Pedersen ÅØ, Bårdsen BJ, Veiberg V, Irvine RJ, Hansen BB. Hunting for ecological indicators: are large herbivore skeleton measures from harvest data useful proxies for monitoring? EUR J WILDLIFE RES 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s10344-022-01636-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Hunter-collected data and samples are used as indices of population performance, and monitoring programs often take advantage of such data as ecological indicators. Here, we establish the relationships between measures of skeleton size (lower jawbone length and hind-leg length) and autumn carcass mass of slaughtered individuals of known age and sex of the high Arctic and endemic Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus). We assess these relationships using a long-term monitoring dataset derived from hunted or culled reindeer. The two skeleton measures were generally strongly correlated within age class. Both jaw length (R2 = 0.78) and hind-leg length (R2 = 0.74) represented good proxies of carcass mass. These relationships were primarily due to an age effect (i.e. due to growth) as the skeleton measures reached an asymptotic size at 4–6 years of age. Accordingly, strong positive correlations between skeleton measures and carcass mass were mainly evident at the young age classes (range r [0.45–0.84] for calves and yearlings). For the adults, these relationships weakened due to skeletal growth ceasing in mature animals causing increased variance in mass with age—potentially due to the expected substantial impacts of annual environmental fluctuations. As proxies for carcass mass, skeleton measurements should therefore be limited to young individuals. Although body mass is the ‘gold standard’ in monitoring large herbivores, our results indicate that skeleton measures collected by hunters only provide similar valuable information for young age classes, particularly calves and yearlings. In sum, jaw length and hind-leg length function as proxies identical to body mass when documenting the impacts of changing environmental conditions on important state variables for reindeer and other herbivores inhabiting highly variable environments.
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9
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Hiltunen TA, Stien A, Väisänen M, Ropstad E, Aspi JO, Welker JM. Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:7009-7022. [PMID: 36071549 PMCID: PMC9826046 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2022] [Revised: 08/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Arctic ecosystems are changing dramatically with warmer and wetter conditions resulting in complex interactions between herbivores and their forage. We investigated how Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) modify their late winter diets in response to long-term trends and interannual variation in forage availability and accessibility. By reconstructing their diets and foraging niches over a 17-year period (1995-2012) using serum δ13 C and δ15 N values, we found strong support for a temporal increase in the proportions of graminoids in the diets with a concurrent decline in the contributions of mosses. This dietary shift corresponds with graminoid abundance increases in the region and was associated with increases in population density, warmer summer temperatures and more frequent rain-on-snow (ROS) in winter. In addition, the variance in isotopic niche positions, breadths, and overlaps also supported a temporal shift in the foraging niche and a dietary response to extreme ROS events. Our long-term study highlights the mechanisms by which winter and summer climate changes cascade through vegetation shifts and herbivore population dynamics to alter the foraging niche of Svalbard reindeer. Although it has been anticipated that climate changes in the Svalbard region of the Arctic would be detrimental to this unique ungulate, our study suggests that environmental change is in a phase where conditions are improving for this subspecies at the northernmost edge of the Rangifer distribution.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Audun Stien
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Fram CentreThe Arctic University of NorwayTromsøNorway
| | - Maria Väisänen
- Ecology and Genetics Research UnitUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Arctic CentreUniversity of LaplandRovaniemiFinland
| | - Erik Ropstad
- Department of Production Animal Clinical SciencesNorwegian University of Life SciencesÅsNorway
| | - Jouni O. Aspi
- Ecology and Genetics Research UnitUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
| | - Jeffery M. Welker
- Ecology and Genetics Research UnitUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- UArcticRovaniemiFinland
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of Alaska AnchorageAnchorageAlaskaUSA
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10
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Dong J, Anderson LJ. Predicted impacts of global change on bottom-up trophic interactions in the plant-ungulate-wolf food chain in boreal forests. FOOD WEBS 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.fooweb.2022.e00253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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11
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Borgå K, McKinney MA, Routti H, Fernie KJ, Giebichenstein J, Hallanger I, Muir DCG. The influence of global climate change on accumulation and toxicity of persistent organic pollutants and chemicals of emerging concern in Arctic food webs. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE. PROCESSES & IMPACTS 2022; 24:1544-1576. [PMID: 35179539 DOI: 10.1039/d1em00469g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
This review summarizes current understanding of how climate change-driven physical and ecological processes influence the levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and contaminants of emerging Arctic concern (CEACs) in Arctic biota and food webs. The review also highlights how climate change may interact with other stressors to impact contaminant toxicity, and the utility of modeling and newer research tools in closing knowledge gaps on climate change-contaminant interactions. Permafrost thaw is influencing the concentrations of POPs in freshwater ecosystems. Physical climate parameters, including climate oscillation indices, precipitation, water salinity, sea ice age, and sea ice quality show statistical associations with POPs concentrations in multiple Arctic biota. Northward range-shifting species can act as biovectors for POPs and CEACs into Arctic marine food webs. Shifts in trophic position can alter POPs concentrations in populations of Arctic species. Reductions in body condition are associated with increases in levels of POPs in some biota. Although collectively understudied, multiple stressors, including contaminants and climate change, may act to cumulatively impact some populations of Arctic biota. Models are useful for predicting the net result of various contrasting climate-driven processes on POP and CEAC exposures; however, for some parameters, especially food web changes, insufficient data exists with which to populate such models. In addition to the impact of global regulations on POP levels in Arctic biota, this review demonstrates that there are various direct and indirect mechanisms by which climate change can influence contaminant exposure, accumulation, and effects; therefore, it is important to attribute POP variations to the actual contributing factors to inform future regulations and policies. To do so, a broad range of habitats, species, and processes must be considered for a thorough understanding and interpretation of the consequences to the distribution, accumulation, and effects of environmental contaminants. Given the complex interactions between climate change, contaminants, and ecosystems, it is important to plan for long-term, integrated pan-Arctic monitoring of key biota and ecosystems, and to collect ancillary data, including information on climate-related parameters, local meteorology, ecology, and physiology, and when possible, behavior, when carrying out research on POPs and CEACs in biota and food webs of the Arctic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrine Borgå
- Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway.
| | - Melissa A McKinney
- Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3 V9, Canada.
| | - Heli Routti
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, NO-9296 Tromsø, Norway
| | - Kim J Fernie
- Ecotoxicology & Wildlife Health, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON, L7S 1A1, Canada
| | | | | | - Derek C G Muir
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON, L7S 1A1, Canada
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12
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Payo-Payo A, Igual JM, Sanz-Aguilar A, Real E, Genovart M, Oro D, Tavecchia G. Interspecific synchrony on breeding performance and the role of anthropogenic food subsidies. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0275569. [PMID: 36223369 PMCID: PMC9555664 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Synchrony can have important consequences for long-term metapopulations persistence, community dynamics and ecosystems functioning. While the causes and consequences of intra-specific synchrony on population size and demographic rates have received considerable attention only a few factors that may affect inter-specific synchrony have been described. We formulate the hypothesis that food subsidies can buffer the influence of environmental stochasticity on community dynamics, disrupting and masking originally synchronized systems. To illustrate this hypothesis, we assessed the consequences of European policies implementation affecting subsidy availability on the temporal synchrony of egg volume as a proxy of breeding investment in two sympatric marine top predators with differential subsidy use. We show how 7-year synchrony appears on egg volume fluctuations after subsidy cessation suggesting that food subsidies could disrupt interspecific synchrony. Moreover, cross correlation increased after subsidy cessation and environmental buffering seems to act during synchronization period. We emphasize that subsidies dynamics and waste management provide novel insights on the emergence of synchrony in natural populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Payo-Payo
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
- IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - José-Manuel Igual
- IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
- Animal Demography and Ecology Unit (GEDA), IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
| | - Ana Sanz-Aguilar
- Animal Demography and Ecology Unit (GEDA), IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
- Applied Zoology and Conservation Group, University of Balearic Islands, Palma, Spain
| | - Enric Real
- Animal Demography and Ecology Unit (GEDA), IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
- Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centre Oceanográfico de Baleares, Palma, Spain
| | | | - Daniel Oro
- IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
- CEAB (CSIC), Blanes, Spain
| | - Giacomo Tavecchia
- Animal Demography and Ecology Unit (GEDA), IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
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13
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McKinney MA, Chételat J, Burke SM, Elliott KH, Fernie KJ, Houde M, Kahilainen KK, Letcher RJ, Morris AD, Muir DCG, Routti H, Yurkowski DJ. Climate change and mercury in the Arctic: Biotic interactions. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 834:155221. [PMID: 35427623 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Revised: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Global climate change has led to profound alterations of the Arctic environment and ecosystems, with potential secondary effects on mercury (Hg) within Arctic biota. This review presents the current scientific evidence for impacts of direct physical climate change and indirect ecosystem change on Hg exposure and accumulation in Arctic terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms. As the marine environment is elevated in Hg compared to the terrestrial environment, terrestrial herbivores that now exploit coastal/marine foods when terrestrial plants are iced over may be exposed to higher Hg concentrations. Conversely, certain populations of predators, including Arctic foxes and polar bears, have shown lower Hg concentrations related to reduced sea ice-based foraging and increased land-based foraging. How climate change influences Hg in Arctic freshwater fishes is not clear, but for lacustrine populations it may depend on lake-specific conditions, including interrelated alterations in lake ice duration, turbidity, food web length and energy sources (benthic to pelagic), and growth dilution. In several marine mammal and seabird species, tissue Hg concentrations have shown correlations with climate and weather variables, including climate oscillation indices and sea ice trends; these findings suggest that wind, precipitation, and cryosphere changes that alter Hg transport and deposition are impacting Hg concentrations in Arctic marine organisms. Ecological changes, including northward range shifts of sub-Arctic species and altered body condition, have also been shown to affect Hg levels in some populations of Arctic marine species. Given the limited number of populations and species studied to date, especially within Arctic terrestrial and freshwater systems, further research is needed on climate-driven processes influencing Hg concentrations in Arctic ecosystems and their net effects. Long-term pan-Arctic monitoring programs should consider ancillary datasets on climate, weather, organism ecology and physiology to improve interpretation of spatial variation and time trends of Hg in Arctic biota.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa A McKinney
- Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3 V9, Canada.
