Title: | Linking spatial patterns of terrestrial herbivore community structure to trophic interactions |
Author(s): | Bubnicki JW; Churski M; Schmidt K; Diserens TA; Kuijper DP; |
Address: | "Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Bialowieza, Poland" |
ISSN/ISBN: | 2050-084X (Electronic) 2050-084X (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Large herbivores influence ecosystem functioning via their effects on vegetation at different spatial scales. It is often overlooked that the spatial distribution of large herbivores results from their responses to interacting top-down and bottom-up ecological gradients that create landscape-scale variation in the structure of the entire community. We studied the complexity of these cascading interactions using high-resolution camera trapping and remote sensing data in the best-preserved European lowland forest, Bialowieza Forest, Poland. We showed that the variation in spatial distribution of an entire community of large herbivores is explained by species-specific responses to both environmental bottom-up and biotic top-down factors in combination with human-induced (cascading) effects. We decomposed the spatial variation in herbivore community structure and identified functionally distinct landscape-scale herbivory regimes ('herbiscapes'), which are predicted to occur in a variety of ecosystems and could be an important mechanism creating spatial variation in herbivory maintaining vegetation heterogeneity" |
Keywords: | *Animal Distribution *Biota Environmental Monitoring Forests *Herbivory Photography Poland Remote Sensing Technology Spatial Analysis carnivores community ecology ecology herbivores spatial patterns trees trophic cascades; |
Notes: | "MedlineBubnicki, Jakub Witold Churski, Marcin Schmidt, Krzysztof Diserens, Tom A Kuijper, Dries Pj eng 2012/07/N/NZ8/02651/National Science Centre, Poland/International 2015/17/B/NZ8/02403/National Science Centre, Poland/International PL-15-500-28/EuroNatur/International 2017/25/B/NZ8/02466/National Science Centre, Poland/International 2012/07/N/NZ8/02651/National Science Center, Poland/International 2015/17/B/NZ8/02403/National Science Center, Poland/International Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2019/10/03 Elife. 2019 Oct 2; 8:e44937. doi: 10.7554/eLife.44937" |