Interactive effects of fire and nonnative plants on small mammals in Grasslands

Litt, Andrea R.; Steidl, Robert J.

doi:10.1002/wmon.2

Cited by 39 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 108 publications

(170 reference statements)

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“…Extensive pre‐fire monitoring data of both small mammal and L. constancei populations could allow the fire to be used as a natural experiment with the potential to find a causal relationship between the two. The specific effects of fire on L. constancei population demographics are particularly difficult to predict, given the potential for interacting effects of fire and small mammal abundance and consumer pressure (Zwolak ; Litt & Steidl ). For example, Zwolak et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed predation has the potential to drive a rare plant to extinction

Kurkjian

Carothers

Jules

2016

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Summary Pre‐dispersal seed predation is sometimes considered unlikely to dramatically affect plant population growth because plants are generally expected to produce more seeds than there are safe sites for germination. Lupinus constancei is a rare herb of limited distribution, with fewer than 400 reproductive individuals restricted to a single square kilometre of north‐western California, USA. In addition to the vulnerability resulting from its extremely small population size, L. constancei faces heavy seed predation by small mammals. As a stop‐gap measure to prevent population decline, managers began covering a large number of the reproductive plants with herbivory exclosures in 2003, but the population‐level effects of seed predation and the effectiveness of this caging treatment were unknown. We used 10 years of demographic data to compare the population dynamics of plants inside herbivory exclosures with those sustaining ambient rodent seed predation. We found that the stochastic population growth rate would be robust without seed predation (λs = 1·17), but without continued human intervention (i.e. use of exclosures), the current rate of predation would result in a decline towards extinction (λs = 0·92). After our study concluded, high mortality due to two extreme winter droughts followed by a wildland fire reduced the number of reproductive plants to ∼103, making extinction of L. constancei more likely. Synthesis and applications. The prevalence of consumer‐driven population decline is largely unknown, but this study demonstrates that pre‐dispersal seed predation by rodents can have powerful population‐level effects, and represents one set of conditions under which consumer pressure has the potential to drive plant extinction. However, with continued management to limit the effects of seed predation in the short‐term and investigation into the ultimate drivers of this high seed predation rate in the long term, the Lassics lupine population could be restored to a robust rate of growth.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed predation has the potential to drive a rare plant to extinction

Kurkjian

Carothers

Jules

2016

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…Homogenous habitats dominated by nonnative plants can lead to decreased diversity of small mammals (Bartel et al 2008;Litt and Steidl 2011). Arjo et al (2007) and Kozlowski et al (2012) found increased rodent abundances at Dugway, but noted that overall species diversity was low, and that the increase in abundance was likely due to an influx of habitat generalists.…”

Section: R a F Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource partitioning between kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) and coyotes (Canis latrans): a comparison of historical and contemporary dietary overlap

et al. 2018

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Resource partitioning between kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) and coyotes (Canis latrans): a comparison of historical and contemporary dietary overlapUnder conditions leading to coexistence, competition with a dominant species may limit the distribution and density of a subordinate carnivore (Hardin 1960;Schoener 1983; Glen and Dickman 2008;Sidorovich et al. 2010), which can make the population less resilient to changes in habitat or resource availability. Thus, the ability to minimize competition through resource partitioning may be critical for the long-term persistence of specialist carnivore populations facing novel competitive pressures.Resource partitioning is a multidimensional process involving temporal, spatial, and/or dietary shifts in a species' resource use, which lessens niche overlap among species (Schoener 1974; Garneau et al. 2007; Kamler et al. 2012) and reduces negative encounters between were believed to be on increasing and decreasing long-term trajectories, respectively (Arjo et al. 2007). Consequently, we hypothesized we would see an overall decrease in dietary overlap between the two species, reflecting increased competition for prey and, accordingly, an increased degree of dietary resource partitioning. It has been hypothesized that water is a limiting factor in this region (Arjo et al. 2007), and that kit foxes and coyotes select for prey that will maximize water intake (Golightly and Ohmart 1984; Kozlowski et al. 2012). We predicted that coyotes would limit kit fox access to higher-quality dietary prey, such as leporids, which contain higher water content per capture than smaller mammals, such as kangaroo rats (species of genus Dipodomys Gray, 1841) and other rodents (species of the order Rodentia Bowdich, 1821), and non-mammalian prey (e.g., insects, reptiles, birds-Pond 1978). We predicted that kit foxes would respond by increasing their use of small mammals and non-mammalian prey. Materials and methods Study areaThis study was conducted in the Great Basin Desert of western Utah. Sampling occurred on the U.S Army's Dugway Proving Ground and surrounding federal lands managed by the U.S. Dietary overlap was calculated using the Morisita-Horn Similarity Index (hereafter, M-H Index-Horn 1966), in which overlap was based on the proportion of prey classes in the diet, and was measured on a scale of 0 (no dietary overlap) to 1 (complete dietary overlap). All 11 dietary classes were included in measurements of overlap and diversity. Seasonal and annual dietary overlap was assessed within each canid species between the contemporary and historical periods.Dietary overlap was also assessed between kit foxes and coyotes for the contemporary sampling period. Breadth of dietary diversity for contemporary samples was calculated using the ShannonWeiner Diversity Index (hereafter, H'-Shannon 1948). Dietary diversity was measured both annually and for winter and summer sampling periods, and differences in diversity were tested for significance using Hutcheson's t-test (Hutcheson 1970). Differences in...

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“…This is even more complicated because of the problem of scale. For instance, Litt & Steidl (2011) studied "communities" of rodents in 1-ha plots, but who considers one ha to be the extent of interspecific associations?…”

Section: Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…paper studied mule deer in the State of Idaho (Hurley et al 2011), one studied red-cockaded woodpeckers on military land in the USA (Delaney et al 2011), and one studied small mammals on 54 experimentally manipulated 1-ha plots (Litt & Steidl 2011). The "populations" were defined by political boundaries, the research subject, or the sampling units, and this is typical of almost all population ecology.…”

Section: Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The words population and community have outlived their usefulness in ecological publications

Magnusson¹

2013

NatCon

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The concepts of "population" and "community" are so fundamental to the identity of ecological science that their use is almost never questioned, even though many authors have noted that neither has a generally accepted definition. Authors continue to invent new definitions without noting that their definitions will exclude most other ecologists. While there have been many publications questioning the utility of particular lines of ecological enquiry, these have had little effect on ecological practice, and recent ecological papers have few fundamental differences from those published half a century ago, despite the huge advances in analytical techniques. Complaining about others' definitions or suggesting that others should use your definition does not qualify as a method. Here I propose a simple method to increase the utility of ecological publications for conservation that would go far towards solving the problems that have been identified by many authors -stop using the words "population" and "community". The words "population" and "community", as used by ecologists and conservationists, are at best redundant, and almost always retard understanding by scientists and decision makers. The simple expedient of reviewers and editors requesting that authors do not use these words would make authors have to make their methods and assumptions explicit, and the conservation science more useful.

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Interactive effects of fire and nonnative plants on small mammals in Grasslands

Cited by 39 publications

References 108 publications

Seed predation has the potential to drive a rare plant to extinction

Seed predation has the potential to drive a rare plant to extinction

Resource partitioning between kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) and coyotes (Canis latrans): a comparison of historical and contemporary dietary overlap

The words population and community have outlived their usefulness in ecological publications

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