| | - John Chételat
- Ecotoxicology & Wildlife Health, Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3, Canada
| | - Samantha M Burke
- Minnow Aquatic Environmental Services, Guelph, ON N1H 1E9, Canada
| | - Kyle H Elliott
- Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3 V9, Canada
| | - Kim J Fernie
- Ecotoxicology & Wildlife Health, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON L7S 1A1, Canada
| | - Magali Houde
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Montréal, QC H2Y 5E7, Canada
| | - Kimmo K Kahilainen
- Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, FI-16900 Lammi, Finland
| | - Robert J Letcher
- Ecotoxicology & Wildlife Health, Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3, Canada
| | - Adam D Morris
- Northern Contaminants Program, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, Gatineau, QC J8X 2V6, Canada
| | - Derek C G Muir
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON L7S 1A1, Canada
| | - Heli Routti
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, NO-9296 Tromsø, Norway
| | - David J Yurkowski
- Arctic Aquatic Research Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N6, Canada
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14
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Castorani MCN, Bell TW, Walter JA, Reuman D, Cavanaugh KC, Sheppard LW. Disturbance and nutrients synchronise kelp forests across scales through interacting Moran effects. Ecol Lett 2022; 25:1854-1868. [PMID: 35771209 PMCID: PMC9541195 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Revised: 05/20/2022] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Spatial synchrony is a ubiquitous and important feature of population dynamics, but many aspects of this phenomenon are not well understood. In particular, it is largely unknown how multiple environmental drivers interact to determine synchrony via Moran effects, and how these impacts vary across spatial and temporal scales. Using new wavelet statistical techniques, we characterised synchrony in populations of giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera, a widely distributed marine foundation species, and related synchrony to variation in oceanographic conditions across 33 years (1987-2019) and >900 km of coastline in California, USA. We discovered that disturbance (storm-driven waves) and resources (seawater nutrients)-underpinned by climatic variability-act individually and interactively to produce synchrony in giant kelp across geography and timescales. Our findings demonstrate that understanding and predicting synchrony, and thus the regional stability of populations, relies on resolving the synergistic and antagonistic Moran effects of multiple environmental drivers acting on different timescales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max C. N. Castorani
- Department of Environmental SciencesUniversity of VirginiaCharlottesvilleVirginiaUSA
| | - Tom W. Bell
- Department of Applied Ocean Physics & EngineeringWoods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionWoods HoleMassachusettsUSA
- Earth Research InstituteUniversity of CaliforniaSanta BarbaraCaliforniaUSA
| | - Jonathan A. Walter
- Department of Environmental SciencesUniversity of VirginiaCharlottesvilleVirginiaUSA
| | - Daniel C. Reuman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of KansasLawrenceKansasUSA
- Center for Ecological ResearchUniversity of KansasLawrenceKansasUSA
- Laboratory of PopulationsRockefeller UniversityNew YorkNew YorkUSA
| | - Kyle C. Cavanaugh
- Department of GeographyUniversity of CaliforniaLos AngelesCaliforniaUSA
| | - Lawrence W. Sheppard
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of KansasLawrenceKansasUSA
- Marine Biological Association of the United KingdomPlymouthUK
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15
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Sauser C, Delord K, Barbraud C. Demography of cape petrels in response to environmental changes. POPUL ECOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/1438-390x.12133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Sauser
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé UMR 7372, CNRS Villiers en Bois France
| | - Karine Delord
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé UMR 7372, CNRS Villiers en Bois France
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16
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Vigués J, Norén K, Wilkinson C, Stoessel M, Angerbjörn A, Dalerum F. Abundance, predation, and habitat associations of lemming winter nests in northern Sweden. Ecosphere 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jan Vigués
- Department of Zoology Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
| | - Karin Norén
- Department of Zoology Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
| | - Caitlin Wilkinson
- Department of Zoology Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
- Department of Environmental Research and Monitoring Swedish Museum of Natural History Stockholm Sweden
| | - Marianne Stoessel
- Department of Physical Geography Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
| | | | - Fredrik Dalerum
- Department of Zoology Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
- Biodiversity Research Institute (IMIB, UO‐CSIC‐PA), Spanish National Research Council, Research Building, Mieres Campus Mieres Spain
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, Mammal Research Institute University of Pretoria Hatfield South Africa
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17
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Phenological Response of Flood Plain Forest Ecosystem Species to Climate Change during 1961–2021. ATMOSPHERE 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/atmos13060978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The present study analyses 61 years of phenological observations (1961–2021) of five herb, five shrub, four tree, and one bird species representing the prevalent spring species of floodplain forest ecosystems in the Czech Republic, central Europe. The in situ observations were conducted at the Vranovice site (48°48′ N, 16°46′ E, 170 m above mean sea level) representing the Plaček’ forest National Reserve. The observed plants and bird species showed statistically significant (p < 0.05) shifts in phenological terms to an earlier date of the year, but the rate of the shift among the observed species differed. The most progressive shifts were detected for the herbs (14 days), followed by the shrubs (13 days), trees (9 days), and finally by the bird species (8 days). All the phenophases were significantly correlated with the daily maximum temperature (r = 0.72–0.91). The results also showed a decline in the correlation for species among the phenophases of the herbs and trees. The phenophases that were highly correlated in the past were less correlated and had higher variability in the last decades. We conclude that the phenological response of the ecosystem to warming in the spring resulted in higher variability and a lower correlation among the observed phenophases mainly caused by the most expressive phenological shifts of the early herbs.
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18
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Haverkamp PJ, Bysykatova-Harmey I, Germogenov N, Schaepman-Strub G. Increasing Arctic Tundra Flooding Threatens Wildlife Habitat and Survival: Impacts on the Critically Endangered Siberian Crane (Grus leucogeranus). FRONTIERS IN CONSERVATION SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fcosc.2022.799998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Climate change is causing Arctic temperatures to increase at least twice as fast as the planet on average. Temperature and precipitation are predicted to continue increasing, such that flooding might become more prevalent in the new Arctic. Increased flooding frequency and extreme flooding events may pose new threats to Arctic biodiversity through habitat disturbance and decreased survival. We used the Siberian crane (Grus leucogeranus) as a model organism to investigate how flooding influences nesting habitat availability and juvenile counts. When spring flooding destroys eggs, adults either do not raise any chicks or have reduced time to prepare them for their long migration to China, thus years with extensive flooding could negatively impact future crane generations. We used nest site observation data from 14 surveys between 1995 and 2019, habitat mapping based on Landsat 8 imagery, and species distribution modeling to predict Siberian crane potential nesting habitat. Nesting habitat loss due to extreme flooding was calculated by overlaying this potential nesting habitat with Global Surface Water data. The percent of potential flooded nest sites varied between 6.7–55% across years, with a significant increase between 2001 and 2018. Extreme flood events, as experienced in 2017 and 2018, eliminated almost half of the potential nesting habitat. Importantly, we found that the percentage of flooded nest sites across years was negatively correlated with the number of observed juveniles. The Arctic lowlands are exposed to seasonal water level fluctuations that species have evolved with and adapted to. Siberian cranes and other species depending on Arctic ecosystems are expected to continue adapting to changing flood conditions, but extreme flood events further threaten the long-term survival of critically endangered species. It is imperative to assess how ecosystems and species respond to climatic extremes to support Arctic conservation strategies.
