Small mammal community structure and dynamics in aridlands: overall patterns and contrasts with Southern Hemispheric systems

Meserve, Peter L.; Dickman, Chris R.; Kelt, Douglas A.

doi:10.1644/11-mamm-s-186.1

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…, Meserve et al. ), although most of these studies were carried out at local sites rather than at the regional scale that we surveyed here. Some work has described rain‐driven population fluctuations in insectivorous desert mammals, although the association with rainfall is often more tenuous or more distant in this group than in rodents (Chung‐MacCoubrey et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The predatory D. blythi showed evidence of spatial population synchrony, whereas the smaller S. youngsoni and N. ridei had asynchronous dynamics. Studies in other world deserts have also described population fluctuations of rodents in response to rain-driven pulses of productivity (e.g., Shenbrot et al 2010, Thibault et al 2010, Meserve et al 2011, although most of these studies were carried out at local sites rather than at the regional scale that we surveyed here. Some work has described rain-driven population fluctuations in insectivorous desert mammals, although the association with rainfall is often more tenuous or more distant in this group than in rodents (Chung-MacCoubrey et al 2009, Thibault et al 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Population dynamics of desert mammals: similarities and contrasts within a multispecies assemblage

et al. 2016

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Understanding the temporal and spatial dynamics of species populations remains a key focus of population biology, providing vital insight into the drivers that influence demography and into sub‐populations that are vulnerable to extinction. Across regional landscapes, spatially separated sub‐populations may fluctuate in synchrony, or exhibit sub‐structuring due to subtle differences in local intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Using a long‐term data set (17–22 yr) obtained from a large (8000 km2) study region in arid central Australia, we tested firstly for regional synchrony in annual rainfall and the dynamics of five small mammal species across nine widely separated sites. Using Moran's theorem, we predicted that the spatial correlation between the regional sub‐populations of these species would equal that between local density‐independent conditions (annual rainfall). For species that showed synchronous spatial dynamics, we then used multivariate state‐space (MARSS) models to predict that regional rainfall would be positively associated with their populations, whereas species with asynchronous sub‐populations would be influenced largely by other factors. For these latter species, we used MARSS models to test four hypotheses. These were that sub‐population structures: (1) were asynchronous and governed by local site‐specific factors, (2) differed between oasis and non‐oasis sites, (3) differed between burnt and unburnt sites, and (4) differed between three sub‐regions with different rainfall gradients. We found that the spatial population dynamics of our study small mammals differed between and within families. Two species of insectivorous dasyurid marsupials showed asynchronous dynamics, which most likely tracked local conditions, whereas a larger carnivorous marsupial and two species of rodents had strongly synchronous dynamics. These latter species exhibited similar spatial correlations to local and regional rainfall events, providing evidence that the Moran effect operates for some, but not all, species in this arid system. Our results suggest that small mammal populations do not respond in similar ways to shared environmental drivers in arid regions, and hence will vary in their responses to climate change. As arid lands globally are predicted to face climatic shifts that will exacerbate rainfall‐drought cycles, we suggest that future work focuses on exploring these responses at different spatial scales across multiple dryland taxa.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population dynamics of desert mammals: similarities and contrasts within a multispecies assemblage

et al. 2016

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“…Although the fast response of ephemeral plants tracks rainy pulses very strongly, more persistent ecological changes may result from the response of perennial plants (Holmgren et al 2001, 2006b). Overall, successful recruitment and maintenance of perennial plant cover after wet pulses depends on a diversity of local conditions, including the interplay between top‐down controls (i.e., grazing pressure on plants, the effects of predators on herbivores; De La Maza et al 2009, Previtali et al 2009, 2010, Letnic and Dickman 2010, Meserve et al 2011a), disturbances (e.g., fire; Bird et al 2016), and functional diversity of plant species (Holmgren et al 2006a, León et al 2011, Murphy and Bowman 2012). Both abundance and cover of perennial plants may also depend on the response of ephemeral plants and their consumers after a rainy pulse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species interactions across trophic levels mediate rainfall effects on dryland vegetation dynamics

