Examining the prey mass of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous mammals: Minimum, maximum and range
Predator-prey body mass relationships are a vital part of food webs across ecosystems and provide key information for predicting the susceptibility of carnivore populations to extinction. Despite this, there has been limited research on the minimum and maximum prey size of mammalian carnivores. With...
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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ftunswworks:oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/unsworks_73905 2024-05-19T07:38:02+00:00 Examining the prey mass of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous mammals: Minimum, maximum and range Tucker, MA Rogers, TL Kupczik, Kornelius 2014-08-27 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_73905 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/0537a939-7d28-4ea2-a5b4-8bdc74cd4e8a/download https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106402 unknown Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_73905 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/0537a939-7d28-4ea2-a5b4-8bdc74cd4e8a/download https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106402 open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ free_to_read urn:ISSN:1932-6203 PLoS ONE, 9, 8, e106402 15 Life on Land Animals Aquatic Organisms Body Size Carnivory Ecosystem Food Chain Mammals Models Statistical Phylogeny Population Dynamics Predatory Behavior journal article http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 2014 ftunswworks https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106402 2024-04-24T01:04:00Z Predator-prey body mass relationships are a vital part of food webs across ecosystems and provide key information for predicting the susceptibility of carnivore populations to extinction. Despite this, there has been limited research on the minimum and maximum prey size of mammalian carnivores. Without information on large-scale patterns of prey mass, we limit our understanding of predation pressure, trophic cascades and susceptibility of carnivores to decreasing prey populations. The majority of studies that examine predator-prey body mass relationships focus on either a single or a subset of mammalian species, which limits the strength of our models as well as their broader application. We examine the relationship between predator body mass and the minimum, maximum and range of their prey's body mass across 108 mammalian carnivores, from weasels to baleen whales (Carnivora and Cetacea). We test whether mammals show a positive relationship between prey and predator body mass, as in reptiles and birds, as well as examine how environment (aquatic and terrestrial) and phylogenetic relatedness play a role in this relationship. We found that phylogenetic relatedness is a strong driver of predator-prey mass patterns in carnivorous mammals and accounts for a higher proportion of variance compared with the biological drivers of body mass and environment. We show a positive predator-prey body mass pattern for terrestrial mammals as found in reptiles and birds, but no relationship for aquatic mammals. Our results will benefit our understanding of trophic interactions, the susceptibility of carnivores to population declines and the role of carnivores within ecosystems. © 2014 Tucker, Rogers. Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whales UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks PLoS ONE 9 8 e106402 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
op_collection_id |
ftunswworks |
language |
unknown |
topic |
15 Life on Land Animals Aquatic Organisms Body Size Carnivory Ecosystem Food Chain Mammals Models Statistical Phylogeny Population Dynamics Predatory Behavior |
spellingShingle |
15 Life on Land Animals Aquatic Organisms Body Size Carnivory Ecosystem Food Chain Mammals Models Statistical Phylogeny Population Dynamics Predatory Behavior Tucker, MA Rogers, TL Examining the prey mass of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous mammals: Minimum, maximum and range |
topic_facet |
15 Life on Land Animals Aquatic Organisms Body Size Carnivory Ecosystem Food Chain Mammals Models Statistical Phylogeny Population Dynamics Predatory Behavior |
description |
Predator-prey body mass relationships are a vital part of food webs across ecosystems and provide key information for predicting the susceptibility of carnivore populations to extinction. Despite this, there has been limited research on the minimum and maximum prey size of mammalian carnivores. Without information on large-scale patterns of prey mass, we limit our understanding of predation pressure, trophic cascades and susceptibility of carnivores to decreasing prey populations. The majority of studies that examine predator-prey body mass relationships focus on either a single or a subset of mammalian species, which limits the strength of our models as well as their broader application. We examine the relationship between predator body mass and the minimum, maximum and range of their prey's body mass across 108 mammalian carnivores, from weasels to baleen whales (Carnivora and Cetacea). We test whether mammals show a positive relationship between prey and predator body mass, as in reptiles and birds, as well as examine how environment (aquatic and terrestrial) and phylogenetic relatedness play a role in this relationship. We found that phylogenetic relatedness is a strong driver of predator-prey mass patterns in carnivorous mammals and accounts for a higher proportion of variance compared with the biological drivers of body mass and environment. We show a positive predator-prey body mass pattern for terrestrial mammals as found in reptiles and birds, but no relationship for aquatic mammals. Our results will benefit our understanding of trophic interactions, the susceptibility of carnivores to population declines and the role of carnivores within ecosystems. © 2014 Tucker, Rogers. |
author2 |
Kupczik, Kornelius |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tucker, MA Rogers, TL |
author_facet |
Tucker, MA Rogers, TL |
author_sort |
Tucker, MA |
title |
Examining the prey mass of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous mammals: Minimum, maximum and range |
title_short |
Examining the prey mass of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous mammals: Minimum, maximum and range |
title_full |
Examining the prey mass of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous mammals: Minimum, maximum and range |
title_fullStr |
Examining the prey mass of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous mammals: Minimum, maximum and range |
title_full_unstemmed |
Examining the prey mass of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous mammals: Minimum, maximum and range |
title_sort |
examining the prey mass of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous mammals: minimum, maximum and range |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_73905 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/0537a939-7d28-4ea2-a5b4-8bdc74cd4e8a/download https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106402 |
genre |
baleen whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whales |
op_source |
urn:ISSN:1932-6203 PLoS ONE, 9, 8, e106402 |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_73905 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/0537a939-7d28-4ea2-a5b4-8bdc74cd4e8a/download https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106402 |
op_rights |
open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ free_to_read |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106402 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
e106402 |
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1799477429304033280 |