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19
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Cabrera AA, Schall E, Bérubé M, Anderwald P, Bachmann L, Berrow S, Best PB, Clapham PJ, Cunha H, Dalla Rosa L, Dias C, Findlay K, Haug T, Heide‐Jørgensen MP, Hoelzel A, Kovacs KM, Landry S, Larsen F, Lopes XM, Lydersen C, Mattila DK, Oosting T, Pace RM, Papetti C, Paspati A, Pastene LA, Prieto R, Ramp C, Robbins J, Sears R, Secchi ER, Silva MA, Simon M, Víkingsson G, Wiig Ø, Øien N, Palsbøll PJ. Strong and lasting impacts of past global warming on baleen whales and their prey. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:2657-2677. [PMID: 35106859 PMCID: PMC9305191 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2020] [Revised: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Global warming is affecting the population dynamics and trophic interactions across a wide range of ecosystems and habitats. Translating these real-time effects into their long-term consequences remains a challenge. The rapid and extreme warming period that occurred after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (7-12 thousand years ago) provides an opportunity to gain insights into the long-term responses of natural populations to periods with global warming. The effects of this post-LGM warming period have been assessed in many terrestrial taxa, whereas insights into the impacts of rapid global warming on marine taxa remain limited, especially for megafauna. In order to understand how large-scale climate fluctuations during the post-LGM affected baleen whales and their prey, we conducted an extensive, large-scale analysis of the long-term effects of the post-LGM warming on abundance and inter-ocean connectivity in eight baleen whale and seven prey (fish and invertebrates) species across the Southern and the North Atlantic Ocean; two ocean basins that differ in key oceanographic features. The analysis was based upon 7032 mitochondrial DNA sequences as well as genome-wide DNA sequence variation in 100 individuals. The estimated temporal changes in genetic diversity during the last 30,000 years indicated that most baleen whale populations underwent post-LGM expansions in both ocean basins. The increase in baleen whale abundance during the Holocene was associated with simultaneous changes in their prey and climate. Highly correlated, synchronized and exponential increases in abundance in both baleen whales and their prey in the Southern Ocean were indicative of a dramatic increase in ocean productivity. In contrast, the demographic fluctuations observed in baleen whales and their prey in the North Atlantic Ocean were subtle, varying across taxa and time. Perhaps most important was the observation that the ocean-wide expansions and decreases in abundance that were initiated by the post-LGM global warming, continued for millennia after global temperatures stabilized, reflecting persistent, long-lasting impacts of global warming on marine fauna.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea A. Cabrera
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life SciencesUniversity of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
- GLOBE InstituteUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
| | - Elena Schall
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life SciencesUniversity of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
| | - Martine Bérubé
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life SciencesUniversity of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
- Center for Coastal StudiesProvincetownMassachusettsUSA
| | - Pia Anderwald
- Swiss National ParkChastè Planta‐WildenbergZernezSwitzerland
| | | | - Simon Berrow
- Marine and Freshwater Research CentreGalway‐Mayo Institute of TechnologyGalwayIreland
- Irish Whale and Dolphin GroupMerchants QuayKilrushCounty ClareIreland
| | - Peter B. Best
- Department of Zoology and EntomologyMammal Research InstituteUniversity of PretoriaHatfieldSouth Africa
| | | | - Haydée A. Cunha
- Aquatic Mammals and Bioindicators Laboratory (MAQUA)Faculty of OceanographyState University of Rio de Janeiro ‐ UERJMaracanãRio de JaneiroBrazil
- Genetics Department of the Biology InstituteState University of Rio de Janeiro ‐ UERJMaracanãRio de JaneiroBrazil
| | - Luciano Dalla Rosa
- Laboratory of Ecology and Conservation of Marine MegafaunaInstitute of OceanographyFederal University of Rio Grande‐FURGRio GrandeRio Grande do SulBrazil
| | - Carolina Dias
- Aquatic Mammals and Bioindicators Laboratory (MAQUA)Faculty of OceanographyState University of Rio de Janeiro ‐ UERJMaracanãRio de JaneiroBrazil
| | - Kenneth P. Findlay
- Department of Zoology and EntomologyMammal Research InstituteUniversity of PretoriaHatfieldSouth Africa
- Department Conservation and Marine SciencesCentre for Sustainable Oceans EconomyCape Peninsula University of TechnologyCape TownSouth Africa
| | - Tore Haug
- Research Group Marine MammalsInstitute of Marine ResearchTromsøNorway
| | | | | | | | - Scott Landry
- Center for Coastal StudiesProvincetownMassachusettsUSA
| | - Finn Larsen
- Section for Ecosystem based Marine ManagementNational Institute of Aquatic ResourcesTechnical University of DenmarkKongens LyngbyDenmark
| | - Xênia M. Lopes
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life SciencesUniversity of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
| | | | | | - Tom Oosting
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life SciencesUniversity of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
- School of Biological SciencesVictoria University of WellingtonWellingtonNew Zealand
| | - Richard M. Pace
- Northeast Fisheries Science CenterNational Marine Fisheries ServiceWoods HoleMassachusettsUSA
| | | | - Angeliki Paspati
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life SciencesUniversity of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
- Hellenic Agricultural Organisation‐“DIMITRA”HerakleionCreteGreece
| | | | - Rui Prieto
- Institute of Marine Sciences – Okeanos & Institute of Marine Research ‐ IMARUniversity of the AzoresHortaPortugal
| | - Christian Ramp
- Sea Mammal Research UnitScottish Oceans InstituteUniversity of St. AndrewsScotlandUK
- Mingan Island Cetacean StudySaint LambertQuébecCanada
| | - Jooke Robbins
- Center for Coastal StudiesProvincetownMassachusettsUSA
| | - Richard Sears
- Greenland Climate Research CentreGreenland Institute of Natural ResourcesNuukGreenland
| | - Eduardo R. Secchi
- Laboratory of Ecology and Conservation of Marine MegafaunaInstitute of OceanographyFederal University of Rio Grande‐FURGRio GrandeRio Grande do SulBrazil
| | - Mónica A. Silva
- Institute of Marine Sciences – Okeanos & Institute of Marine Research ‐ IMARUniversity of the AzoresHortaPortugal
| | - Malene Simon
- Greenland Climate Research CentreGreenland Institute of Natural ResourcesNuukGreenland
| | | | - Øystein Wiig
- Natural History MuseumUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
| | - Nils Øien
- Marine Mammal DivisionInstitute of Marine ResearchBergenNorway
| | - Per J. Palsbøll
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life SciencesUniversity of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
- Center for Coastal StudiesProvincetownMassachusettsUSA
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20
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Sipari S, Khalil H, Magnusson M, Evander M, Hörnfeldt B, Ecke F. Climate change accelerates winter transmission of a zoonotic pathogen. AMBIO 2022; 51:508-517. [PMID: 34228253 PMCID: PMC8800963 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-021-01594-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Revised: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Many zoonotic diseases are weather sensitive, raising concern how their distribution and outbreaks will be affected by climate change. At northern high latitudes, the effect of global warming on especially winter conditions is strong. By using long term monitoring data (1980-1986 and 2003-2013) from Northern Europe on temperature, precipitation, an endemic zoonotic pathogen (Puumala orthohantavirus, PUUV) and its reservoir host (the bank vole, Myodes glareolus), we show that early winters have become increasingly wet, with a knock-on effect on pathogen transmission in its reservoir host population. Further, our study is the first to show a climate change effect on an endemic northern zoonosis, that is not induced by increased host abundance or distribution, demonstrating that climate change can also alter transmission intensity within host populations. Our results suggest that rainy early winters accelerate PUUV transmission in bank voles in winter, likely increasing the human zoonotic risk in the North.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saana Sipari
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Hussein Khalil
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Magnus Magnusson
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Magnus Evander
- Umeå University, Department of Clinical Microbiology, 901 85 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Birger Hörnfeldt
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Frauke Ecke
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
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21
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Sloan ET, Beehner JC, Bergman TJ, Lu A, Snyder‐Mackler N, Jacquemyn H. Effects of climate variability on the demography of wild geladas. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8759. [PMID: 35356580 PMCID: PMC8956858 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Nonhuman primates are an essential part of tropical biodiversity and play key roles in many ecosystem functions, processes, and services. However, the impact of climate variability on nonhuman primates, whether anthropogenic or otherwise, remains poorly understood. In this study, we utilized age-structured matrix population models to assess the population viability and demographic variability of a population of geladas (Theropithecus gelada) in the Simien Mountains, Ethiopia with the aim of revealing any underlying climatic influences. Using data from 2008 to 2019 we calculated annual, time-averaged, and stochastic population growth rates (λ) and investigated relationships between vital rate variability and monthly cumulative rainfall and mean temperature. Our results showed that under the prevailing environmental conditions, the population will increase (λ s = 1.021). Significant effects from rainfall and/or temperature variability were widely detected across vital rates; only the first year of infant survival and the individual years of juvenile survival were definitively unaffected. Generally, the higher temperature in the hot-dry season led to lower survival and higher fecundity, while higher rainfall in the hot-dry season led to increased survival and fecundity. Overall, these results provide evidence of greater effects of climate variability across a wider range of vital rates than those found in previous primate demography studies. This highlights that although primates have often shown substantial resilience to the direct effects of climate change, their vulnerability may vary with habitat type and across populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evan T. Sloan
- Plant Conservation and Population Biology GroupDepartment of BiologyKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
| | - Jacinta C. Beehner
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA
- Department of AnthropologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA
| | - Thore J. Bergman
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA
| | - Amy Lu
- Department of AnthropologyStony Brook UniversityStony BrookNew YorkUSA
- Interdepartmental Program in Anthropological SciencesStony Brook UniversityStony BrookNew YorkUSA
| | - Noah Snyder‐Mackler
- School of Life SciencesArizona State UniversityTempeArizonaUSA
- Center for Evolution and MedicineArizona State UniversityTempeArizonaUSA
| | - Hans Jacquemyn
- Plant Conservation and Population Biology GroupDepartment of BiologyKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
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22
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Poirier M, Fauteux D, Gauthier G, Domine F, Lamarre J. Snow hardness impacts intranivean locomotion of arctic small mammals. Ecosphere 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Mathilde Poirier
- Centre d'Études Nordiques Université Laval Quebec Québec QC G1V 0A6 Canada
