干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Apex Predators Decouple Population Dynamics Between Mesopredators and Their Prey

Arid

DOI	10.1007/s10021-019-00360-2
	Apex Predators Decouple Population Dynamics Between Mesopredators and Their Prey
	Feit, Benjamin 1,2; Feit, Anna 2; Letnic, Mike 2
通讯作者	Feit, Benjamin
来源期刊	ECOSYSTEMS
ISSN	1432-9840
EISSN	1435-0629
出版年	2019
卷号	22 期号:7 页码:1606-1617
英文摘要	The mesopredator release hypothesis (MRH) predicts that the removal of apex predators should lead to increased abundance of smaller predators through relaxation of suppressive, top-down effects. However, apex predators' effects on mesopredators are also likely to be modulated by interactions with human activities and ecosystem productivity. The exploitation ecosystems hypothesis (EEH) predicts that biomass of apex predators will scale with primary productivity but herbivore and mesopredator biomass will remain constant due to top-down control. Here, we take advantage of the manipulation of dingo abundance across Australia's Dingo Fence to explore the primacy of top-down and bottom-up effects as drivers of feral cat abundance. Using field data collected across the Dingo Fence, we test the predictions generated by MRH and EEH that cat populations should be bottom-up controlled by prey abundance (a proxy for primary productivity) where top-down control exerted by dingoes was weak but not where it was strong. We examined dingo and cat scats to provide mechanistic support for the idea that dingoes control cats through killing and exploitative competition. Overall, cats were more abundant where dingoes were rare. Cat abundance was correlated positively with prey abundance where dingoes were rare but was not correlated with prey abundance where dingoes were common. Cat remains were present in 1% of dingo scats, and dietary overlap between cats and dingoes was high (0.75-0.82). Our study provides evidence that top-down control exerted by apex predators can decouple population dynamics between mesopredators and their prey and thus have primacy over bottom-up effects.
英文关键词	Strzelecki Desert Australia mesopredator release hypothesis exploitation ecosystems hypothesis top-down bottom-up dingo feral cat
类型	Article
语种	英语
国家	Sweden ; Australia
开放获取类型	hybrid
收录类别	SCI-E
WOS记录号	WOS:000491597900012
WOS关键词	TROPHIC CASCADES ; EXPLOITATION ECOSYSTEMS ; ARID AUSTRALIA ; FERAL CATS ; INTERFERENCE COMPETITION ; MOVEMENT PATTERNS ; DINGOES SUPPRESS ; TOP PREDATORS ; FOXES ; RESPONSES
WOS类目	Ecology
WOS研究方向	Environmental Sciences & Ecology
EI主题词	2019-11-01
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/310460
作者单位	1.Swedish Univ Agr Sci, Dept Ecol, POB 7044, S-75007 Uppsala, Sweden; 2.Univ New South Wales, Sch BEES, Ctr Ecosyst Sci, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Feit, Benjamin,Feit, Anna,Letnic, Mike. Apex Predators Decouple Population Dynamics Between Mesopredators and Their Prey[J],2019,22(7):1606-1617.
APA	Feit, Benjamin,Feit, Anna,&Letnic, Mike.(2019).Apex Predators Decouple Population Dynamics Between Mesopredators and Their Prey.ECOSYSTEMS,22(7),1606-1617.
MLA	Feit, Benjamin,et al."Apex Predators Decouple Population Dynamics Between Mesopredators and Their Prey".ECOSYSTEMS 22.7(2019):1606-1617.