Metapopulation processes and persistence in remnant water vole populations

Telfer, Sandra; Holt, Alison R.; Donaldson, Rebecca; Lambin, Xavier

doi:10.1034/j.1600-0706.2001.950104.x

Cited by 50 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(32 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Not considering stage structure produced biased estimates of the scale of dispersal (log(2)/a: juvenile ¼ 12.40 km vs. total population ¼ 5.52 km). That juveniles should be a more informative determinant of colonization is biologically consistent with observations in water voles that most movement happens early in life ( juvenile natal dispersal), as is the case for most small-mammal species (Telfer et al 2001, Le Galliard et al 2011. It is also sensible that adult population size should determine the fate of patches in terms of their extinction risk for two reasons.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Multi‐scale processes in metapopulations: contributions of stage structure, rescue effect, and correlated extinctions

Sutherland

Elston

Lambin

2012

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Metapopulations function and persist through a combination of processes acting at a variety of spatial scales. Although the contributions of stage structure, spatially correlated processes, and the rescue effect to metapopulation dynamics have been investigated in isolation, there is no empirical demonstration of all of these processes shaping dynamics in a single system. Dispersal and settlement differ according to the life stage involved; therefore, stage-specific population size may outperform total population size when predicting colonization-extinction dynamics. Synchrony in patch dynamics can lead to accelerated metapopulation extinction, although empirical evidence of the interplay between correlated colonization events and correlated extinctions is lacking. Likewise, few empirical examples exist that provide compelling evidence of migration acting to reduce extinction risk (the rescue effect). We parameterized a hierarchy of metapopulation models to investigate these predictions using a seven-year study of a naturally occurring water vole (Arvicola amphibius) metapopulation. Specifically, we demonstrated the importance of local stage structure in predicting both colonization and extinction events using juvenile and adult population sizes, respectively. Using a novel approach for quantifying correlation in extinction events, we compared the scale of synchrony in colonization and extinction. Strikingly, the scale of dispersal acting to synchronize colonization was an order of magnitude larger than that of correlated extinctions (halving distance of the effect: 12.40 km and 0.89 km, respectively). Additionally, we found compelling evidence for the existence of a nontrivial rescue effect. Here we provide a novel empirical demonstration of a variety of metapopulation processes operating at multiple spatial scales, further emphasizing the need to consider stage structure and local synchrony in the dynamics of spatially dependent, stage-structured (meta) populations.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Multi‐scale processes in metapopulations: contributions of stage structure, rescue effect, and correlated extinctions

Sutherland

Elston

Lambin

2012

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Small vole populations in the tawny owl study area in the UK (Kielder Forest) are a stable food resource that show spatial synchrony in their numbers across all suitable habitat patches (MacKinnon et al 2001). Water voles are, presumably, a less predictable food supply than small voles are, because water vole populations are highly patchily distributed in the landscape, are frequently absent from suitable habitat and are characterised by frequent population turnovers (Aars et al 2001;Telfer et al 2001). Studies of food supply, diet and sex allocation in tawny owls in additional populations may, therefore, contribute to our general understanding of sex allocation patterns.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tawny owl reproduction and offspring sex ratios under variable food conditions

Kekkonen

Kolunen²,

Pietiäinen

et al. 2007

J Ornithol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tawny owl reproduction and offspring sex ratios have been considered to depend on the abundance of small voles. We studied reproductive performance (laying date, clutch and brood size) during 1995-2003 and offspring sex ratios from 1999 to 2003 in relation to the abundance of small voles and food delivered to the nest in a tawny owl population in southern Finland. Abundance of small voles (field and bank voles) was based on trappings in the field, and estimates of food delivery was based on diet analysis of food remains in the nest boxes. In this population, reproductive output was not related to the abundance of small voles. Analysis of food delivered to the nest showed that the prey weight per offspring varied more than twofold between years and revealed that this difference was mainly related to the proportion of water voles in the diet. Only the number of water voles correlated with laying dates. Offspring sex ratios were weakly male biased (55%) but did not differ from parity. Sex ratios were not related to the abundance of small voles, and we found no evidence that parents delivered more food to nests with proportionally more offspring of the larger (female) sex. Our results underline the notion that populations may differ in their sex allocation pattern, and suggest such differences may be due to diet.

show abstract

“…By suppressing population booms following high summer rainfall, feral mink may be removing a major impetus for voles to disperse and recolonise vacant islands to disrupt the natural metapopulation dynamic. Recently Telfer et al (2001) also suggested that the metapopulation dynamics of water voles in a river system in England were being disrupted by American mink via elevated extinction rates that would also reduce colonisation events. Such a phenomenon may also occur with our voles on very small islands to contribute to an erosion of metapopulation processes, although the ability of mink to directly cause local extirpation is not clear as we found that mink removal alone did not explain extinction events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic impacts of feral mink predation on vole metapopulations in the outer archipelago of the Baltic Sea

Banks

Norrdahl²,

Nordström³

et al. 2004

Oikos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

E. 2004. Dynamic impacts of feral mink predation on vole metapopulations in the outer archipelago of the Baltic Sea. Á/ Oikos 105: 79 Á/88.Predation impacts by introduced predators are predicted to be most intense in island ecosystems, and also variable depending on environmental conditions, but large-scale experimental field testing is rare. In this study we examine the factors that determine the distribution and abundance of vole metapopulations preyed upon by feral American mink Mustela vison in the outer Finnish archipelago of the Baltic Sea. Specifically, we follow the dynamics of field voles Microtus agrestis and bank voles Clethrionomys glareolus on 40 small islands under variable rainfall as part of a largescale mink removal experiment. For both vole species occupancy rates were negatively influenced by island isolation, as were extinction events for field voles. High summer rainfall in 1998 corresponded to large vole populations where mink were absent, populations that then crashed in 1999 and 2000 when below average rains fell during the summer breeding season. Where mink were present however, vole abundance remained more constant between years with no boom-bust apparent. We conclude that weather and predation may drive vole abundance whereas habitat patchiness and metapopulation processes more strongly drive vole distributions. There may also be potential for interaction between these factors: because feral mink prevent rapid vole population growth after good summer rains, and vole dispersal is influenced by population size, feral mink may be changing vole dispersal patterns to disrupt the natural metapopulation dynamic. Hence this indirect impact of mink could lead to gradual erosion of vole populations in the outer archipelago by reducing recolonisation processes.

show abstract

Metapopulation processes and persistence in remnant water vole populations

Cited by 50 publications

References 29 publications

Multi‐scale processes in metapopulations: contributions of stage structure, rescue effect, and correlated extinctions

Multi‐scale processes in metapopulations: contributions of stage structure, rescue effect, and correlated extinctions

Tawny owl reproduction and offspring sex ratios under variable food conditions

Dynamic impacts of feral mink predation on vole metapopulations in the outer archipelago of the Baltic Sea

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About