EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021
(Virtually the same conference, without elevators, airplane tickets, or hotel room keys)
5/26/2021 | 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM | PREDATION MEDIATES NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF HABITAT SHIFTS IN POND ECOSYSTEMS | Virtual Platform
PREDATION MEDIATES NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF HABITAT SHIFTS IN POND ECOSYSTEMS
Climate change is altering local environmental gradients and rearranging ecological communities. For example, species inhabiting temporary ponds may be forced into more permanent basins as temporary pond drying outpaces species’ development rates. However, the consequences of these localized habitat shifts for resident and range-shifting species are largely unknown. We used an in-situ field experiment to understand how competition and predation influence the demographic variables of two species of limnephilid caddisflies experiencing niche overlap as the temporary pond species is forced to use semi-permanent ponds more regularly. We found that competition between these two species is strong with significant reductions in survival for the resident species. Moreover, we found that competition greatly increased the variation in survival for the shifting species indicating that this interaction introduces instability into its population dynamics. However, we also found that Dytiscus beetle larva predators balance out these negative consequences by reducing both the strength of competition and the variation in survival for the shifting species. These results demonstrate the importance for maintaining diverse habitats with healthy populations of higher order predators to increase resilience against climate-change induced alterations to freshwater communities.
- Ecological dynamics
- Movement
- Habitat
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Presenters/Authors
Isaac Shepard
(), University of Maine, isaac.shepard@maine.edu;
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Scott Wissinger
(), Allegheny College, swissing@allegheny.edu;
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Zach Wood
(), University of Maine, zachary.t.wood@maine.edu;
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Hamish Greig
(), University of Maine, hamish.greig@maine.edu;
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