Prey and predator density‐dependent interactions under different water volumes
2021
Cuthbert, Ross N | Dalu, Tatenda | Wasserman, Ryan, J | Sentis, Arnaud | Weyl, Olaf, L F | Froneman, P. William, William | Callaghan, Amanda | Dick, Jaimie, T A | Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research [Kiel] (GEOMAR) | Institute for Global Food Security [Belfast] ; Queen's University [Belfast] (QUB) | South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) ; National Research Foundation [South Africa] (NRF) | University of Mpumalanga (UMP) | Rhodes University [Grahamstown] | Risques, Ecosystèmes, Vulnérabilité, Environnement, Résilience (RECOVER) ; Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) | School of Biological Sciences [Reading] ; University of Reading (UOR) | Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland | Alexander von Humboldt Foundation | National Research Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 117700 and 110507
International audience
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]إنجليزي. Predation is a critical ecological process that directly and indirectly mediates population stabilities, as well as ecosystem structure and function. The strength of interactions between predators and prey may be mediated by multiple density dependencies concerning numbers of predators and prey. In temporary wetland ecosystems in particular, fluctuating water volumes may alter predation rates through differing search space and prey encounter rates. Using a functional response approach, we examined the influence of predator and prey densities on interaction strengths of the temporary pond specialist copepod Lovenula raynerae preying on cladoceran prey, Daphnia pulex, under contrasting water volumes. Further, using a population dynamic mode-ling approach, we quantified multiple predator effects across differences in prey den-sity and water volume. Predators exhibited type II functional responses under both water volumes, with significant antagonistic multiple predator effects (i.e., antagonisms) exhibited overall. The strengths of antagonistic interactions were, however, enhanced under reduced water volumes and at intermediate prey densities. These findings indicate important biotic and abiotic contexts that mediate predator– prey dynamics, whereby multiple predator effects are contingent on both prey density and search area characteristics. In particular, reduced search areas (i.e., water volumes) under intermediate prey densities could enhance antagonisms by heightening predator– predator interference effects.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]الكلمات المفتاحية الخاصة بالمكنز الزراعي (أجروفوك)
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تم تزويد هذا السجل من قبل Institut national de la recherche agronomique