Examining intraspecific multiple predator effects across shifting predator sex ratios:
- Authors: Cuthbert, Ross N , Dalu, Tatenda , Wasserman, Ryan J , Weyl, Olaf L F , Froneman, P William , Callaghan, Amanda , Dick, Jaimie T A
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150119 , vital:38941 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2020.03.002
- Description: Predator-predator interactions, or “multiple predator effects” (MPEs), are pervasive in the structuring of communities and complicate predictive quantifications of ecosystem dynamics. The nature of MPEs is also context-dependent, manifesting differently among species, prey densities and habitat structures. However, there has hitherto been a lack of consideration for the implications of intraspecific demographic variation within populations for the strength of MPEs. The present study extends MPE concepts to examine intraspecific interactions among male and female predators across differences in prey densities using a functional response approach. Focusing on a copepod-mosquito model predator-prey system, interaction strengths of different sex ratio pairs of Lovenula raynerae were quantified towards larval Culex pipiens complex prey, with observations compared to both additive and substitutive model predictions.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Influence of intra-and interspecific variation in predator–prey body size ratios on trophic interaction strengths:
- Authors: Cuthbert, Ross N , Wasserman, Ryan J , Dalu, Tatenda , Kaiser, Horst , Weyl, Olaf L F , Dick, Jaimie T A , Sentis, Arnaud , McCoy, Michael W , Alexander, Mhairi E
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149358 , vital:38839 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1002/ece3.6332
- Description: Predation is a pervasive force that structures food webs and directly influences ecosystem functioning. The relative body sizes of predators and prey may be an important determinant of interaction strengths. However, studies quantifying the combined influence of intra‐ and interspecific variation in predator–prey body size ratios are lacking. We use a comparative functional response approach to examine interaction strengths between three size classes of invasive bluegill and largemouth bass toward three scaled size classes of their tilapia prey. We then quantify the influence of intra‐ and interspecific predator–prey body mass ratios on the scaling of attack rates and handling times.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Playing with food: Detection of prey injury cues stimulates increased functional foraging traits in Xenopus laevis
- Authors: South, Josie , Botha, Taryn L , Wolmarans, Nico J , Wepener, Victor , Weyl, Olaf L F
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/443386 , vital:74114 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-1d75666653
- Description: Animal behavioural traits determine trophic interaction strength, which in turn structures ecological communities. Behavioural responses to prey cues can inform upon how prey are perceived and detected and therefore determine whether certain stimuli can increase or dampen predatory efficiency and therefore community structuring. We examined the functional foraging traits of an amphibian predator Xenopus laevis on mosquito larvae (Culex sp.), with regard to responses towards different prey cues. We assessed a suite of foraging behaviours exhibited when supplied with three abundances of live prey (2, 4 and 20); non-injury prey cues; prey injury kairomones from mechanically damaged prey in order to determine the importance of cues in stimulating foraging. High abundance of live prey caused frogs to visit the top of the arena significantly more than in the other treatments. This suggests that hydromechanical and visual cues alert X. laevis to prey items in different spatial zones, which results in foraging where the prey have aggregated, while the non-injury prey cue resulted in a decrease in foraging behaviours. The injury kairomone cue elicited a significantly farther distance travelled, and similar responses in terms of velocity of movement and duration of time spent moving when supplied with 20 live prey items. Previous work on X. laevis predation has focused on prey detection via lateral line sensitivity, however, the strength of response elicited by the prey injury kairomone treatment indicates that there are also complex olfactory pathways involved in detecting prey items. This is possibly related to abiotic context (i.e. turbid ponds) and high predator density in the wild.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Using action cameras to estimate the abundance and habitat use of threatened fish in clear headwater streams:
- Authors: Hannweg, B , Marr, S M , Bloy, Lesley E , Weyl, Olaf L F
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148911 , vital:38785 , DOI: 10.2989/16085914.2019.1701404
- Description: Snorkel and electrofishing surveys are the traditional baseline methods for fish surveys in clear headwater streams. However, action cameras provide a non-harmful alternative to monitor freshwater fish populations to develop informed conservation management initiatives. In this paper, estimates from photographs and videos from action cameras are compared with snorkel survey estimates of the density of a threatened endemic minnow species in a headwater stream, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Photograph-based relative abundances of fish summed over five microhabitats in each pool returned equivalent results to snorkel surveys, whereas the equivalent video-based abundance estimates were approximately 50% greater than the snorkel estimates. Therefore, photograph-derived estimates could be used as an alternative to snorkel surveys for fish population monitoring and habitat use studies in clear headwater streams.
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- Date Issued: 2020