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Disturbed Patches (disturbed + patch)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Life Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

Maintaining diversity through intermediate disturbances: evidence from rodents colonizing rehabilitating coastal dunes

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2000
S. M. Ferreira
Abstract Rodents inhabit the coastal dune forests of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Here habitat rehabilitation following mining of dunes has resulted in coastal dune forest succession similar to that recorded in nonmined forests. We investigated the colonization of rehabilitating stands and evaluate the role of disturbance in maintaining rodent diversity. A trapping programme was established between July 1993 and February 1995 during which rodent colonization, local extinction and species richness were recorded for rehabilitating stands of different ages. Trends in these variables were closely associated with one of three possible outcomes for a disturbed patch over time, with no intervening disturbances following the initial disturbance. Colonization was initially high which led to an increase in species richness. Extinction was lower than colonization, but became higher when the habitat was 3 years old, which led to a decline in richness. We extrapolate this result assuming negligibly small disturbances after the initiation of rehabilitation and suggest that intermediate levels of disturbance maintain rodent species richness in coastal dune forests. Furthermore, our results illustrated species turnover, a prediction of the recorded outcome, with young stands dominated by Mastomys natalensis and older stands by Saccostomus campestris or Aethomys chrysophilus. Résumé Il y a des rongeurs dans les forêts des dunes côtières du KwaZulu-Natal, en Afrique du Sud. Là, la réhabilitation de l'habitat après l'exploitation minière des dunes a abouti à une succession de forêts côtières des dunes semblable à celle qui est observée dans les forêts non exploitées. Nous avons étudié la colonisation des endroits en voie de réhabilitation et évalué le rôle des perturbations dans le maintien de la diversité des rongeurs. On a mis au point un programme de piégeage entre juillet 1993 et février 1995, pendant lequel on a noté la colonisation par les rongeurs, l'extinction locale et la richesse en espèces pour les endroits à différents stades de réhabilitation. Les tendances pour ces variables étaient étroitement associées à l'un des trois résultats possibles que peut conna,^tre avec le temps un endroit qui a été perturbé, lorsque aucune autre perturbation ne suit la première. La colonisation a d'abord été forte, ce qui a causé un enrichissement des espèces. Les extinctions étaient moins fréquentes que les colonisations, mais elles ont augmenté lorsque le nouvel habitat a atteint l'âge de trois ans, ce qui a entra,^né une perte de richesse en espèces. Nous extrapolons ce résultant en supposant que ce sont de petites perturbations négligeables après le démarrage de la réhabilitation et nous suggérons que des taux moyens de perturbation maintiennent la richesse spécifique des rongeurs dans les forêts des dunes côtières. De plus, nos résultats illustrent une rotation des espèces, une prédiction des résultats rapportés, avec les endroits les plus jeunes dominés par Mastomys natalensis et les plus anciens par Saccostomus campestris et Aethomys chrysophilus. [source]

Plant community properties predict vegetation resilience to herbivore disturbance in the Arctic

JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2010
James D. M. Speed
Summary 1.,Understanding the impact of disturbance on vegetation and the resilience of plant communities to disturbance is imperative to ecological theory and environmental management. In this study predictors of community resilience to a simulated natural disturbance are investigated. Responses to disturbance are examined at the community, plant functional type and species level. 2.,Field experiments were set up in seven tundra plant communities, simulating disturbance based on the impact of grubbing by an increasing herbivore population of pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus). The short-term resilience of communities was assessed by comparing community dissimilarity between control plots and plots subject to three disturbance intensities based on the foraging impact of these geese. Potential for long-term recovery was evaluated across different disturbance patch sizes. 3.,Resilience to disturbance varied between communities; those with higher moss cover and higher soil moisture, such as wetlands and mires, were most resilient to disturbance. 4.,The wetter communities demonstrated greater long-term recovery potential following disturbance. In wetland communities, vegetative recovery of vascular plants and moss was greater in smaller disturbed patches and at the edges of patches. 5.,The response of vegetation to disturbance varied with intensity of disturbance, plant community and plant species. The use of functional type classifications only partially explained the variation in species responses to disturbance across communities, thus their use in predicting community changes was limited. 6.,Synthesis. The impact of disturbance is shown to be plant-community specific and related to the initial abiotic and biotic properties of the community. By showing that resilience is partly predictable, the identification of disturbance-susceptible communities is possible, which is of relevance for ecosystem management. [source]

Disturbance and habitat use: is edge more important than area?

OIKOS, Issue 1 2006
Alissa E. Moenting
In their efforts to maximize fitness while reducing the probability of dying, animals must decide which patches to forage in, when to forage, and how long to forage in each patch. Each decision will be modified by habitat and habitat disturbance. We evaluate the effects of habitat disturbance on foraging behaviour by imagining an initially homogeneous environment that is altered to create patches of different sizes. Disturbance increases predation risk, or otherwise alters patch profitability. Foragers can respond by changing their pattern of foraging, or by reducing their activity. We develop predictions for each scenario. We then test the predictions with data on the abundance and foraging activity of meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) in and around four sizes of circular disturbed patches. We created the patches by mowing vegetation in an abandoned hay field in northern Ontario, Canada. The treatments had no effect on vole density, and there was no consistent relationship between vole activity and distance from the edge of disturbed patches. Incidental predation of sunflower seeds, our measure of vole foraging behaviour, declined linearly with increasing patch circumference (edge). Seed consumption by meadow voles, and predation by voles on lower food levels, correlates with the length of edge habitat rather than with the area disturbed. Adaptive behaviour can thereby explain edge effects that, under current priorities emphasizing area, would appear at odds with conservation ecology. [source]