Farías

Armas

Gaxiola

et al. 2021

Ecological Monographs

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Arid ecosystems are strongly limited by water availability, and precipitation plays a major role in the dynamics of all species in arid regions, as well as the ecosystem processes that occur there. However, understanding how biotic interactions mediate long-term responses of dryland ecosystems to rainfall remains very fragmented. We report on a unique large-scale field experiment spanning 25 yr and three trophic levels (plants, small mammal herbivores, predators) in a dryland ecosystem in the northern Chilean Mediterranean Region where we assessed how biotic interactions influence the long-term plant community responses to precipitation. As the most persistent ecological changes in dryland systems may result from changes in the structure, cover, and composition of the perennial vegetation, we emphasized the interplay between bottom-up and top-down controls of perennial plants in our analyses. Rainfall was the primary factor affecting the dynamics of, and interactions among, plants and small mammals. Ephemeral plant cover dynamics closely tracked short-term annual rainfall, but seemed unaffected by top-down controls (herbivory). In contrast, the response of the perennial plant cover to precipitation was mediated by (1) a complex interplay between subtle top-down (herbivory) controls that become more apparent in the long-term, (2) competition with ephemeral plants during wet years, and (3) an indirect effect of predators on subdominant shrubs and perennial herbs. This long-term field experiment highlights how climate-induced responses of arid perennial vegetation are influenced by interactions across trophic levels and temporal scales. In the face of global change, understanding how multi-trophic controls mediate dryland vegetation responses to climate is essential to properly managing the conservation of biodiversity in arid systems.

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“…Deserts, and desert rodents in particular, provide a model system for studying parallel and convergent evolution. Deserts around the world form at least five evolutionarily independent laboratories of adaptation, ecology, and evolution [ 1 – 6 ]. Shared environmental conditions of temperature, precipitation, and aridity force evolutionary processes in a manner that results in similar adaptations in species that fill similar ecological roles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent behavior amid convergent evolution: A case of four desert rodents learning to respond to known and novel vipers

et al. 2018

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Desert communities world-wide are used as natural laboratories for the study of convergent evolution, yet inferences drawn from such studies are necessarily indirect. Here, we brought desert organisms together (rodents and vipers) from two deserts (Mojave and Negev). Both predators and prey in the Mojave have adaptations that give them competitive advantage compared to their middle-eastern counterparts. Heteromyid rodents of the Mojave, kangaroo rats and pocket mice, have fur-lined cheek pouches that allow them to carry larger loads of seeds under predation risk compared to gerbilline rodents of the Negev Deserts. Sidewinder rattlesnakes have heat-sensing pits, allowing them to hunt better on moonless nights when their Negev sidewinding counterpart, the Saharan horned vipers, are visually impaired. In behavioral-assays, we used giving-up density (GUD) to gauge how each species of rodent perceived risk posed by known and novel snakes. We repeated this for the same set of rodents at first encounter and again two months later following intensive “natural” exposure to both snake species. Pre-exposure, all rodents identified their evolutionarily familiar snake as a greater risk than the novel one. However, post-exposure all identified the heat-sensing sidewinder rattlesnake as a greater risk. The heteromyids were more likely to avoid encounters with, and discern the behavioral difference among, snakes than their gerbilline counterparts.

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Small mammal community structure and dynamics in aridlands: overall patterns and contrasts with Southern Hemispheric systems

Cited by 9 publications

References 10 publications

Population dynamics of desert mammals: similarities and contrasts within a multispecies assemblage

Population dynamics of desert mammals: similarities and contrasts within a multispecies assemblage

Species interactions across trophic levels mediate rainfall effects on dryland vegetation dynamics

Divergent behavior amid convergent evolution: A case of four desert rodents learning to respond to known and novel vipers

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