- Department of Biology Université Laval Quebec Québec QC G1V 0A6 Canada
| | - Dominique Fauteux
- Centre d'Études Nordiques Université Laval Quebec Québec QC G1V 0A6 Canada
- Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration, Canadian Museum of Nature Gatineau Québec QC J9J 3N7 Canada
| | - Gilles Gauthier
- Centre d'Études Nordiques Université Laval Quebec Québec QC G1V 0A6 Canada
- Department of Biology Université Laval Quebec Québec QC G1V 0A6 Canada
| | - Florent Domine
- Centre d'Études Nordiques Université Laval Quebec Québec QC G1V 0A6 Canada
- Takuvik Joint International Laboratory Université Laval (Canada) and CNRS‐INSU (France) Quebec Québec QC G1V 0A6 Canada
- Department of Chemistry Université Laval Quebec Québec QC G1V 0A6 Canada
| | - Jean‐François Lamarre
- Canadian High Arctic Research Station Polar Knowledge Canada Cambridge Bay Nunavut NU X0B 0C0 Canada
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23
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Youngflesh C, Li Y, Lynch HJ, Delord K, Barbraud C, Ji R, Jenouvrier S. Lack of synchronized breeding success in a seabird community: extreme events, niche separation, and environmental variability. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Casey Youngflesh
- Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of California – Los Angeles Los Angeles CA USA
| | - Yun Li
- School of Marine Science and Policy, Univ. of Delaware Lewes DE USA
| | - Heather J. Lynch
- Inst. for Advanced Computational Science, Stony Brook Univ. Stony Brook NY USA
- Dept of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook Univ. Stony Brook NY USA
| | - Karine Delord
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/La Rochelle Univ. Villiers en Bois France
| | - Christophe Barbraud
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/La Rochelle Univ. Villiers en Bois France
| | - Rubao Ji
- Biology Dept, Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. Woods Hole MA USA
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24
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Climate variability and density-dependent population dynamics: Lessons from a simple High Arctic ecosystem. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2106635118. [PMID: 34504000 PMCID: PMC8449336 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2106635118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Whether the renowned population cycles of small mammals in northern food webs are driven by bottom-up (plant–herbivore) or top-down (predator–prey) interactions is still a debated question but crucial to our understanding of their ecological functions and response to climate change. A long-term study of a graminivorous vole population in an exceptionally simple High Arctic food web allowed us to identify which population dynamics features are present without top-down regulation. Unique features were high-amplitude, noncyclic population fluctuations driven by a combination of stochastic weather events and season-specific density dependence likely arising from plant–herbivore interactions. That such features are not present in more complex food webs points to the importance of top-down regulation in small mammal populations. Ecologists are still puzzled by the diverse population dynamics of herbivorous small mammals that range from high-amplitude, multiannual cycles to stable dynamics. Theory predicts that this diversity results from combinations of climatic seasonality, weather stochasticity, and density-dependent food web interactions. The almost ubiquitous 3- to 5-y cycles in boreal and arctic climates may theoretically result from bottom-up (plant–herbivore) and top-down (predator–prey) interactions. Assessing, empirically, the roles of such interactions and how they are influenced by environmental stochasticity has been hampered by food web complexity. Here, we take advantage of a uniquely simple High Arctic food web, which allowed us to analyze the dynamics of a graminivorous vole population not subjected to top-down regulation. This population exhibited high-amplitude, noncyclic fluctuations—partly driven by weather stochasticity. However, the predominant driver of the dynamics was overcompensatory density dependence in winter that caused the population to frequently crash. Model simulations showed that the seasonal pattern of density dependence would yield regular 2-y cycles in the absence of stochasticity. While such short cycles have not yet been observed in mammals, they are theoretically plausible if graminivorous vole populations are deterministically bottom-up regulated. When incorporating weather stochasticity in the model simulations, cyclicity became disrupted and the amplitude was increased—akin to the observed dynamics. Our findings contrast with the 3- to 5-y population cycles that are typical of graminivorous small mammals in more complex food webs, suggesting that top-down regulation is normally an important component of such dynamics.
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25
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Sarremejane R, Stubbington R, England J, Sefton CEM, Eastman M, Parry S, Ruhi A. Drought effects on invertebrate metapopulation dynamics and quasi-extinction risk in an intermittent river network. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:4024-4039. [PMID: 34032337 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2020] [Revised: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/09/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Ecological communities can remain stable in the face of disturbance if their constituent species have different resistance and resilience strategies. In turn, local stability scales up regionally if heterogeneous landscapes maintain spatial asynchrony across discrete populations-but not if large-scale stressors synchronize environmental conditions and biological responses. Here, we hypothesized that droughts could drastically decrease the stability of invertebrate metapopulations both by filtering out poorly adapted species locally, and by synchronizing their dynamics across a river network. We tested this hypothesis via multivariate autoregressive state-space (MARSS) models on spatially replicated, long-term data describing aquatic invertebrate communities and hydrological conditions in a set of temperate, lowland streams subject to seasonal and supraseasonal drying events. This quantitative approach allowed us to assess the influence of local (flow magnitude) and network-scale (hydrological connectivity) drivers on invertebrate long-term trajectories, and to simulate near-future responses to a range of drought scenarios. We found that fluctuations in species abundances were heterogeneous across communities and driven by a combination of hydrological and stochastic drivers. Among metapopulations, increasing extent of dry reaches reduced the abundance of functional groups with low resistance or resilience capacities (i.e. low ability to persist in situ or recolonize from elsewhere, respectively). Our simulations revealed that metapopulation quasi-extinction risk for taxa vulnerable to drought increased exponentially as flowing habitats contracted within the river network, whereas the risk for taxa with resistance and resilience traits remained stable. Our results suggest that drought can be a synchronizing agent in riverscapes, potentially leading to regional quasi-extinction of species with lower resistance and resilience abilities. Better recognition of drought-driven synchronization may increase realism in species extinction forecasts as hydroclimatic extremes continue to intensify worldwide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romain Sarremejane
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- INRAE, UR RiverLY, Centre de Lyon-Grenoble Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Rachel Stubbington
- School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| | | | | | - Michael Eastman
- UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK
| | - Simon Parry
- UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK
| | - Albert Ruhi
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
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26
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Danet A, Mouchet M, Bonnaffé W, Thébault E, Fontaine C. Species richness and food-web structure jointly drive community biomass and its temporal stability in fish communities. Ecol Lett 2021; 24:2364-2377. [PMID: 34423526 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2020] [Revised: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2021] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning and food-web complexity-stability relationships are central to ecology. However, they remain largely untested in natural contexts. Here, we estimated the links among environmental conditions, richness, food-web structure, annual biomass and its temporal stability using a standardised monitoring dataset of 99 stream fish communities spanning from 1995 to 2018. We first revealed that both richness and average trophic level are positively related to annual biomass, with effects of similar strength. Second, we found that community stability is fostered by mean trophic level, while contrary to expectation, it is decreased by species richness. Finally, we found that environmental conditions affect both biomass and its stability mainly via effects on richness and network structure. Strikingly, the effect of species richness on community stability was mediated by population stability rather than synchrony, which contrasts with results from single trophic communities. We discuss the hypothesis that it could be a characteristic of multi-trophic communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alain Danet
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, UMR 7204 MNHN-CNRS-Sorbonne Université, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Maud Mouchet
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, UMR 7204 MNHN-CNRS-Sorbonne Université, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Willem Bonnaffé
- Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics Lab, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Elisa Thébault
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Université Paris Est Créteil, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris (iEES-Paris), Paris, France
| | - Colin Fontaine
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, UMR 7204 MNHN-CNRS-Sorbonne Université, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle de Paris, Paris, France
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27
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Trondrud LM, Pigeon G, Albon S, Arnold W, Evans AL, Irvine RJ, Król E, Ropstad E, Stien A, Veiberg V, Speakman JR, Loe LE. Determinants of heart rate in Svalbard reindeer reveal mechanisms of seasonal energy management. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200215. [PMID: 34176322 PMCID: PMC8237166 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Seasonal energetic challenges may constrain an animal's ability to respond to changing individual and environmental conditions. Here, we investigated variation in heart rate, a well-established proxy for metabolic rate, in Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus), a species with strong seasonal changes in foraging and metabolic activity. In 19 adult females, we recorded heart rate, subcutaneous temperature and activity using biologgers. Mean heart rate more than doubled from winter to summer. Typical drivers of energy expenditure, such as reproduction and activity, explained a relatively limited amount of variation (2-6% in winter and 16-24% in summer) compared to seasonality, which explained 75% of annual variation in heart rate. The relationship between heart rate and subcutaneous temperature depended on individual state via body mass, age and reproductive status, and the results suggested that peripheral heterothermy is an important pathway of energy management in both winter and summer. While the seasonal plasticity in energetics makes Svalbard reindeer well-adapted to their highly seasonal environment, intraseasonal constraints on modulation of their heart rate may limit their ability to respond to severe environmental change. This study emphasizes the importance of encompassing individual state and seasonal context when studying energetics in free-living animals. This article is part of the theme issue 'Measuring physiology in free-living animals (Part II)'.
