Enemies with benefits: integrating positive and negative interactions among terrestrial carnivores

Prugh, Laura R.; Sivy, Kelly J.

doi:10.1111/ele.13489

Cited by 158 publications

(222 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…Fležar et al ., 2019), and does not replace the ecosystem services provided by large carnivores as carrion providers (e.g. facilitation of mesocarnivore suppression; Prugh & Sivy, 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human disturbance has contrasting effects on niche partitioning within carnivore communities

et al. 2020

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Among species, coexistence is driven partly by the partitioning of available resources. The mechanisms of coexistence and competition among species have been a central topic within community ecology, with particular focus on mammalian carnivore community research. However, despite growing concern regarding the impact of humans on the behaviour of species, very little is known about the effect of humans on species interactions. The aim of this review is to establish a comprehensive framework for the impacts of human disturbance on three dimensions (spatial, temporal and trophic) of niche partitioning within carnivore communities and subsequent effects on both intraguild competition and community structure. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on carnivore niche partitioning (246 studies) and extracted 46 reported effects of human disturbance. We found evidence that human disturbance impacts resource partitioning, either positively or negatively, in all three niche dimensions. The repercussions of such variations are highly heterogeneous and differ according to both the type of human disturbance and how the landscape and/or availability of resources are affected. We propose a theoretical framework of the three main outcomes for the impacts of human disturbance on intraguild competition and carnivore community structure: (i) human disturbance impedes niche partitioning, increasing intraguild competition and reducing the richness and diversity of the community; (ii) human disturbance unbalances niche partitioning and intraguild competition, affecting community stability; and (iii) human disturbance facilitates niche partitioning, decreasing intraguild competition and enriching the community. We call for better integration of the impact of humans on carnivore communities in future research on interspecific competition.

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“…Fležar et al ., 2019), and does not replace the ecosystem services provided by large carnivores as carrion providers (e.g. facilitation of mesocarnivore suppression; Prugh & Sivy, 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human disturbance has contrasting effects on niche partitioning within carnivore communities

et al. 2020

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“…Although several reviews have highlighted progress in our understanding of biotic interactions, the relative importance of both negative and positive interactions and especially their context‐dependency has yet to be identified (Thorp, 1986; Soluk and Collins, 1988; Mermillod‐Blondin and Rosenberg, 2006; Holomuzki et al ., 2010; Correa et al ., 2015b). This topic has provided some important insights in terrestrial and marine ecosystems (Bertness et al ., 1999; Stewart et al ., 1999; Hay et al ., 2004; Duchini et al ., 2018; Prugh and Sivy, 2020). As such, an evaluation of the relative magnitude of positive interactions in freshwater habitats compared to negative interactions is an important next step.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering patterns of freshwater positive interactions using meta‐analysis: Identifying the roles of common participants, invasive species and environmental context

et al. 2020

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Positive interactions are sensitive to human activities, necessitating synthetic approaches to elucidate broad patterns and predict future changes if these interactions are altered or lost. General understanding of freshwater positive interactions has been far outpaced by knowledge of these important relationships in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. We conducted a global meta‐analysis to evaluate the magnitude of positive interactions across freshwater habitats. In 340 studies, we found substantial positive effects, with facilitators increasing beneficiaries by, on average, 81% across all taxa and response variables. Mollusks in particular were commonly studied as both facilitators and beneficiaries. Amphibians were one group benefiting the most from positive interactions, yet few studies investigated amphibians. Invasive facilitators had stronger positive effects on beneficiaries than non‐invasive facilitators. We compared positive effects between high‐ and low‐stress conditions and found no difference in the magnitude of benefit in the subset of studies that manipulated stressors. Future areas of research include understudied facilitators and beneficiaries, the stress gradient hypothesis, patterns across space or time and the influence of declining taxa whose elimination would jeopardise fragile positive interaction networks. Freshwater positive interactions occur among a wide range of taxa, influence populations, communities and ecosystem processes and deserve further exploration.

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“…'green world hypothesis') (Bond 2005, Wilkinson andSherratt 2016). Furthermore, large carnivores can control the abundance of mesopredators through direct competition as well as predation (Elmhagen et al 2010, Prugh andSivy 2020). In fact, the loss of large carnivores has been linked to rapid population growth of mesopredators (generally mammals), i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanistic insights into the role of large carnivores for ecosystem structure and functioning

et al. 2020

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Large carnivores can exert top–down effects in ecosystems, but the size of these effects are largely unknown. Empirical investigation on the importance of large carnivores for ecosystem structure and functioning presents a number of challenges due to the large spatio‐temporal scale and the complexity of such dynamics. Here, we applied a mechanistic global ecosystem model to investigate the influence of large‐carnivore removal from undisturbed ecosystems. First, we simulated large‐carnivore removal on the global scale to inspect the geographic pattern of top–down control and to disentangle the functional role of large carnivores in top–down control in different environmental contexts. Second, we conducted four small‐scale ecosystem simulation experiments to understand direct and indirect changes in food‐web structure under different environmental conditions. We found that the removal of top–down control exerted by large carnivores (> 21 kg) can trigger large trophic cascades, leading to an overall decrease in autotroph biomass globally. Furthermore, the loss of large carnivores resulted in an increase of mesopredators. The magnitude of these changes was positively related to primary productivity (NPP), in line with the ‘exploitation ecosystem hypothesis’. In addition, we found that seasonality in NPP dampened the magnitude of change following the removal of large carnivores. Our results reinforce the idea that large carnivores play a fundamental role in shaping ecosystems, and further declines and extinctions can trigger substantial ecosystem responses. Our findings also support previous studies suggesting that natural ecosystem dynamics have been severely modified and are still changing as a result of the widespread decline and extinction of large carnivores.

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Enemies with benefits: integrating positive and negative interactions among terrestrial carnivores

Cited by 158 publications

References 96 publications

Human disturbance has contrasting effects on niche partitioning within carnivore communities

Human disturbance has contrasting effects on niche partitioning within carnivore communities

Uncovering patterns of freshwater positive interactions using meta‐analysis: Identifying the roles of common participants, invasive species and environmental context

Mechanistic insights into the role of large carnivores for ecosystem structure and functioning

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