Environmental change reduces body condition, but not population growth, in a high-arctic herbivore

Kate Layton-Matthews*, Vidar Grøtan, Brage Bremset Hansen, Maarten J.J.E. Loonen, Eva Fuglei, Dylan Z. Childs

*Corresponding author voor dit werk

OnderzoeksoutputAcademicpeer review

7 Citaten (Scopus)
246 Downloads (Pure)

Samenvatting

Environmental change influences fitness-related traits and demographic rates, which in herbivores are often linked to resource-driven variation in body condition. Coupled body condition-demographic responses may therefore be important for herbivore population dynamics in fluctuating environments, such as the Arctic. We applied a transient Life-Table Response Experiment (‘transient-LTRE’) to demographic data from Svalbard barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis), to quantify their population-dynamic responses to changes in body mass. We partitioned contributions from direct and delayed demographic and body condition-mediated processes to variation in population growth. Declines in body condition (1980–2017), which positively affected reproduction and fledgling survival, had negligible consequences for population growth. Instead, population growth rates were largely reproduction-driven, in part through positive responses to rapidly advancing spring phenology. The virtual lack of body condition-mediated effects indicates that herbivore population dynamics may be more resilient to changing body condition than previously expected, with
implications for their persistence under environmental change.
Originele taal-2English
Pagina's (van-tot)227-238
Aantal pagina's12
TijdschriftEcology Letters
Volume24
Nummer van het tijdschrift2
Vroegere onlinedatum13-nov.-2020
DOI's
StatusPublished - feb.-2021

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