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Affiliation(s)
- L. Monica Trondrud
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, NO-1432 Ås, Norway
| | - Gabriel Pigeon
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, NO-1432 Ås, Norway
- Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada, J1 K 2R1
| | - Steve Albon
- The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
| | - Walter Arnold
- Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Savoyenstr. 1, 1160 Vienna, Austria
| | - Alina L. Evans
- Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Campus Evenstad, 2418 Elverum, Norway
| | - R. Justin Irvine
- The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
- Frankfurt Zoological Society, PO Box 100003, South Africa Street, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Elżbieta Król
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 2TZ, UK
| | - Erik Ropstad
- Faculty of Veterinary Science, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, PO Box 8146, NO-0033 Oslo, Norway
| | - Audun Stien
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, The Arctic University of Norway, PO Box 6050 Langnes, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway
| | - Vebjørn Veiberg
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, PO Box 5685 Torgarden, NO-7485 Trondheim, Norway
| | - John R. Speakman
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 2TZ, UK
- Center for Energy Metabolism and Reproduction, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, People's Republic of China
- CAS Center of Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Kunming 650223, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China
| | - Leif Egil Loe
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, NO-1432 Ås, Norway
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28
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Mármol-Guijarro A, Nudds R, Folkow L, Sellers W, Falkingham P, Codd J. The Influence of Snow Properties on Speed and Gait Choice in the Svalbard Rock Ptarmigan ( Lagopus muta hyperborea). Integr Org Biol 2021; 3:obab021. [PMID: 34405129 PMCID: PMC8363982 DOI: 10.1093/iob/obab021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2021] [Revised: 05/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Substrate supportiveness is linked to the metabolic cost of locomotion, as it influences the depth to which the foot of a moving animal will sink. As track depth increases, animals typically reduce their speed to minimize any potential energetic imbalance. Here, we examine how self-selected speed in the Svalbard rock ptarmigan is affected by snow supportiveness and subsequent footprint depth measured using thin-blade penetrometry and 3D photogrammetry, respectively. Our findings indicate that snow supportiveness and footprint depth are poor predictors of speed (r 2 = 0.149) and stride length (r 2 = 0.106). The ptarmigan in our study rarely sunk to depths beyond the intertarsal joint, regardless of the speed, suggesting that at this relatively shallow depth any increased cost is manageable. 3D reconstructions also indicate that the ptarmigan may exploit the compressive nature of snow to generate thrust during stance, as a trend toward greater foot rotations in deeper footprints was found. It remains unclear whether the Svalbard ptarmigan are deliberately avoiding unsupportive snowy substrates. However, if they do, these results would be consistent with the idea that animals should choose routes that minimize energy costs of locomotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Mármol-Guijarro
- School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M139PL, UK
| | - R Nudds
- School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M139PL, UK
| | - L Folkow
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromso, Hansine Hansens veg 18, Tromso, 9007, Norway
| | - W Sellers
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M139PL, UK
| | - P Falkingham
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom St, Liverpool L33AF, UK
| | - J Codd
- School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M139PL, UK
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29
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Espunyes J, Serrano E, Chaves S, Bartolomé J, Menaut P, Albanell E, Marchand P, Foulché K, Garel M. Positive effect of spring advance on the diet quality of an alpine herbivore. Integr Zool 2021; 17:78-92. [PMID: 34223702 DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Changes in vegetation phenology related to global warming are having alarming effects on the life history traits of many herbivore species. Such changes are particularly critical in alpine ecosystems, where strong climate limitations on plant growth make seasonal synchronization imperative for the growth, reproduction and survival of herbivores. However, despite the pivotal role of resource-use strategies on the performances of such species, few studies have explicitly assessed the mechanistic impact of climate change on their diets. We aimed to fill this gap by studying the effect of spring onset on the dietary composition and quality of a medium-size alpine herbivore while considering density-dependent processes and age- and sex-specific differences in foraging behavior. Using an exceptional, long-term (24 years) direct individual-based dietary monitoring of a Pyrenean chamois population (Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica), we showed that ongoing earlier onsets of spring are leading to an earlier access to high-quality forage and therefore a higher diet quality at a fixed date, without apparent changes in diet composition. We also showed that at high densities, intraspecific competition reduced diet quality by driving animals to feed more on woody plants and less on nutritious forbs and graminoids. By assessing the mechanistic effects of global warming on the dietary patterns of species at the center of trophic networks, this study is an essential step for predictive models aiming at understanding the ongoing ecosystem consequences of the global climatic crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johan Espunyes
- Wildlife Ecology and Health group (WE&H) i Servei d'Ecopatologia de la Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.,Wildlife Conservation Medicine Research Group (WildCoM), Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.,Research and Conservation Department, Zoo de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Emmanuel Serrano
- Wildlife Ecology and Health group (WE&H) i Servei d'Ecopatologia de la Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Sara Chaves
- Wildlife Ecology and Health group (WE&H) i Servei d'Ecopatologia de la Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.,Group of Ruminant Research (G2R), Department of Animal and Food Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Jordi Bartolomé
- Group of Ruminant Research (G2R), Department of Animal and Food Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Pierre Menaut
- French Agency for Biodiversity, Direction Régionale Occitanie, Service d'Appui aux Acteurs et Mobilisation du Territoire, Villeneuve de Rivière, France
| | - Elena Albanell
- Group of Ruminant Research (G2R), Department of Animal and Food Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Pascal Marchand
- French Agency for Biodiversity, Direction de la Recherche et Appui Scientifique, Unité Ongulés Sauvages, Gières, France
| | - Kévin Foulché
- French Agency for Biodiversity, Direction Régionale Occitanie, Service d'Appui aux Acteurs et Mobilisation du Territoire, Villeneuve de Rivière, France
| | - Mathieu Garel
- French Agency for Biodiversity, Direction de la Recherche et Appui Scientifique, Unité Ongulés Sauvages, Gières, France
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30
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Oken KL, Holland DS, Punt AE. The effects of population synchrony, life history, and access constraints on benefits from fishing portfolios. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 31:e2307. [PMID: 33604951 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Revised: 09/15/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Natural resources often exhibit large interannual fluctuations in productivity driven by shifting environmental conditions, and this translates to high variability in the revenue resource users earn. However, users can dampen this variability by harvesting a portfolio of resources. In the context of fisheries, this means targeting multiple populations, though the ability to actually build diverse fishing portfolios is often constrained by the costs and availability of fishing permits. These constraints are generally intended to prevent overcapitalization of the fleet and ensure populations are fished sustainably. As linked human-natural systems, both ecological and fishing dynamics influence the specific advantages and disadvantages of increasing the diversity of fishing portfolios. Specifically, a portfolio of synchronous populations with similar responses to environmental drivers should reduce revenue variability less than a portfolio of asynchronous populations with opposite responses. We built a bioeconomic model based on the Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister), Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and groundfish fisheries in the California Current, and used it to explore the influence of population synchrony and permit access on income patterns. As expected, synchronous populations reduced revenue variability less than asynchronous populations, but only for portfolios including crab and salmon. Synchrony with the longer-lived groundfish population was not important because environmentally driven changes in groundfish recruitment were mediated by growth and natural mortality over the full population age structure, and overall biomass was relatively stable across years. Thus, building a portfolio of diverse life histories can buffer against the impacts of poor environmental conditions over short time scales. Increasing access to all permits generally led to increased revenue stability and decreased inequality of the fleet, but also resulted in less revenue earned by an individual from a given portfolio because more vessels shared the available biomass. This means managers are faced with a trade-off between the average revenue individuals earn and the risk those individuals accept. These results illustrate the importance of considering connections between social and ecological dynamics when evaluating management options that constrain or facilitate fishers' ability to diversify their fishing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kiva L Oken
- School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA
| | - Daniel S Holland
- Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, Washington, 98112, USA
| | - André E Punt
- School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA
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31
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Nater CR, Eide NE, Pedersen ÅØ, Yoccoz NG, Fuglei E. Contributions from terrestrial and marine resources stabilize predator populations in a rapidly changing climate. Ecosphere 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Chloé R. Nater
- Norwegian Polar Institute Tromsø Norway
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim Norway
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology UIT – The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø Norway
| | - Nina E. Eide
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research Trondheim Norway
| | | | - Nigel G. Yoccoz
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology UIT – The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø Norway
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32
