Species with more volatile population dynamics are differentially impacted by weather.
Biol Lett
; 11(2): 20140792, 2015 Feb.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25672998
ABSTRACT
Climatic variation has been invoked as an explanation of population dynamics for a variety of taxa. Much work investigating the link between climatic forcings and population fluctuation uses single-taxon case studies. Here, we conduct comparative analyses of a multi-decadal dataset describing population dynamics of 50 co-occurring butterfly species at 10 sites in Northern California. Specifically, we explore the potential commonality of response to weather among species that encompass a gradient of population dynamics via a hierarchical Bayesian modelling framework. Results of this analysis demonstrate that certain weather conditions impact volatile, or irruptive, species differently as compared with relatively stable species. Notably, precipitation-related variables, including indices of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, have a more pronounced impact on the most volatile species. We hypothesize that these variables influence vegetation resource availability, and thus indirectly influence population dynamics of volatile taxa. As one of the first studies to show a common influence of weather among taxa with similar population dynamics, the results presented here suggest new lines of research in the field of biotic-abiotic interactions.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Tempo (Meteorologia)
/
Borboletas
/
Adaptação Fisiológica
/
Dinâmica Populacional
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Biol Lett
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2015
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos