Search results for "animal ecology"
showing 10 items of 120 documents
Individual dispersal status influences space use of conspecific residents in the common lizard, Lacerta vivipara
2006
The effects of immigration on the behaviour of residents may have important implications for the local population characteristics. A manipulative laboratory experiment with yearlings of the common lizard (Lacerta vivipara) was performed to test whether the introduction of dispersing or philopatric individuals influences the short-term spacing behaviour of resident individuals. Staged encounters were carried out to induce interactions within dyads. The home cage of each responding individual was connected by a corridor to an unfamiliar “arrival cage” to measure the latency to leave their own home cage after each encounter. Our results showed that the time that pairs spent in close proximity …
In utero behavioral imprinting to predation risk in pups of the bank vole
2020
Abstract In the predator–prey arms race, survival-enhancing adaptive behaviors are essential. Prey can perceive predator presence directly from visual, auditory, or chemical cues. Non-lethal encounters with a predator may trigger prey to produce special body odors, alarm pheromones, informing conspecifics about predation risks. Recent studies suggest that parental exposure to predation risk during reproduction affects offspring behavior cross-generationally. We compared behaviors of bank vole (Myodes glareolus) pups produced by parents exposed to one of three treatments: predator scent from the least weasel (Mustela nivalis nivalis); scent from weasel-exposed voles, i.e., alarm pheromones;…
The invasive stink bug Halyomorpha halys affects the reproductive success and the experience-mediated behavioural responses of the egg parasitoid Tri…
2021
Invasive species, because of their lack of co-evolutionary history with recipient communities, can act as “evolutionary traps” causing disconnects between natural enemy behavioural responses and the suitability of the invasive species as a prey/host resource. Invasion of exotic species in non-native environments may have several ecological effects, including consequences for the experience-mediated behavioural responses of indigenous foragers. Experience is usually thought to help resident species to buffer against negative impacts of new invasive species, including escaping from evolutionary traps. Here we hypothesized that the impact of foraging experience depends on whether an indigenous…
Effects of Natura 2000 on nontarget bird and butterfly species based on citizen science data
2020
The European Union's Natura 2000 (N2000) is among the largest international networks of protected areas. One of its aims is to secure the status of a predetermined set of (targeted) bird and butterfly species. However, nontarget species may also benefit from N2000. We evaluated how the terrestrial component of this network affects the abundance of nontargeted, more common bird and butterfly species based on data from long-term volunteer-based monitoring programs in 9602 sites for birds and 2001 sites for butterflies. In almost half of the 155 bird species assessed, and particularly among woodland specialists, abundance increased (slope estimates ranged from 0.101 [SD 0.042] to 3.51 [SD 1.30…
Non-unique population dynamics: basic patterns
2000
We review the basic patterns of complex non-uniqueness in simple discrete-time population dynamics models. We begin by studying a population dynamics model of a single species with a two-stage, two-habitat life cycle. We then explore in greater detail two ecological models describing host‐macroparasite and host‐parasitoid interspecific interactions. In general, several types of attractors, e.g. point equilibria vs. chaotic, periodic vs. quasiperiodic and quasiperiodic vs. chaotic attractors, may coexist in the same mapping. This non-uniqueness also indicates that the bifurcation diagrams, or the routes to chaos, depend on initial conditions and are therefore non-unique. The basins of attrac…
The mechanistic basis of demographic Allee effects: The search for mates
2017
In Focus: Berec, L., Kremer, A.M., Bernhauverova, V., & Drake, J.M. (2017). Density-dependent selection on mate-finding Allee effects. Journal of Animal Ecology, 87, 24-35. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12662 In Focus: Shaw, A.K., Kokko, H., & Neubert, M.G. (2017). Details of mate finding drive dynamics of sex structured invasions. Journal of Animal Ecology, 87, 36-46. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12658 Lowered population growth ability at low abundances is called the demographic Allee effect. The difficulty of finding mates in a sparse population is the best documented pathway through which a demographic Allee effect might arise. The articles in focus here aim to establish the mec…
Species co-occurrence networks of ground beetles in managed grasslands
2020
AbstractGrassland biodiversity, including traditional rural biotopes maintained by traditional agricultural practices, has become threatened worldwide. Road verges have been suggested to be complementary or compensatory habitats for species inhabiting grasslands. Species co-occurrence patterns linked with species traits can be used to separate between the different mechanisms (stochasticity, environmental filtering, biotic interactions) behind community structure. Here, we study species co-occurrence networks and underlying mechanisms of ground beetle species (Carabidae) in three different managed grassland types (meadows, pastures, road verges, n = 12 in each type) in Central Finland. We a…
Identification and biological traits of a planthopper from the genus Pentastiridius (Hemiptera: Cixiidae) adapted to an annual cropping rotation
2009
International audience; Cixiid planthoppers have been shown to vector phloem-limited prokaryotes associated with plant diseases world-wide. In eastern France, an emerging disease of sugar beet called syndrome basses richesses has been associated with phloem-restricted bacteria transmitted by a cixiid planthopper within the genus Pentastiridius. Early investigation suggested the species being Pentastiridius beieri. On the basis of a morphological and phylogenetic study we report the identification of the planthopper as Pentastiridius leporinus. Furthermore we report some biological traits of the species, which shows a surprising ecological adaptation to an annual cropping rotation sugar beet…
Exposure to environmental radionuclides alters mitochondrial DNA maintenance in a wild rodent
2020
AbstractMitochondria are sensitive to oxidative stress, including that derived from ionizing radiation. To quantify the effects of exposure to environmental radionuclides on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) dynamics in wildlife, bank voles (Myodes glareolus) were collected from the chernobyl exclusion zone (CEZ), where animals are exposed to elevated levels of radionuclides, and from uncontaminated areas within the CEZ and elsewhere in Ukraine. Brains of bank voles from outside the CEZ were characterized by low mtDNA copy number and low mtDNA damage; by contrast, bank voles within the CEZ had high mtDNA copy number and high mtDNA damage, consistent with putative damaging effects of elevated radiat…
State-dependent foraging: lactating voles adjust their foraging behavior according to the presence of a potential nest predator and season
2015
Parental care often produces a trade-off between meeting nutritional demands of offspring and the duties of offspring protection, especially in altricial species. Parents have to leave their young unattended for foraging trips, during which nestlings are exposed to predators. We investigated how rodent mothers of altricial young respond to risk of nest predation in their foraging decisions. We studied foraging behavior of lactating bank voles (Myodes glareolus) exposed to a nest predator, the common shrew (Sorex araneus). We conducted the experiment in summer (high resource provisioning for both species) and autumn (less food available) in 12 replicates with fully crossed factors “shrew pre…