期刊
JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY
卷 30, 期 -, 页码 1-11出版社
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0266467413000709
关键词
density-mediated; herbivory; insectivory; La Selva Biological Station; non-trophic effects; Pecari tajacu; trait-mediated; trophic cascade; trophic downgrading; ungulates
类别
资金
- Organization for Tropical Studies Research Fellowship
- National Science Foundation (NSF) Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant [DEB-1010952]
- NSF grant [DEB-071743]
- LA Board of Regents Graduate Fellowship from Tulane University
Insectivorous birds and bats often protect plants through density-and trait-mediated cascades, but the degree to which insectivores reduce herbivorous arthropods and leaf damage varies among systems. Top-down interaction strength may be influenced by the biotic and abiotic context, including the presence of vegetation-disturbing animals. We tested two hypotheses: (1) insectivorous birds and bats initiate trophic cascades in tropical rain-forest understorey; and (2) the native, omnivorous collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) negates these cascades via non-trophic effects. We studied the top-down effects of birds and bats on understorey plants in north-eastern Costa Rica using 60 netted exclosures within and outside existing peccary exclosures. Excluding birds and bats increased total arthropod densities by half, both with and without peccaries. Bird/bat exclosures increased Diptera density by 28% and leaf damage by 24% without peccaries, consistent with a trophic cascade. However, bird/bat exclosures decreased Diptera density by 32% and leaf damage by 34% with peccaries, a negation of the trophic cascade. Excluding peccaries increased leaf damage by 43% on plants without birds and bats. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to demonstrate that the non-trophic activity of an omnivorous ungulate can reverse a trophic cascade.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据