High resistance towards herbivore-induced habitat change in a high Arctic arthropod community
Mammal herbivores may exert strong impacts on plant communities, and are often key drivers of vegetation composition and diversity. We tested whether such mammal-induced changes to a high Arctic plant community are reflected in the structure of other trophic levels. Specifically, we tested whether s...
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2022
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ftunivturku:oai:www.utupub.fi:10024/154876 2023-05-15T14:47:03+02:00 High resistance towards herbivore-induced habitat change in a high Arctic arthropod community Eero J. Vesterinen Jesper B. Mosbacher Tomas Roslin Niels M. Schmidt Bernhard Eitzinger PÄÄT Saaristomeren tutkimuslaitos, PÄÄT Archipelago Research Institute 2606012 2022-10-27T11:44:13Z https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/154876 en eng ROYAL SOC Britannia United Kingdom GB 14 ARTN 20180054 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0054 Biology Letters 5 https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/154876 URN:NBN:fi-fe2021042719323 1744-957X 1744-9561 2022 ftunivturku 2022-11-02T23:58:43Z Mammal herbivores may exert strong impacts on plant communities, and are often key drivers of vegetation composition and diversity. We tested whether such mammal-induced changes to a high Arctic plant community are reflected in the structure of other trophic levels. Specifically, we tested whether substantial vegetation changes following the experimental exclusion of muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) altered the composition of the arthropod community and the predator-prey interactions therein. Overall, we found no impact of muskox exclusion on the arthropod community: the diversity and abundance of both arthropod predators (spiders) and of their prey were unaffected by muskox presence, and so was the qualitative and quantitative structure of predator-prey interactions. Hence, high Arctic arthropod communities seem highly resistant towards even large biotic changes in their habitat, which we attribute to the high connectance in the food web. Other/Unknown Material Arctic muskox ovibos moschatus University of Turku: UTUPub Arctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
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University of Turku: UTUPub |
op_collection_id |
ftunivturku |
language |
English |
description |
Mammal herbivores may exert strong impacts on plant communities, and are often key drivers of vegetation composition and diversity. We tested whether such mammal-induced changes to a high Arctic plant community are reflected in the structure of other trophic levels. Specifically, we tested whether substantial vegetation changes following the experimental exclusion of muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) altered the composition of the arthropod community and the predator-prey interactions therein. Overall, we found no impact of muskox exclusion on the arthropod community: the diversity and abundance of both arthropod predators (spiders) and of their prey were unaffected by muskox presence, and so was the qualitative and quantitative structure of predator-prey interactions. Hence, high Arctic arthropod communities seem highly resistant towards even large biotic changes in their habitat, which we attribute to the high connectance in the food web. |
author2 |
PÄÄT Saaristomeren tutkimuslaitos, PÄÄT Archipelago Research Institute 2606012 |
author |
Eero J. Vesterinen Jesper B. Mosbacher Tomas Roslin Niels M. Schmidt Bernhard Eitzinger |
spellingShingle |
Eero J. Vesterinen Jesper B. Mosbacher Tomas Roslin Niels M. Schmidt Bernhard Eitzinger High resistance towards herbivore-induced habitat change in a high Arctic arthropod community |
author_facet |
Eero J. Vesterinen Jesper B. Mosbacher Tomas Roslin Niels M. Schmidt Bernhard Eitzinger |
author_sort |
Eero J. Vesterinen |
title |
High resistance towards herbivore-induced habitat change in a high Arctic arthropod community |
title_short |
High resistance towards herbivore-induced habitat change in a high Arctic arthropod community |
title_full |
High resistance towards herbivore-induced habitat change in a high Arctic arthropod community |
title_fullStr |
High resistance towards herbivore-induced habitat change in a high Arctic arthropod community |
title_full_unstemmed |
High resistance towards herbivore-induced habitat change in a high Arctic arthropod community |
title_sort |
high resistance towards herbivore-induced habitat change in a high arctic arthropod community |
publisher |
ROYAL SOC |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/154876 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic muskox ovibos moschatus |
genre_facet |
Arctic muskox ovibos moschatus |
op_relation |
14 ARTN 20180054 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0054 Biology Letters 5 https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/154876 URN:NBN:fi-fe2021042719323 1744-957X 1744-9561 |
_version_ |
1766318183889764352 |