Forage‐mediated density and climate effects on body mass in a temperate herbivore: a mechanistic approach

The interplay between density and climate in shaping the dynamics of herbivore populations is widely acknowledged, and current research is fueled by the identification of mechanisms underlying their effects on individuals and populations. We assessed whether forage availability mediated the effects...

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Published in:Ecology
Main Authors: Giroux, Marie-Andrée, Tremblay, Jean-Pierre, Simard, Marie Anouk, Yoccoz, Nigel G., Côté, Steeve D.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-0956.1
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spelling crwiley:10.1890/13-0956.1 2023-12-03T10:27:00+01:00 Forage‐mediated density and climate effects on body mass in a temperate herbivore: a mechanistic approach Giroux, Marie-Andrée Tremblay, Jean-Pierre Simard, Marie Anouk Yoccoz, Nigel G. Côté, Steeve D. 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-0956.1 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1890%2F13-0956.1 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1890/13-0956.1 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Ecology volume 95, issue 5, page 1332-1340 ISSN 0012-9658 1939-9170 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2014 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1890/13-0956.1 2023-11-09T14:07:31Z The interplay between density and climate in shaping the dynamics of herbivore populations is widely acknowledged, and current research is fueled by the identification of mechanisms underlying their effects on individuals and populations. We assessed whether forage availability mediated the effects of density and winter climate on body mass of white‐tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) yearlings by experimentally reducing deer density to 7.5 and 15 deer/km 2 during eight growing seasons, and by using causal (graphical) hierarchical models and Bayesian hierarchical modeling to assess relationships. The abundance of preferred forage decreased with deer density and varied quadratically (positive parabola) with winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), whereas the fall mass of yearlings increased with forage abundance and spring mass. Fall mass did not differ between experimentally reduced deer densities, yet experimental yearlings were 30% heavier than yearlings harvested at ambient densities. Hence, forage abundance simultaneously mediated the effects of density and climate on fall body mass, which was also influenced by carry‐over effects of spring body mass. Our findings increase our ability to anticipate how temperate large herbivores will respond to ongoing changes in intrinsic (e.g., large‐herbivore density) and extrinsic (e.g., climate) factors. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) Ecology 95 5 1332 1340
institution Open Polar
collection Wiley Online Library (via Crossref)
op_collection_id crwiley
language English
topic Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
spellingShingle Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Giroux, Marie-Andrée
Tremblay, Jean-Pierre
Simard, Marie Anouk
Yoccoz, Nigel G.
Côté, Steeve D.
Forage‐mediated density and climate effects on body mass in a temperate herbivore: a mechanistic approach
topic_facet Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
description The interplay between density and climate in shaping the dynamics of herbivore populations is widely acknowledged, and current research is fueled by the identification of mechanisms underlying their effects on individuals and populations. We assessed whether forage availability mediated the effects of density and winter climate on body mass of white‐tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) yearlings by experimentally reducing deer density to 7.5 and 15 deer/km 2 during eight growing seasons, and by using causal (graphical) hierarchical models and Bayesian hierarchical modeling to assess relationships. The abundance of preferred forage decreased with deer density and varied quadratically (positive parabola) with winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), whereas the fall mass of yearlings increased with forage abundance and spring mass. Fall mass did not differ between experimentally reduced deer densities, yet experimental yearlings were 30% heavier than yearlings harvested at ambient densities. Hence, forage abundance simultaneously mediated the effects of density and climate on fall body mass, which was also influenced by carry‐over effects of spring body mass. Our findings increase our ability to anticipate how temperate large herbivores will respond to ongoing changes in intrinsic (e.g., large‐herbivore density) and extrinsic (e.g., climate) factors.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Giroux, Marie-Andrée
Tremblay, Jean-Pierre
Simard, Marie Anouk
Yoccoz, Nigel G.
Côté, Steeve D.
author_facet Giroux, Marie-Andrée
Tremblay, Jean-Pierre
Simard, Marie Anouk
Yoccoz, Nigel G.
Côté, Steeve D.
author_sort Giroux, Marie-Andrée
title Forage‐mediated density and climate effects on body mass in a temperate herbivore: a mechanistic approach
title_short Forage‐mediated density and climate effects on body mass in a temperate herbivore: a mechanistic approach
title_full Forage‐mediated density and climate effects on body mass in a temperate herbivore: a mechanistic approach
title_fullStr Forage‐mediated density and climate effects on body mass in a temperate herbivore: a mechanistic approach
title_full_unstemmed Forage‐mediated density and climate effects on body mass in a temperate herbivore: a mechanistic approach
title_sort forage‐mediated density and climate effects on body mass in a temperate herbivore: a mechanistic approach
publisher Wiley
publishDate 2014
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-0956.1
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1890%2F13-0956.1
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1890/13-0956.1
genre North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
genre_facet North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
op_source Ecology
volume 95, issue 5, page 1332-1340
ISSN 0012-9658 1939-9170
op_rights http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1890/13-0956.1
container_title Ecology
container_volume 95
container_issue 5
container_start_page 1332
op_container_end_page 1340
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