Are wolves just wasps with teeth? What invertebrates can teach us about mammal top predators

Meadows, Amanda J.; Crowder, David W.; Snyder, William E.

doi:10.1016/j.fooweb.2016.09.004

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 117 publications

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“…Where studied, however, the strength and utility of carnivore effects on food webs in human-modified systems appear dissimilar to those in less modified ecosystems (e.g. Elmhagen et al, 2010;Muhly et al, 2013;Meadows et al, 2017;Morgan et al, 2017).…”

Section: Logical Fallacies Underpin Much Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…But there are many more interaction types besides these within food webs, which interaction types can also be strong and often do not conform to simple expectations (Muhly et al, 2013;Saggiomo et al, 2017). Invertebrate (Meadows et al, 2017) and theoretical (e.g. Finke and Denno, 2004;Holt and Huxel, 2007;McCoy et al, 2012;McPeek, 2014;Kendall, 2015) studies highlight many different outcomes of predator removal or addition, most of which have received little attention in the wider large carnivore literature Mech, 2012;Ford and Goheen, 2015;Haswell et al, 2017).…”

Section: Alternative Hypotheses Are Seldom Testedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much of this can be found in literature from marine, aquatic and invertebrate systems (Heath et al, 2014;Meadows et al, 2017), or systems and models where bottom-up processes are relatively predictable, stable and controllable. Reliable work on MRH, TCH and BMTCH in terrestrial systems is only beginning to catch up to these disciplines.…”

Section: Implications For Large Carnivore Science and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can we save large carnivores without losing large carnivore science?

Allen

Allen²,

Andrén

et al. 2017

Food Webs

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oLarge carnivores are depicted to shape entire ecosystems through top-down processes. Studies describing these processes are often used to support interventionist wildlife management practices, including carnivore reintroduction or lethal control programs. Unfortunately, there is an increasing tendency to ignore, disregard or devalue fundamental principles of the scientific method when communicating the reliability of current evidence for the ecological roles that large carnivores may play, eroding public confidence in large carnivore science and scientists. Here, we discuss six interrelated issues that currently undermine the reliability of the available literature on the ecological roles of large carnivores: (1) the overall paucity of available data, (2) reliability of carnivore population sampling techniques, (3) general disregard for alternative hypotheses to top-down forcing, (4) lack of applied science studies, (5) frequent use of logical fallacies, and (6) generalisation of results from relatively pristine systems to those substantially altered by humans. We first describe how widespread these issues are, and given this, show, for example, that evidence for the roles of wolves (Canis lupus) and dingoes (Canis lupus dingo) in initiating trophic cascades is not as strong as is often claimed. Managers and policy makers should exercise caution when relying on this literature to inform wildlife management decisions. We emphasise the value of manipulative experiments and discuss the role of scientific knowledge in the decision-making process. We hope that the issues we raise here prompt deeper consideration of actual evidence, leading towards an improvement in both the rigour and communication of large carnivore science.

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Section: Logical Fallacies Underpin Much Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Alternative Hypotheses Are Seldom Testedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Large Carnivore Science and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Can we save large carnivores without losing large carnivore science?

Allen

Allen²,

Andrén

et al. 2017

Food Webs

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“…, Meadows et al. ). Therefore, arthropods tend to occupy a variety of niches and have influences throughout the food web.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem engineering by bison (Bison bison) wallowing increases arthropod community heterogeneity in space and time

et al. 2018

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Ecosystem engineers have important effects on abundance and diversity of organisms and are vital for conservation efforts. Some large mammalian grazers are engineers because their grazing activity radically changes plant community structure, an effect which then cascades to other consumers. Many large grazers also behaviorally modify the physical environment. American bison (Bison bison) are known for their wallowing, a behavior that creates distinct areas of high disturbance with modified biological and physical characteristics, but how this behavior affects other consumers is poorly understood. In this study, we investigated arthropod abundance and diversity patterns in active and abandoned wallows compared to those in surrounding tallgrass prairie. We found that active wallows contained lower arthropod abundance and diversity compared to surrounding prairie. Herbivorous arthropods were particularly affected and only about 50% as abundant in wallows, while carnivores and detritivores were affected similarly, but to a lesser degree. In contrast, abandoned wallows had higher arthropod abundance seasonally and higher species richness in several feeding groups. Because of arthropod differences in active and abandoned wallows compared to adjacent prairie, it appears that the impact of wallowing is dependent on time since occurrence, with long‐term effects creating patches of higher arthropod abundance and richness. These patches are likely important, at least seasonally, for other consumers higher on the food web. Together with publications documenting positive effects of bison grazing on arthropod abundance and diversity, our results indicate that wallowing effects are potentially additive. These results suggest that physical changes caused by bison behavior are important for maintaining arthropod biodiversity of tallgrass prairies, and bison may therefore be valuable conservation tools. Bison have been proposed as important candidates for rewilding portions of North America, and our results suggest that they could indeed be valuable toward this end.

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“…Indeed, invertebrates can be useful as model systems to test and develop ideas that cannot as easily be studied with vertebrates (Schmitz 2005 However, considering the large body of literature on trophic cascades in insect systems that has amassed, it has been argued that carnivore research would be well-served if wildlife biologists learned more from arthropod systems (Meadows et al 2017). Interestingly, work on the behaviorally mediated indirect effects of wolves in western North America was largely inspired by earlier work on grasshoppers and their spider predators (W. J. Ripple, personal communication).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%