Plant-herbivore dynamics associated with an erupting ungulate population : a test of hypotheses ...

• Main Author: Larter, Nicholas C.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: Wood Bison; Bison bison bison
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0088309; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0088309

This study tests some of the predictions made by two competing hypotheses of plant community and herbivore dynamics: the equilibrium hypothesis, both the original four-stage model proposed by Riney (1964) and Caughley (1970a), and the two-stage model proposed by Sinclair (1979) and Houston (1982), and the facilitation and feedback hypothesis (McNaughton, 1979). This is one of the rare occasions where these predictions have been tested on an erupting indigenous herbivore population subjected to predation; the Mackenzie wood bison (Bison bison athabciscae) population which was reintroduced in 1963. Recently the population split into two subpopulations: the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary (MB S) which is stabilizing, and the Mink Lake (ML) which is increasing. The aims of this study were to determine 1) if the plant community dynamics were consistent with either of the hypotheses, 2) if herbivore dynamics and demographics were consistent with either of the hypotheses, and 3) the impact of predation on the system. Net ...