Identifying consumer–resource population dynamics using paleoecological data
Abstract Ecologists have long been fascinated by cyclic population fluctuations, because they suggest strong interactions between exploiter and victim species. Nonetheless, even for populations showing high‐amplitude fluctuations, it is often hard to identify which species are the key drivers of the...
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crwiley:10.1890/15-0596.1 2023-12-03T10:24:59+01:00 Identifying consumer–resource population dynamics using paleoecological data Einarsson, Árni Hauptfleisch, Ulf Leavitt, Peter R. Ives, Anthony R. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/15-0596.1 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1890%2F15-0596.1 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1890/15-0596.1 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Ecology volume 97, issue 2, page 361-371 ISSN 0012-9658 1939-9170 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2016 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0596.1 2023-11-09T13:37:19Z Abstract Ecologists have long been fascinated by cyclic population fluctuations, because they suggest strong interactions between exploiter and victim species. Nonetheless, even for populations showing high‐amplitude fluctuations, it is often hard to identify which species are the key drivers of the dynamics, because data are generally only available for a single species. Here, we use a paleoecological approach to investigate fluctuations in the midge population in Lake Mývatn, Iceland, which ranges over several orders of magnitude in irregular, multigeneration cycles. Previous circumstantial evidence points to consumer–resource interactions between midges and their primary food, diatoms, as the cause of these high‐amplitude fluctuations. Using a pair of sediment cores from the lake, we reconstructed 26 years of dynamics of midges using egg remains and of algal groups using diagnostic pigments. We analyzed these data using statistical methods that account for both the autocorrelated nature of paleoecological data and measurement error caused by the mixing of sediment layers. The analyses revealed a signature of consumer–resource interactions in the fluctuations of midges and diatoms: diatom abundance (as inferred from biomarker pigment diatoxanthin) increased when midge abundance was low, and midge abundance (inferred from egg capsules) decreased when diatom abundance was low. Similar patterns were not found for pigments characterizing the other dominant primary producer group in the lake (cyanobacteria), subdominant algae (cryptophytes), or ubiquitous but chemically unstable biomarkers of total algal abundance (chlorophyll a ); however, a significant but weaker pattern was found for the chemically stable indicator of total algal populations (β‐carotene) to which diatoms are the dominant contributor. These analyses provide the first paleoecological evaluation of specific trophic interactions underlying high amplitude population fluctuations in lakes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Mývatn Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) Mývatn ENVELOPE(-16.985,-16.985,65.600,65.600) Ecology 97 2 361 371 |
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 Einarsson, Árni Hauptfleisch, Ulf Leavitt, Peter R. Ives, Anthony R. Identifying consumer–resource population dynamics using paleoecological data |
topic_facet |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Ecologists have long been fascinated by cyclic population fluctuations, because they suggest strong interactions between exploiter and victim species. Nonetheless, even for populations showing high‐amplitude fluctuations, it is often hard to identify which species are the key drivers of the dynamics, because data are generally only available for a single species. Here, we use a paleoecological approach to investigate fluctuations in the midge population in Lake Mývatn, Iceland, which ranges over several orders of magnitude in irregular, multigeneration cycles. Previous circumstantial evidence points to consumer–resource interactions between midges and their primary food, diatoms, as the cause of these high‐amplitude fluctuations. Using a pair of sediment cores from the lake, we reconstructed 26 years of dynamics of midges using egg remains and of algal groups using diagnostic pigments. We analyzed these data using statistical methods that account for both the autocorrelated nature of paleoecological data and measurement error caused by the mixing of sediment layers. The analyses revealed a signature of consumer–resource interactions in the fluctuations of midges and diatoms: diatom abundance (as inferred from biomarker pigment diatoxanthin) increased when midge abundance was low, and midge abundance (inferred from egg capsules) decreased when diatom abundance was low. Similar patterns were not found for pigments characterizing the other dominant primary producer group in the lake (cyanobacteria), subdominant algae (cryptophytes), or ubiquitous but chemically unstable biomarkers of total algal abundance (chlorophyll a ); however, a significant but weaker pattern was found for the chemically stable indicator of total algal populations (β‐carotene) to which diatoms are the dominant contributor. These analyses provide the first paleoecological evaluation of specific trophic interactions underlying high amplitude population fluctuations in lakes. |
author2 |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Einarsson, Árni Hauptfleisch, Ulf Leavitt, Peter R. Ives, Anthony R. |
author_facet |
Einarsson, Árni Hauptfleisch, Ulf Leavitt, Peter R. Ives, Anthony R. |
author_sort |
Einarsson, Árni |
title |
Identifying consumer–resource population dynamics using paleoecological data |
title_short |
Identifying consumer–resource population dynamics using paleoecological data |
title_full |
Identifying consumer–resource population dynamics using paleoecological data |
title_fullStr |
Identifying consumer–resource population dynamics using paleoecological data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Identifying consumer–resource population dynamics using paleoecological data |
title_sort |
identifying consumer–resource population dynamics using paleoecological data |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/15-0596.1 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1890%2F15-0596.1 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1890/15-0596.1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-16.985,-16.985,65.600,65.600) |
geographic |
Mývatn |
geographic_facet |
Mývatn |
genre |
Iceland Mývatn |
genre_facet |
Iceland Mývatn |
op_source |
Ecology volume 97, issue 2, page 361-371 ISSN 0012-9658 1939-9170 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0596.1 |
container_title |
Ecology |
container_volume |
97 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
361 |
op_container_end_page |
371 |
_version_ |
1784273611686674432 |