Non‐consumptive effects of a top‐predator decrease the strength of the trophic cascade in a four‐level terrestrial food web

Bestion, Elvire; Cucherousset, Julien; Teyssier, Aimeric; Côté, Julien

doi:10.1111/oik.02196

Cited by 26 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Each year, populations were composed of 11 ± 1 adult females, 6 ± 1 adult males, 9 ± 2 yearlings and 38 ± 4 juveniles. These population densities conform with local densities observed in natural populations [ 37 , 79 ] and in other seminatural experiments on common lizards [ 68 , 71 , 77 , 80 – 82 ]. There was no difference between treatments in juvenile birthdate, in individual snout–vent length, or mass at release ( p > 0.36 for all).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 87%

Live Fast, Die Young: Experimental Evidence of Population Extinction Risk due to Climate Change

et al. 2015

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Evidence has accumulated in recent decades on the drastic impact of climate change on biodiversity. Warming temperatures have induced changes in species physiology, phenology, and have decreased body size. Such modifications can impact population dynamics and could lead to changes in life cycle and demography. More specifically, conceptual frameworks predict that global warming will severely threaten tropical ectotherms while temperate ectotherms should resist or even benefit from higher temperatures. However, experimental studies measuring the impacts of future warming trends on temperate ectotherms' life cycle and population persistence are lacking. Here we investigate the impacts of future climates on a model vertebrate ectotherm species using a large-scale warming experiment. We manipulated climatic conditions in 18 seminatural populations over two years to obtain a present climate treatment and a warm climate treatment matching IPCC predictions for future climate. Warmer temperatures caused a faster body growth, an earlier reproductive onset, and an increased voltinism, leading to a highly accelerated life cycle but also to a decrease in adult survival. A matrix population model predicts that warm climate populations in our experiment should go extinct in around 20 y. Comparing our experimental climatic conditions to conditions encountered by populations across Europe, we suggest that warming climates should threaten a significant number of populations at the southern range of the distribution. Our findings stress the importance of experimental approaches on the entire life cycle to more accurately predict population and species persistence in future climates.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 87%

Live Fast, Die Young: Experimental Evidence of Population Extinction Risk due to Climate Change

et al. 2015

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“…This design allowed controlling for a family effect as siblings are not independent in terms of dispersal. Each population included 7 AE 1 adult males, 12 AE 1 adult females, 7 AE 2 yearlings and 35 AE 3 juveniles, conforming with local densities in natural populations (Massot et al 1992;Bestion et al 2015). There were no differences between treatments in juvenile birthdate, snoutvent length, mass and preferred temperature at release (P > 0.7 for all).…”

Section: Release and Dispersal Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…; Bestion et al . ). There were no differences between treatments in juvenile birthdate, snout‐vent length, mass and preferred temperature at release ( P > 0.7 for all).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Dispersal response to climate change: scaling down to intraspecific variation

2015

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Range shift, a widespread response to climate change, will depend on species abilities to withstand warmer climates. However, these abilities may vary within species and such intraspecific variation can strongly impact species responses to climate change. Facing warmer climates, individuals should disperse according to their thermal optimum with consequences for species range shifts. Here, we studied individual dispersal of a reptile in response to climate warming and preferred temperature using a semi-natural warming experiment. Individuals with low preferred temperatures dispersed more from warmer semi-natural habitats, whereas individuals with higher preferred temperatures dispersed more from cooler habitats. These dispersal decisions partly matched phenotype-dependent survival rates in the different thermal habitats, suggesting adaptive dispersal decisions. This process should result into a spatial segregation of thermal phenotypes along species moving ranges which should facilitate local adaptation to warming climates. We therefore call for range shift models including intraspecific variation in thermal phenotype and dispersal decision.

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“…However, it appears that all ecological parameters are more strongly influenced by genetic background, directly or environmentally-mediated, than by the sole effect of developmental thermal conditions. In aquatic ecosystems, predators often have strong top-down impacts by directly controlling prey species and indirectly primary production and nutrient cycling (Bestion, Cucherousset, Teyssier, & Cote, 2015;Shurin et al, 2002). This may explain why (heritable) trait variation in predators such as C. erythrea has substantial consequences on several ecosystem parameters (see also El-Sabaawi et al, 2015;Harmon et al, 2009;Raffard et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic and environmental contributions to the impact of a range‐expanding predator on aquatic ecosystems

Therry

Côté

Finn

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Global change is altering biodiversity locally and globally and subsequently affecting the dynamics of communities and ecosystems. Biodiversity can be impacted both at the interspecific (i.e., species composition of communities) and at the intraspecific (evolutionary modification of phenotypic traits through selection or plasticity) levels. Changes in intraspecific diversity have been demonstrated to generate evolutionary feedbacks acting on ecological dynamics. Quantifying the role of intraspecific trait variation, global change and their interactions on ecological dynamics is of utmost importance. Here, we used the range‐expanding dragonfly Crocothemis erythraea as a model species to test the relative effects of intraspecific trait variation in larvae and thermal conditions on the dynamics of freshwater community and ecosystem functioning. Using experimental mesocosms, we manipulated intraspecific trait variation arising from genetic (G), early developmental environment (EE) and late developmental environment (EL) contributions in a full factorial design. We showed that intraspecific trait variation arising from genetic effects has the strongest consequences on community and ecosystem dynamics relative to trait variation driven by the thermal environment (EE and EL). Importantly, the ecological effects of trait variation due to genetic effects were partly modulated by thermal conditions (G × EL, and to a lesser extent G × EE interactions) and varied among ecological response variables. For instance, the strongest G × EL effects were observed on primary productivity and zooplankton dynamics. Trait variation driven by plasticity related to early or late developmental environments has an overall weak effect on ecological dynamics. Intraspecific trait variation induced by genetic effects can affect ecological dynamics (evo‐to‐eco dynamics) more strongly than variation induced by the developmental environment. However, they likely interact to modulate the structure of communities and the functioning of ecosystems, highlighting the strong context (environmental) dependency of evo‐to‐eco dynamics.

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Non‐consumptive effects of a top‐predator decrease the strength of the trophic cascade in a four‐level terrestrial food web

Cited by 26 publications

References 51 publications

Live Fast, Die Young: Experimental Evidence of Population Extinction Risk due to Climate Change

Live Fast, Die Young: Experimental Evidence of Population Extinction Risk due to Climate Change

Dispersal response to climate change: scaling down to intraspecific variation

Genetic and environmental contributions to the impact of a range‐expanding predator on aquatic ecosystems

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