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Desforges JP, Marques GM, Beumer LT, Chimienti M, Hansen LH, Pedersen SH, Schmidt NM, van Beest FM. Environment and physiology shape Arctic ungulate population dynamics. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:1755-1771. [PMID: 33319455 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Species conservation in a rapidly changing world requires an improved understanding of how individuals and populations respond to changes in their environment across temporal scales. Increased warming in the Arctic puts this region at particular risk for rapid environmental change, with potentially devastating impacts on resident populations. Here, we make use of a parameterized full life cycle, individual-based energy budget model for wild muskoxen, coupling year-round environmental data with detailed ontogenic metabolic physiology. We show how winter food accessibility, summer food availability, and density dependence drive seasonal dynamics of energy storage and thus life history and population dynamics. Winter forage accessibility defined by snow depth, more than summer forage availability, was the primary determinant of muskox population dynamics through impacts on calf recruitment and longer term carryover effects of maternal investment. Simulations of various seasonal snow depth and plant biomass and quality profiles revealed that timing of and improved/limited winter forage accessibility had marked influence on calf recruitment (±10-80%). Impacts on recruitment were the cumulative result of condition-driven reproductive performance at multiple time points across the reproductive period (ovulation to calf weaning) as a trade-off between survival and reproduction. Seasonal and generational condition effects of snow-rich winters interacted with age structure and density to cause pronounced long-term consequences on population growth and structure, with predicted population recovery times from even moderate disturbances of 10 years or more. Our results show how alteration in winter forage accessibility, mediated by snow depth, impacts the dynamics of northern herbivore populations. Further, we present here a mechanistic and state-based model framework to assess future scenarios of environmental change, such as increased or decreased snowfall or plant biomass and quality to impact winter and summer forage availability across the Arctic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Pierre Desforges
- Bioscience Department, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
- Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada
| | - Gonçalo M Marques
- Marine, Environment & Technology Center (MARETEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Larissa T Beumer
- Bioscience Department, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
- Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | | | - Lars H Hansen
- Bioscience Department, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
- Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Stine Højlund Pedersen
- Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA
| | - Niels M Schmidt
- Bioscience Department, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
- Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Floris M van Beest
- Bioscience Department, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
- Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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33
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Garfelt-Paulsen IM, Soininen EM, Ravolainen V, Loe LE, Hansen BB, Irvine RJ, Stien A, Ropstad E, Veiberg V, Fuglei E, Pedersen ÅØ. Don't go chasing the ghosts of the past: habitat selection and site fidelity during calving in an Arctic ungulate. WILDLIFE BIOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.2981/wlb.00740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ingrid M. Garfelt-Paulsen
- I. M. Garfelt-Paulsen, V. Ravolainen, E. Fuglei and Å. Ø. Pedersen (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9388-7402) ✉ , Norwegian Polar Inst., Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Eeva M. Soininen
- E. M. Soininen, UiT – Arctic Univ. of Norway, Dept of Arctic and Marine Biology, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Virve Ravolainen
- I. M. Garfelt-Paulsen, V. Ravolainen, E. Fuglei and Å. Ø. Pedersen (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9388-7402) ✉ , Norwegian Polar Inst., Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Leif Egil Loe
- L. E. Loe, Norwegian Univ. for Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Ås, Norway
| | - Brage B. Hansen
- B. B. Hansen, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Dept of Biology, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - R. Justin Irvine
- R. J. Irvine, The James Hutton Inst., Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, and: Frankfurt Zoological Society, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Audun Stien
- A. Stien, Norwegian Inst. for Nature Research, Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Erik Ropstad
- E. Ropstad, Norwegian Univ. for Life Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Oslo, Norway
| | - Vebjørn Veiberg
- V. Veiberg, Norwegian Inst. for Nature Research, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Eva Fuglei
- I. M. Garfelt-Paulsen, V. Ravolainen, E. Fuglei and Å. Ø. Pedersen (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9388-7402) ✉ , Norwegian Polar Inst., Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Åshild Ønvik Pedersen
- I. M. Garfelt-Paulsen, V. Ravolainen, E. Fuglei and Å. Ø. Pedersen (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9388-7402) ✉ , Norwegian Polar Inst., Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway
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34
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Marolla F, Henden JA, Fuglei E, Pedersen ÅØ, Itkin M, Ims RA. Iterative model predictions for wildlife populations impacted by rapid climate change. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:1547-1559. [PMID: 33448074 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
To improve understanding and management of the consequences of current rapid environmental change, ecologists advocate using long-term monitoring data series to generate iterative near-term predictions of ecosystem responses. This approach allows scientific evidence to increase rapidly and management strategies to be tailored simultaneously. Iterative near-term forecasting may therefore be particularly useful for adaptive monitoring of ecosystems subjected to rapid climate change. Here, we show how to implement near-term forecasting in the case of a harvested population of rock ptarmigan in high-arctic Svalbard, a region subjected to the largest and most rapid climate change on Earth. We fitted state-space models to ptarmigan counts from point transect distance sampling during 2005-2019 and developed two types of predictions: (1) explanatory predictions to quantify the effect of potential drivers of ptarmigan population dynamics, and (2) anticipatory predictions to assess the ability of candidate models of increasing complexity to forecast next-year population density. Based on the explanatory predictions, we found that a recent increasing trend in the Svalbard rock ptarmigan population can be attributed to major changes in winter climate. Currently, a strong positive effect of increasing average winter temperature on ptarmigan population growth outweighs the negative impacts of other manifestations of climate change such as rain-on-snow events. Moreover, the ptarmigan population may compensate for current harvest levels. Based on the anticipatory predictions, the near-term forecasting ability of the models improved nonlinearly with the length of the time series, but yielded good forecasts even based on a short time series. The inclusion of ecological predictors improved forecasts of sharp changes in next-year population density, demonstrating the value of ecosystem-based monitoring. Overall, our study illustrates the power of integrating near-term forecasting in monitoring systems to aid understanding and management of wildlife populations exposed to rapid climate change. We provide recommendations for how to improve this approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filippo Marolla
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - John-André Henden
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Eva Fuglei
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway
| | | | - Mikhail Itkin
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Rolf A Ims
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
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35
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Loe LE, Liston GE, Pigeon G, Barker K, Horvitz N, Stien A, Forchhammer M, Getz WM, Irvine RJ, Lee A, Movik LK, Mysterud A, Pedersen ÅØ, Reinking AK, Ropstad E, Trondrud LM, Tveraa T, Veiberg V, Hansen BB, Albon SD. The neglected season: Warmer autumns counteract harsher winters and promote population growth in Arctic reindeer. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2020; 27:993-1002. [PMID: 33231361 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2020] [Accepted: 10/21/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Arctic ungulates are experiencing the most rapid climate warming on Earth. While concerns have been raised that more frequent icing events may cause die-offs, and earlier springs may generate a trophic mismatch in phenology, the effects of warming autumns have been largely neglected. We used 25 years of individual-based data from a growing population of wild Svalbard reindeer, to test how warmer autumns enhance population growth. Delayed plant senescence had no effect, but a six-week delay in snow-onset (the observed data range) was estimated to increase late winter body mass by 10%. Because average late winter body mass explains 90% of the variation in population growth rates, such a delay in winter-onset would enable a population growth of r = 0.20, sufficient to counteract all but the most extreme icing events. This study provides novel mechanistic insights into the consequences of climate change for Arctic herbivores, highlighting the positive impact of warming autumns on population viability, offsetting the impacts of harsher winters. Thus, the future for Arctic herbivores facing climate change may be brighter than the prevailing view.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leif Egil Loe
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Glen E Liston
- Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Gabriel Pigeon
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway
| | - Kristin Barker
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Nir Horvitz
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Audun Stien
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | | | - Wayne Marcus Getz
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- School of Mathematical Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Robert Justin Irvine
- Frankfurt Zoological Society, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, UK
| | - Aline Lee
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Lars K Movik
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway
| | - Atle Mysterud
- Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway
| | | | - Adele K Reinking
- Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Erik Ropstad
- Faculty of Veterinary Science, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Oslo, Norway
| | - Liv Monica Trondrud
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway
| | - Torkild Tveraa
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | | | - Brage B Hansen
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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Opedal ØH, Ovaskainen O, Saastamoinen M, Laine AL, van Nouhuys S. Host-plant availability drives the spatiotemporal dynamics of interacting metapopulations across a fragmented landscape. Ecology 2020; 101:e03186. [PMID: 32892363 PMCID: PMC7757193 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2020] [Revised: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 07/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The dynamics of ecological communities depend partly on species interactions within and among trophic levels. Experimental work has demonstrated the impact of species interactions on the species involved, but it remains unclear whether these effects can also be detected in long‐term time series across heterogeneous landscapes. We analyzed a 19‐yr time series of patch occupancy by the Glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia, its specialist parasitoid wasp Cotesia melitaearum, and the specialist fungal pathogen Podosphaera plantaginis infecting Plantago lanceolata, a host plant of the Glanville fritillary. These species share a network of more than 4,000 habitat patches in the Åland islands, providing a metacommunity data set of unique spatial and temporal resolution. To assess the influence of interactions among the butterfly, parasitoid, and mildew on metacommunity dynamics, we modeled local colonization and extinction rates of each species while including or excluding the presence of potentially interacting species in the previous year as predictors. The metapopulation dynamics of all focal species varied both along a gradient in host plant abundance, and spatially as indicated by strong effects of local connectivity. Colonization and to a lesser extent extinction rates depended also on the presence of interacting species within patches. However, the directions of most effects differed from expectations based on previous experimental and modeling work, and the inferred influence of species interactions on observed metacommunity dynamics was limited. These results suggest that although local interactions among the butterfly, parasitoid, and mildew occur, their roles in metacommunity spatiotemporal dynamics are relatively weak. Instead, all species respond to variation in plant abundance, which may in turn fluctuate in response to variation in climate, land use, or other environmental factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Øystein H Opedal
- Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, SE-223 62, Sweden
| | - Otso Ovaskainen
- Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, N-7491, Norway
| | - Marjo Saastamoinen
- Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anna-Liisa Laine
- Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, CH-8057, Switzerland
| | - Saskya van Nouhuys
- Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA
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37
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Tanner SE, Giacomello E, Menezes GM, Mirasole A, Neves J, Sequeira V, Vasconcelos RP, Vieira AR, Morrongiello JR. Marine regime shifts impact synchrony of deep‐sea fish growth in the northeast Atlantic. OIKOS 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.07332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Susanne E. Tanner
- MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ciências, Univ. de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
- Depto de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Univ. de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
| | - Eva Giacomello
- IMAR – Inst. do Mar and Centro I&D Okeanos – Univ. dos Açores Horta Portugal
| | - Gui M. Menezes
- IMAR – Inst. do Mar and Centro I&D Okeanos – Univ. dos Açores Horta Portugal
- Univ. dos Açores, Depto de Oceanografia e Pescas Horta Portugal
| | - Alice Mirasole
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Dohrn‐Benthic Ecology Center Ischia Italy
| | - João Neves
- IMAR – Inst. do Mar and Centro I&D Okeanos – Univ. dos Açores Horta Portugal
| | - Vera Sequeira
- MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ciências, Univ. de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
- Depto de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Univ. de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
| | | | - Ana Rita Vieira
- MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ciências, Univ. de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
- Depto de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Univ. de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
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38
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39
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Le Moullec M, Sandal L, Grøtan V, Buchwal A, Hansen BB. Climate synchronises shrub growth across a high‐arctic archipelago: contrasting implications of summer and winter warming. OIKOS 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.07059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Mathilde Le Moullec
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Dept of Biology, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology Högskoleringen 5 NO‐7491 Trondheim Norway
| | - Lisa Sandal
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Dept of Biology, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology Högskoleringen 5 NO‐7491 Trondheim Norway
| | - Vidar Grøtan
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Dept of Biology, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology Högskoleringen 5 NO‐7491 Trondheim Norway
| | - Agata Buchwal
- Dept of Biological Sciences, Univ. of Alaska Anchorage AK USA
- Inst. of Geoecology and Geoinformation, Adam Mickiewicz Univ. Poznan Wielkopolskie Poland
| | - Brage Bremset Hansen
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Dept of Biology, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology Högskoleringen 5 NO‐7491 Trondheim Norway
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40
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Ravolainen V, Soininen EM, Jónsdóttir IS, Eischeid I, Forchhammer M, van der Wal R, Pedersen ÅØ. High Arctic ecosystem states: Conceptual models of vegetation change to guide long-term monitoring and research. AMBIO 2020; 49:666-677. [PMID: 31955396 PMCID: PMC6989444 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-019-01310-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2019] [Revised: 12/03/2019] [Accepted: 12/13/2019] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Vegetation change has consequences for terrestrial ecosystem structure and functioning and may involve climate feedbacks. Hence, when monitoring ecosystem states and changes thereof, the vegetation is often a primary monitoring target. Here, we summarize current understanding of vegetation change in the High Arctic-the World's most rapidly warming region-in the context of ecosystem monitoring. To foster development of deployable monitoring strategies, we categorize different kinds of drivers (disturbances or stresses) of vegetation change either as pulse (i.e. drivers that occur as sudden and short events, though their effects may be long lasting) or press (i.e. drivers where change in conditions remains in place for a prolonged period, or slowly increases in pressure). To account for the great heterogeneity in vegetation responses to climate change and other drivers, we stress the need for increased use of ecosystem-specific conceptual models to guide monitoring and ecological studies in the Arctic. We discuss a conceptual model with three hypothesized alternative vegetation states characterized by mosses, herbaceous plants, and bare ground patches, respectively. We use moss-graminoid tundra of Svalbard as a case study to discuss the documented and potential impacts of different drivers on the possible transitions between those states. Our current understanding points to likely additive effects of herbivores and a warming climate, driving this ecosystem from a moss-dominated state with cool soils, shallow active layer and slow nutrient cycling to an ecosystem with warmer soil, deeper permafrost thaw, and faster nutrient cycling. Herbaceous-dominated vegetation and (patchy) bare ground would present two states in response to those drivers. Conceptual models are an operational tool to focus monitoring efforts towards management needs and identify the most pressing scientific questions. We promote greater use of conceptual models in conjunction with a state-and-transition framework in monitoring to ensure fit for purpose approaches. Defined expectations of the focal systems' responses to different drivers also facilitate linking local and regional monitoring efforts to international initiatives, such as the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virve Ravolainen
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9296, Tromsø, Norway.
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9062, Tromsø, Norway.
| | | | - Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir
- University of Iceland, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland
- The University Centre in Svalbard, 9171, Longyearbyen, Norway
| | - Isabell Eischeid
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9296, Tromsø, Norway
- UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, 9037, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Mads Forchhammer
- The University Centre in Svalbard, 9171, Longyearbyen, Norway
- The Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (CMEC) and Greenland Perspective (GP), Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - René van der Wal
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Ulls väg 16, 75651, Uppsala, Sweden
- University of Aberdeen, AB24 3UU, Aberdeen, Scotland
| | - Åshild Ø Pedersen
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9296, Tromsø, Norway
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9062, Tromsø, Norway
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41
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Nilsen EB, Moa PF, Brøseth H, Pedersen HC, Hagen BR. Survival and Migration of Rock Ptarmigan in Central Scandinavia. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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42
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Jarillo J, Sæther BE, Engen S, Cao-García FJ. Spatial Scales of Population Synchrony in Predator-Prey Systems. Am Nat 2020; 195:216-230. [DOI: 10.1086/706913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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43
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Layton-Matthews K, Hansen BB, Grøtan V, Fuglei E, Loonen MJJE. Contrasting consequences of climate change for migratory geese: Predation, density dependence and carryover effects offset benefits of high-arctic warming. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2020; 26:642-657. [PMID: 31436007 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2019] [Accepted: 07/11/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Climate change is most rapid in the Arctic, posing both benefits and challenges for migratory herbivores. However, population-dynamic responses to climate change are generally difficult to predict, due to concurrent changes in other trophic levels. Migratory species are also exposed to contrasting climate trends and density regimes over the annual cycle. Thus, determining how climate change impacts their population dynamics requires an understanding of how weather directly or indirectly (through trophic interactions and carryover effects) affects reproduction and survival across migratory stages, while accounting for density dependence. Here, we analyse the overall implications of climate change for a local non-hunted population of high-arctic Svalbard barnacle geese, Branta leucopsis, using 28 years of individual-based data. By identifying the main drivers of reproductive stages (egg production, hatching and fledging) and age-specific survival rates, we quantify their impact on population growth. Recent climate change in Svalbard enhanced egg production and hatching success through positive effects of advanced spring onset (snow melt) and warmer summers (i.e. earlier vegetation green-up) respectively. Contrastingly, there was a strong temporal decline in fledging probability due to increased local abundance of the Arctic fox, the main predator. While weather during the non-breeding season influenced geese through a positive effect of temperature (UK wintering grounds) on adult survival and a positive carryover effect of rainfall (spring stopover site in Norway) on egg production, these covariates showed no temporal trends. However, density-dependent effects occurred throughout the annual cycle, and the steadily increasing total flyway population size caused negative trends in overwinter survival and carryover effects on egg production. The combination of density-dependent processes and direct and indirect climate change effects across life history stages appeared to stabilize local population size. Our study emphasizes the need for holistic approaches when studying population-dynamic responses to global change in migratory species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kate Layton-Matthews
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Brage Bremset Hansen
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Vidar Grøtan
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Eva Fuglei
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
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44
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Gagnon CA, Hamel S, Russell DE, Powell T, Andre J, Svoboda MY, Berteaux D. Merging indigenous and scientific knowledge links climate with the growth of a large migratory caribou population. J Appl Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Catherine A. Gagnon
- Canada Research Chair on Northern Biodiversity Centre of Northern Studies and Quebec Center for Biodiversity Science Université du Québec à Rimouski Rimouski QC Canada
| | - Sandra Hamel
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology UiT The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø Norway
- Département de Biologie Université Laval Quebec QC Canada
| | | | - Todd Powell
- Department of Environment Yukon Government Whitehorse YT Canada
| | - James Andre
- Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Society Whitehorse YT Canada
| | - Michael Y. Svoboda
- Canadian Wildlife Service Environment and Climate Change Canada Whitehorse YT Canada
| | - Dominique Berteaux
- Canada Research Chair on Northern Biodiversity Centre of Northern Studies and Quebec Center for Biodiversity Science Université du Québec à Rimouski Rimouski QC Canada
