Functional Responses of Coyotes and Lynx to the Snowshoe Hare Cycle

O’Donoghue, Mark; Boutin, Stan; Krebs, Charles J.; Zuleta, Gustavo A.; Murray, Dennis L.; Hofer, Elizabeth J.

doi:10.2307/176736

Cited by 152 publications

(144 citation statements)

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“…Although interaction strength in some communities or ecological networks has been widely investigated [37,38], estimations of nonlinear interaction strength at network level are still rare [37,39,40], particularly for non-monotonous interactions, which often need long-term dynamic community data (but see [29,36,41,42]). At present, it is still not clear how large the proportion of non-monotonous interactions is in real ecological networks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specific non-monotonous interactions increase persistence of ecological networks

Yan

Zhang

2014

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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The relationship between stability and biodiversity has long been debated in ecology due to opposing empirical observations and theoretical predictions. Species interaction strength is often assumed to be monotonically related to population density, but the effects on stability of ecological networks of non-monotonous interactions that change signs have not been investigated previously. We demonstrate that for four kinds of non-monotonous interactions, shifting signs to negative or neutral interactions at high population density increases persistence (a measure of stability) of ecological networks, while for the other two kinds of non-monotonous interactions shifting signs to positive interactions at high population density decreases persistence of networks. Our results reveal a novel mechanism of network stabilization caused by specific non-monotonous interaction types through either increasing stable equilibrium points or reducing unstable equilibrium points (or both). These specific non-monotonous interactions may be important in maintaining stable and complex ecological networks, as well as other networks such as genes, neurons, the internet and human societies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specific non-monotonous interactions increase persistence of ecological networks

Yan

Zhang

2014

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…For example, the lynx switches to red squirrel when the snowshoe hare is scarce [25]. Even if there is only one prey type, the degree of predation or the quality (including palatability) of prey is likely to vary with its stage structure, which is likely to affect the predator's preference for different stage-structured prey.…”

Section: T a T X T B T X T D T X T P T X T Y T X T C T X T F T X T mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another reason is that stage-structured ecological models are much simpler than the models governed by partial differential equations but they can exhibit phenomena similar to those of partial differential equations and many important physiological parameters can be incorporated [24]. The other reason is that the biological dynamics has long been and will continue to be one of the dominant themes in both ecology and mathematical ecology due to its universal existence and importance [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permanence, Periodicity and Extinction of a Delayed Biological System with Stage-Structured Preference for Predator

Zhang¹,

Zhang²

2016

JAMP

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This study considers a delayed biological system of predator-prey interactions where the predator has stage-structured preference. It is assumed that the prey population has two stages: immature and mature. The predator population has different preference for the stage-structured prey. This type of behavior has been reported in Asecodes hispinarum and Microplitis mediator. By some lemmas and methods of delay differential equation, the conditions for the permanence, existence of positive periodic solution and extinction of the system are obtained. Numerical simulations are presented that illustrate the analytical results as well as demonstrate certain biological phenomena. In particular, overcrowding of the predator does not affect the persistence of the system, but our numerical simulations suggest that overcrowding reduces the density of the predator. Under the assumption that immature prey is easier to capture, our simulations suggest that the predator's preference for immature prey increases the predator density.

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“…The coyote is a more generalized feeder compared to lynx (e.g., Litvaitis andHarrison 1989, O'Donoghue et al 1998), meaning that it may compete with lynx over the latter species' preferred prey (snowshoe hare, Lepus americanus Erxleben). For example, O'Donoghue et al (1997) found that the numerical response of coyote and lynx to a snowshoe hare cycle in southwest Yukon were similar, and coyotes and lynx are the two most important mammalian predators of snowshoe hares throughout much of the boreal forest (O'Donoghue et al 1998). Furthermore, coyotes do kill lynx, and there is speculation that coyotes could influence lynx more so than does the availability of snowshoe hares (Buskirk et al 2000, Bayne et al 2008.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of coyote on Canada lynx populations assessed at two different spatial scales

et al. 2015

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Previous studies have suggested that the attenuation of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) cyclic dynamics with decreasing latitude may be the consequence of a reduced specialization on the lynx's primary prey, snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus). However, intraguild competitive interactions remain largely unexplored in situations where the temporal dynamics of food resources is pronounced, and lynx populations in the south of their distribution may be negatively affected by interspecific competition with other carnivores. In this paper, we used spectral analysis of fur harvest data collected at the state (US) and province (Canada) level to explore the spatial gradient of cyclic dynamics in lynx. Although some patterns were consistent with the 'diet specialization' hypothesis, we found that temporal variance of cycling propensity peaked at mid-latitudes, where transient, non-cyclic periods, coexisted with regular 10-year cycles. In these mid-latitude zones, non-cyclic periods did not coincide with loss of snowshoe hare cycling as demonstrated by historical records, and were not more frequent in recent decades as could be expected under a 'climatic forcing' scenario. Instead, we show that non-cyclic periods tended to coincide with periods of high coyote (Canis latrans) abundance and periods when coyotes apparently tracked snowshoe hare abundance as suggested by significant 10-year cycles lagging one or two years behind hare peaks. We used landscape-scale (trapline) fur harvest returns from five provinces in Canada to further probe the importance of interspecific competition in Canada lynx population dynamics. Accounting for coyote distribution and abundance did not bring additional explanatory and predictive power to models based solely on environmental and autecological predictors, suggesting that competition with coyote is not a force driving population abundance and cyclicity among lynx. We discuss the possible factors behind the apparent lack of consistency across spatial scales and recommend that further studies examine species interactions at a smaller (local) scale.Abbreviations: GLM-Generalized Linear Model, IAD-N-inflation-adjusted + detrended harvest number, IA-N-inflation-adjusted harvest number, HPD-Highest Posterior Density, RLRT-Restricted Loglikelihood Ratio Test.

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Functional Responses of Coyotes and Lynx to the Snowshoe Hare Cycle

Cited by 152 publications

References 0 publications

Specific non-monotonous interactions increase persistence of ecological networks

Specific non-monotonous interactions increase persistence of ecological networks

Permanence, Periodicity and Extinction of a Delayed Biological System with Stage-Structured Preference for Predator

The influence of coyote on Canada lynx populations assessed at two different spatial scales

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