scholarly journals Parasites that change predator or prey behaviour can have keystone effects on community composition

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 20130879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie J. Hatcher ◽  
Jaimie T. A. Dick ◽  
Alison M. Dunn

Parasites play pivotal roles in structuring communities, often via indirect interactions with non-host species. These effects can be density-mediated (through mortality) or trait-mediated (behavioural, physiological and developmental), and may be crucial to population interactions, including biological invasions. For instance, parasitism can alter intraguild predation (IGP) between native and invasive crustaceans, reversing invasion outcomes. Here, we use mathematical models to examine how parasite-induced trait changes influence the population dynamics of hosts that interact via IGP. We show that trait-mediated indirect interactions impart keystone effects, promoting or inhibiting host coexistence. Parasites can thus have strong ecological impacts, even if they have negligible virulence, underscoring the need to consider trait-mediated effects when predicting effects of parasites on community structure in general and biological invasions in particular.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Bae ◽  
In-Young Ahn ◽  
Jinsoon Park ◽  
Sung Joon Song ◽  
Junsung Noh ◽  
...  

AbstractGlacier retreat is a major long-standing global issue; however, the ecological impacts of such retreats on marine organisms remain unanswered. Here, we examined changes to the polar benthic community structure of “diatoms” under current global warming in a recently retreated glacial area of Marian Cove, Antarctica. The environments and spatiotemporal assemblages of benthic diatoms surveyed in 2018–2019 significantly varied between the intertidal (tidal height of 2.5 m) and subtidal zone (10 and 30 m). A distinct floral distribution along the cove (~ 4.5 km) was characterized by the adaptive strategy of species present, with chain-forming species predominating near the glacier. The predominant chain-forming diatoms, such as Fragilaria striatula and Paralia sp., are widely distributed in the innermost cove over years, indicating sensitive responses of benthic species to the fast-evolving polar environment. The site-specific and substrate-dependent distributions of certain indicator species (e.g., F. striatula, Navicula glaciei, Cocconeis cf. pinnata) generally reflected such shifts in the benthic community. Our review revealed that the inner glacier region reflected trophic association, featured with higher diversity, abundance, and biomass of benthic diatoms and macrofauna. Overall, the polar benthic community shift observed along the cove generally represented changing environmental conditions, (in)directly linked to ice-melting due to the recent glacier retreat.


Author(s):  
Anna Clara Balbina Silva ◽  
Afonso Pelli

Compreender os mecanismos que regulam a dinâmica das populações espacialmente estruturadas é um desafio crítico para os ecólogos e gestores de conservação. A dinâmica de populações é um ramo da ecologia que estuda as populações como sistema em atividades, relacionando as influências ambientais com a distribuição e abundância dos indivíduos e suas interações com o ambiente. O presente artigo é uma revisão bibliográfica, com o objetivo de identificar produções científicas relevantes sobre dinâmica populacional. Para isso, foram utilizados periódicos revisados por pares, na base de Periódicos Capes. A pesquisa foi realizada em junho de 2019, utilizando-se as palavras-chave para título contendo: "population dynamics" e no assunto “ecology”, a partir de 2014, quando o texto completo estava disponível. Foram considerados como critérios de exclusão os artigos publicados antes de 2014. Após a leitura dos títulos dos artigos, foram selecionados 34 artigos que foram lidos na íntegra. Em livros disponíveis no acervo da biblioteca da Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro, foram selecionados quatro livros no tema dinâmica populacional. O referencial teórico aborda os aspectos da dinâmica de populações, tabela de vida, formas de crescimento e interações populacionais. Ressalta-se a necessidade de novos estudos que ainda possuem lacunas, que venha complementar e contribuir para o conhecimento de organismos que faltam ou ainda não possuem registros de estudos. Palavras-chave: Taxas de Natalidade e Mortalidade. Atributos Populacionais. Dispersão. AbstractUnderstanding the mechanisms that regulate the dynamics of spatially structured populations is a critical challenge for ecologists and conservation managers. Population dynamics is a branch of ecology that studies populations as a system in activities, relating environmental influences to the individuals’ distribution and abundance and their interactions with the environment. This article is a bibliographic review, aiming to identify relevant scientific productions about population dynamics. Thus. peer-reviewed journals were used in the Capes Periodicals base, the research was conducted in June 2019, using the keywords for title containing "population dynamics" and in the subject "ecology", from 2014, when the full text was available. Exclusion criteria were: articles published before 2014, after reading the article titles, 34 articles were selected that met the initially proposed criteria and were read in full. In books available in the library collection of the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro, with a search for the dynamic population theme, 4 books were used. The theoretical framework addresses the aspects of population dynamics, life table, forms of growth and population interactions. It is emphasized  the need for further studies that still have gaps, which will complement and contribute to the knowledge of organisms that are missing or do not have study records. Keywords: Birth and Mortality Rates. Population Attributes. Dispersion.


PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e2930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Temir A. Britayev ◽  
Elena Mekhova ◽  
Yury Deart ◽  
Daniel Martin

To assess whether closely related host species harbour similar symbiotic communities, we studied two polychaetes,Chaetopterussp. (n = 11) andChaetopteruscf.appendiculatus(n = 83) living in soft sediments of Nhatrang Bay (South China Sea, Vietnam). The former harboured the porcellanid crabsPolyonyxcf.heokandPolyonyxsp., the pinnotherid crabTetriassp. and the tergipedid nudibranchPhestillasp. The latter harboured the polynoid polychaeteOphthalmonoe pettiboneae, the carapid fishOnuxodon fowleriand the porcellanid crabEulenaios cometes, all of which, exceptO. fowleri, seemed to be specialized symbionts. The species richness and mean intensity of the symbionts were higher inChaetopterussp. than inC.cf.appendiculatus(1.8 and 1.02 species and 3.0 and 1.05 individuals per host respectively). We suggest that the lower density ofChaetopterussp. may explain the higher number of associated symbionts observed, as well as the 100% prevalence (69.5% inC.cf.appenciculatus). MostChaetopterussp. harboured two symbiotic species, which was extremely rare inC.cf.appendiculatus, suggesting lower interspecific interactions in the former. The crab and nudibranch symbionts ofChaetopterussp. often shared a host and lived in pairs, thus partitioning resources. This led to the species coexisting in the tubes ofChaetopterussp., establishing a tightly packed community, indicating high species richness and mean intensity, together with a low species dominance. In contrast, the aggressive, strictly territorial species associated withC.cf.appendiculatusestablished a symbiotic community strongly dominated by single species and, thus, low species richness and mean intensity. Therefore, we suggest that interspecific interactions are determining species richness, intensity and dominance, while intraspecific interactions are influencing only intensity and abundance. It is possible that species composition may have influenced the differences in community structure observed. We hypothesize that both host species could originally be allopatric. The evolutionary specialization of the symbiotic communities would occur in separated geographical areas, while the posterior disappearance of the existing geographical barriers would lead to the overlapped distribution.


Author(s):  
N. Bellomo ◽  
F. Brezzi ◽  
M. A. J. Chaplain

This editorial paper presents the papers published in a special issue devoted to the modeling and simulation of mutating virus pandemics in a globally connected world. The presentation is proposed in three parts. First, motivations and objectives are presented according to the idea that mathematical models should go beyond deterministic population dynamics by considering the multiscale, heterogeneous features of the complex system under consideration. Subsequently, the contents of the papers in this issue are presented referring to the aforementioned complexity features. Finally, a critical analysis of the overall contents of the issue is proposed, with the aim of providing a forward look to research perspectives.


Author(s):  
Kevin S. McCann

This chapter considers four-species modules and the role of generalism (effectively a three-species module with a consumer feeding on two resources). It first examines how generalists affect the dynamics of food webs by focusing on a set of modules that contrast generalist consumer dynamics relative to the specialist case. It then discusses organismal trade-offs that play a role in governing the diamond food web module and the intraguild predation module, arguing that such tradeoffs influence the flux of matter, the organization of interaction strengths, and ultimately the stability of communities. The chapter also reviews empirical evidence showing that apparent competition and the diamond module with and without intraguild predation are ubiquitous, and that weak interactions in simple modules seem to promote less variable population dynamics.


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