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45
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Lee AM, Sæther B, Engen S. Spatial covariation of competing species in a fluctuating environment. Ecology 2019; 101:e02901. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2019] [Revised: 07/10/2019] [Accepted: 09/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Aline Magdalena Lee
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics Department of Biology Norwegian University of Science and Technology 7491 Trondheim Norway
| | - Bernt‐Erik Sæther
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics Department of Biology Norwegian University of Science and Technology 7491 Trondheim Norway
| | - Steinar Engen
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics Department of Mathematical Sciences Norwegian University of Science and Technology 7491 Trondheim Norway
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46
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McCain CM. Assessing the risks to United States and Canadian mammals caused by climate change using a trait-mediated model. J Mammal 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyz155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
A set of 182 populations of 76 mammal species in the United States and Canada, examined in natural conditions with minimized disturbances or management effects, shows that responses to climate change include negative responses, such as elevational range contractions, upward shifts and decreases in abundance, positive responses, such as range expansions, and no detectable responses. Responses vary among and within mammal species but many are correlated with species traits, particularly the responses linked to high extinction risks (= climate change risk: decreases in population sizes, range contractions, local extirpations). The traits showing the strongest links to differential responses to climate change are 1) body size—large mammals respond more often and most negatively to climate change, 2) activity times—few mammals with flexible active times respond to climate change, and 3) spatial distribution—high-latitude and high-elevation mammals responded more often to climate change. Using these traits and two approaches to trait weighting, I modeled the relative climate change risk for all 328 terrestrial, nonvolant mammal species in the United States and Canada across 10 levels of risk (low = 1–2, moderate = 3–4, moderate-high = 5–6, high = 7–8, very high = 9–10). The models predicted that 15% of these mammalian species are in the high- and very high-risk categories, including species from most orders. Many mammal populations and species listed as of conservation concern due to other human impacts by national or international agencies are also predicted by my models to be in the higher categories of climate change risk. My intention for these models is to clarify for managers and researchers which, where, and how mammals are responding to climate change relatively independent of other anthropogenic stressors (e.g., large-scale habitat change, overhunting) and to provide a preliminary assessment of species most in need of careful monitoring for climate change impacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christy M McCain
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and CU Museum of Natural History, 265 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
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Hansen BB, Pedersen ÅØ, Peeters B, Le Moullec M, Albon SD, Herfindal I, Sæther B, Grøtan V, Aanes R. Spatial heterogeneity in climate change effects decouples the long-term dynamics of wild reindeer populations in the high Arctic. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2019; 25:3656-3668. [PMID: 31435996 PMCID: PMC6851690 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2019] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
The 'Moran effect' predicts that dynamics of populations of a species are synchronized over similar distances as their environmental drivers. Strong population synchrony reduces species viability, but spatial heterogeneity in density dependence, the environment, or its ecological responses may decouple dynamics in space, preventing extinctions. How such heterogeneity buffers impacts of global change on large-scale population dynamics is not well studied. Here, we show that spatially autocorrelated fluctuations in annual winter weather synchronize wild reindeer dynamics across high-Arctic Svalbard, while, paradoxically, spatial variation in winter climate trends contribute to diverging local population trajectories. Warmer summers have improved the carrying capacity and apparently led to increased total reindeer abundance. However, fluctuations in population size seem mainly driven by negative effects of stochastic winter rain-on-snow (ROS) events causing icing, with strongest effects at high densities. Count data for 10 reindeer populations 8-324 km apart suggested that density-dependent ROS effects contributed to synchrony in population dynamics, mainly through spatially autocorrelated mortality. By comparing one coastal and one 'continental' reindeer population over four decades, we show that locally contrasting abundance trends can arise from spatial differences in climate change and responses to weather. The coastal population experienced a larger increase in ROS, and a stronger density-dependent ROS effect on population growth rates, than the continental population. In contrast, the latter experienced stronger summer warming and showed the strongest positive response to summer temperatures. Accordingly, contrasting net effects of a recent climate regime shift-with increased ROS and harsher winters, yet higher summer temperatures and improved carrying capacity-led to negative and positive abundance trends in the coastal and continental population respectively. Thus, synchronized population fluctuations by climatic drivers can be buffered by spatial heterogeneity in the same drivers, as well as in the ecological responses, averaging out climate change effects at larger spatial scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brage Bremset Hansen
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD)Department of BiologyNorwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)TrondheimNorway
| | | | - Bart Peeters
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD)Department of BiologyNorwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)TrondheimNorway
| | - Mathilde Le Moullec
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD)Department of BiologyNorwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)TrondheimNorway
| | | | - Ivar Herfindal
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD)Department of BiologyNorwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)TrondheimNorway
| | - Bernt‐Erik Sæther
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD)Department of BiologyNorwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)TrondheimNorway
| | - Vidar Grøtan
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD)Department of BiologyNorwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)TrondheimNorway
| | - Ronny Aanes
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD)Department of BiologyNorwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)TrondheimNorway
- Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI)Fram CentreTromsøNorway
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48
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Juhasz CC, Shipley B, Gauthier G, Berteaux D, Lecomte N. Direct and indirect effects of regional and local climatic factors on trophic interactions in the Arctic tundra. J Anim Ecol 2019; 89:704-715. [PMID: 31538330 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2019] [Accepted: 08/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Climate change can impact ecosystems by reshaping the dynamics of resource exploitation for predators and their prey. Alterations of these pathways could be especially intense in ecosystems characterized by a simple trophic structure and rapid warming trends, such as in the Arctic. However, quantifying the multiple direct and indirect pathways through which climate change is likely to alter trophic interactions and their relative strength remains a challenge. Here, we aim to identify direct and indirect causal mechanisms driven by climate affecting predator-prey interactions of species sharing a tundra food web. We based our study on relationships between one Arctic predator (Arctic fox) and its two main prey - lemmings (preferred prey) and snow geese (alternate prey) - which are exposed to variable local and regional climatic factors across years. We used a combination of models mapping multiple causal links among key variables derived from a long-term dataset (21 years). We obtained several possible scenarios linking regional climate factors (Arctic oscillations) and local temperature and precipitation to the breeding of species. Our results suggest that both regional and local climate factors have direct and indirect impacts on the breeding of foxes and geese. Local climate showed a positive causal link with goose nesting success, while both regional and local climate displayed contrasted effects on the proportion of fox breeding. We found no impact of climate on lemming abundance. We observed positive relationships between lemming, fox and goose reproduction highlighting numerical and functional responses of fox to the variability of lemming abundance. Our study measures causal links and strength of interactions in a food web, quantifying both numerical response of a predator and apparent interactions between its two main prey. These results improve our understanding of the complex effects of climate on predator-prey interactions and our capacity to anticipate food web response to ongoing climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire-Cécile Juhasz
- Canada Research Chair in Polar and Boreal Ecology, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB, Canada.,Centre d'études Nordiques, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada
| | - Bill Shipley
- Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
| | - Gilles Gauthier
- Centre d'études Nordiques, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada.,Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada
| | - Dominique Berteaux
- Chaire de recherche du Canada en biodiversité nordique and Centre d'Études Nordiques, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, QC, Canada
| | - Nicolas Lecomte
- Canada Research Chair in Polar and Boreal Ecology, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB, Canada.,Centre d'études Nordiques, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada
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Le Moullec M, Pedersen ÅØ, Stien A, Rosvold J, Hansen BB. A century of conservation: The ongoing recovery of Svalbard reindeer. J Wildl Manage 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.21761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mathilde Le Moullec
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of BiologyNorwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) NO‐7491 Trondheim Norway
| | | | - Audun Stien
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Arctic Ecology Department, Fram Centre NO‐9296 Tromsø Norway
| | - Jørgen Rosvold
- Norwegian Institute of Nature Research (NINA) NO 7034 Trondheim Norway
| | - Brage Bremset Hansen
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of BiologyNorwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) NO‐7491 Trondheim Norway
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50
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Andreassen HP, Johnsen K, Joncour B, Neby M, Odden M. Seasonality shapes the amplitude of vole population dynamics rather than generalist predators. OIKOS 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.06351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Harry P. Andreassen
- Inland Norway Univ. of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agricultural Sciences and Biotechnology, Campus Evenstad NO‐2480 Koppang Norway
| | - Kaja Johnsen
- Inland Norway Univ. of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agricultural Sciences and Biotechnology, Campus Evenstad NO‐2480 Koppang Norway
| | | | - Magne Neby
- Inland Norway Univ. of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agricultural Sciences and Biotechnology, Campus Evenstad NO‐2480 Koppang Norway
| | - Morten Odden
- Inland Norway Univ. of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agricultural Sciences and Biotechnology, Campus Evenstad NO‐2480 Koppang Norway
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