Predators in low arctic tundra and their impact on community structure and dynamics
The abundance of predators and their impact on ecosystem dynamics is a vividly discussed topic in current ecology. In my studies, incorporating field observations, field experiments and theoretical modeling, I explored the importance of predators and predation in a low arctic tundra ecosystem in nor...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Ekologi och geovetenskap
2004
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-354 |
id |
ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-354 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-354 2023-10-09T21:48:56+02:00 Predators in low arctic tundra and their impact on community structure and dynamics Aunapuu, Maano 2004 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-354 eng eng Ekologi och geovetenskap Umeå : Ekologi och geovetenskap http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-354 urn:isbn:91-7305-696-0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Ecology arthropods coexistence community dynamics competition food webs hypothesis of exploitation ecosystems intraguild predation small mustelids trophic cascades Ekologi Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis text 2004 ftumeauniv 2023-09-22T13:47:21Z The abundance of predators and their impact on ecosystem dynamics is a vividly discussed topic in current ecology. In my studies, incorporating field observations, field experiments and theoretical modeling, I explored the importance of predators and predation in a low arctic tundra ecosystem in northern Norway. This involved observing the abundance and spatial activity of predators (raptors and small mustelids); manipulating the abundance of predators (spiders and birds) in an arthropod community; and exploring the theoretical consequences of intraguild predation on the coexistence among predators. The results show that predation is important both in the arthropod assemblage and, depending on the productivity of the community, in the vertebrate assemblage. In arthropod communities predators are at least as abundant as their prey, whereas in the vertebrate part of ecosystem, predators are substantially less abundant than their prey. Still, in both cases predators had strong impact on their prey, influencing the abundance of prey and the species composition of prey assemblages. The impact of predation cascaded to the plant community both in the reticulate and complex arthropod food web and in the linear food chain-like vertebrate community. In the vertebrate-based community we could even observe the long time scale effect on plant community composition. Within the predator community, exploitation competition and intraguild predation were the structuring forces. As the arthropod communities consist of predators with different sizes, intraguild predation is an energetically important interaction for top predators. As a consequence, they reduce the abundance of intermediate predators and the impact of intermediate predators on other prey groups. Moreover, being supported by intermediate predators, top predators can have stronger impact themselves on other prey groups. In vertebrate communities, intraguild predation seems to be unimportant as energetic link, instead it manifests as an extreme version of interference ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Arctic Northern Norway Tundra Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) Arctic Norway |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftumeauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology arthropods coexistence community dynamics competition food webs hypothesis of exploitation ecosystems intraguild predation small mustelids trophic cascades Ekologi |
spellingShingle |
Ecology arthropods coexistence community dynamics competition food webs hypothesis of exploitation ecosystems intraguild predation small mustelids trophic cascades Ekologi Aunapuu, Maano Predators in low arctic tundra and their impact on community structure and dynamics |
topic_facet |
Ecology arthropods coexistence community dynamics competition food webs hypothesis of exploitation ecosystems intraguild predation small mustelids trophic cascades Ekologi |
description |
The abundance of predators and their impact on ecosystem dynamics is a vividly discussed topic in current ecology. In my studies, incorporating field observations, field experiments and theoretical modeling, I explored the importance of predators and predation in a low arctic tundra ecosystem in northern Norway. This involved observing the abundance and spatial activity of predators (raptors and small mustelids); manipulating the abundance of predators (spiders and birds) in an arthropod community; and exploring the theoretical consequences of intraguild predation on the coexistence among predators. The results show that predation is important both in the arthropod assemblage and, depending on the productivity of the community, in the vertebrate assemblage. In arthropod communities predators are at least as abundant as their prey, whereas in the vertebrate part of ecosystem, predators are substantially less abundant than their prey. Still, in both cases predators had strong impact on their prey, influencing the abundance of prey and the species composition of prey assemblages. The impact of predation cascaded to the plant community both in the reticulate and complex arthropod food web and in the linear food chain-like vertebrate community. In the vertebrate-based community we could even observe the long time scale effect on plant community composition. Within the predator community, exploitation competition and intraguild predation were the structuring forces. As the arthropod communities consist of predators with different sizes, intraguild predation is an energetically important interaction for top predators. As a consequence, they reduce the abundance of intermediate predators and the impact of intermediate predators on other prey groups. Moreover, being supported by intermediate predators, top predators can have stronger impact themselves on other prey groups. In vertebrate communities, intraguild predation seems to be unimportant as energetic link, instead it manifests as an extreme version of interference ... |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Aunapuu, Maano |
author_facet |
Aunapuu, Maano |
author_sort |
Aunapuu, Maano |
title |
Predators in low arctic tundra and their impact on community structure and dynamics |
title_short |
Predators in low arctic tundra and their impact on community structure and dynamics |
title_full |
Predators in low arctic tundra and their impact on community structure and dynamics |
title_fullStr |
Predators in low arctic tundra and their impact on community structure and dynamics |
title_full_unstemmed |
Predators in low arctic tundra and their impact on community structure and dynamics |
title_sort |
predators in low arctic tundra and their impact on community structure and dynamics |
publisher |
Ekologi och geovetenskap |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-354 |
geographic |
Arctic Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway |
genre |
Arctic Northern Norway Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Northern Norway Tundra |
op_relation |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-354 urn:isbn:91-7305-696-0 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
_version_ |
1779311990518317056 |