Search results for "Dependence"
showing 10 items of 2462 documents
Positive density-dependent growth supports costs sharing hypothesis and population density sensing in a manipulative parasite.
2017
SUMMARYParasites manipulate their hosts’ phenotype to increase their own fitness. Like any evolutionary adaptation, parasitic manipulations should be costly. Though it is difficult to measure costs of the manipulation directly, they can be evaluated using an indirect approach. For instance, theory suggests that as the parasite infrapopulation grows, the investment of individual parasites in host manipulation decreases, because of cost sharing. Another assumption is that in environments where manipulation does not pay off for the parasite, it can decrease its investment in the manipulation to save resources. We experimentally infected rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss with the immature larva…
Reply from m. Heino, j.a.j. Metz and v. Kaitala.
1998
Eva Kisdi clarifies the relationships between frequency dependence, optimization and ESSs. We basically agree with all her comments. However, some further clarification may be useful.In the first paragraph of Kisdi's letter, ESSs and optimal strategies are seemingly opposed by saying that `finding an optimal strategy is a considerably stronger result than finding an ESS'. Although this statement is factually correct, it might engender a suggestion that is slightly wrong. Conceptually, ESSs are always primary: only ESSs matter from the viewpoint of long-term evolution. Optimization is secondary only, and must be justified by an ESS argument that explicitly accounts for the ecology in which t…
The enigma of frequency-dependent selection
1997
Frequency-dependent selection is so fundamental to modern evolutionary thinking that everyone interested in evolutionary biology 'knows' the concept. It is even so fundamental that many authors of textbooks do not bother to define it. Yet it turns out that different authors (and sometimes even one and the same author) use the term to refer to different types of selection. In this paper we try to uncover the sources of this confusion. The concept is fairly well defined in the original concept of population genetical theory, which focuses on short-term evolutionary change, and basically ignores density-dependence. The problems start when the original concept is used in the context of long-ter…
Maternal effects and the stability of population dynamics in noisy environments
2001
Summary 1. It is widely appreciated that complex population dynamics are more likely in systems where there is a lag in the density dependence. The transmission of maternal environmental conditions to offspring phenotype is a potential cause of such a lag. Maternal effects are increasingly found to be common in a wide range of organisms, and might thus be a frequent cause of nonequilibrium population dynamics. 2. We show that a maternal effects’ lag generally increases population variability. This may result from the lag inducing cycles (or more complex dynamics) in a deterministic environment or, in a stochastic environment, from the lag interacting with environmental noise to produce more…
Interactive effects of past and present environments on overwintering success-a reciprocal transplant experiment
2012
Life-history traits are influenced by environmental factors throughout the lifespan of an individual. The relative importance of past versus present environment on individual fitness, therefore, is a relevant question in populations that face the challenge of temporally varying environment. We studied the interacting effects of past and present density on body mass, condition, and survival in enclosure populations of the bank vole (Myodes glareolus) using a reciprocal transplant design. In connection with the cyclic dynamics of natural vole populations, our hypothesis was that individuals born in low-density enclosures would do better overwintering in low-density enclosures than in high-den…
Harvesting‐induced population fluctuations?
2003
It has recently been shown that damped endogenous dynamics is a common feature in Finnish grouse species; In this paper, we demonstrate that time-variant harvesting may turn damped dynamics to quasi-periodic fluctuations. Exploited populations, e.g. grouse, may therefore fluctuate more than expected if we do not manage to keep the harvest fraction constant over time. However, the harvest fraction of Finnish grouse varies with the phase of the cycle. Such a harvesting strategy could potentially change the periodicity of the fluctuations, as can a threshold harvest strategy where a constant fraction is harvested above a density threshold. The two non-linear harvesting strategies investigated …
Scale dependence of species–area relationships is widespread but generally weak in Palaearctic grasslands
2021
Questions: Species–area relationships (SARs) are fundamental for understanding biodiversity patterns and are generally well described by a power law with a constant exponent z. However, z-values sometimes vary across spatial scales. We asked whether there is a general scale dependence of z-values at fine spatial grains and which potential drivers influence it. Location: Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Methods: We used 6,696 nested-plot series of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens from the GrassPlot database with two or more grain sizes, ranging from 0.0001 m² to 1,024 m² and covering diverse open habitats. The plots were recorded with two widespread sampling approaches (rooted presenc…
GrassPlot – a database of multi-scale plant diversity in Palaearctic grasslands
2018
GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). GrassPlot collects plot records (relevés) from grasslands and other open habitats of the Palaearctic biogeographic realm. It focuses on precisely delimited plots of eight standard grain sizes (0.0001; 0.001; ... 1,000 m²) and on nested-plot series with at least four different grain sizes. The usage of GrassPlot is regulated through Bylaws that intend to balance the interests of data contributors and data users. The current version (v. 1.00) contains data for approximately 170,000 plots of different sizes a…
Predator–vole interactions in northern Europe: the role of small mustelids revised
2014
The cyclic population dynamics of vole and predator communities is a key phenomenon in northern ecosystems, and it appears to be influenced by climate change. Reports of collapsing rodent cycles have attributed the changes to warmer winters, which weaken the interaction between voles and their specialist subnivean predators. Using population data collected throughout Finland during 1986–2011, we analyse the spatio-temporal variation in the interactions between populations of voles and specialist, generalist and avian predators, and investigate by simulations the roles of the different predators in the vole cycle. We test the hypothesis that vole population cyclicity is dependent on predator…
Nonlinear effects of climate on boreal rodent dynamics: mild winters do not negate high-amplitude cycles
2013
Small rodents are key species in many ecosystems. In boreal and subarctic environments, their importance is heightened by pronounced multiannual population cycles. Alarmingly, the previously regular rodent cycles appear to be collapsing simultaneously in many areas. Climate change, particularly decreasing snow quality or quantity in winter, is hypothesized as a causal factor, but the evidence is contradictory. Reliable analysis of population dynamics and the influence of climate thereon necessitate spatially and temporally extensive data. We combined data on vole abundances and climate, collected at 33 locations throughout Finland from 1970 to 2011, to test the hypothesis that warming winte…