Although global change can reshape ecosystems by triggering cascading effects on food webs, indirect interactions remain largely overlooked. Climate- and land-use-induced changes in landscape cause shifts in vegetation composition, which affect entire food webs. We used simulations of forest dynamics and movements of interacting species, parameterized by empirical observations, to predict the outcomes of global change on a large-mammal food web in the boreal forest. We demonstrate that climate- and land-use-induced changes in forest landscapes exacerbate asymmetrical apparent competition between moose and threatened caribou populations through wolf predation. Although increased prey mortalities came from both behavioral and numerical responses, indirect effects from numerical responses had an overwhelming effect. The increase in caribou mortalities was exacerbated by the cumulating effects of land use over the short term and climate change impacts over the long term, with higher impact of land use. Indirect trophic interactions will be key to understanding community dynamics under global change.
Related Resources
Comparison of Woodland Caribou Calving Areas Determined by Movement Patterns Across Northern Ontario
Boreal Caribou Can Coexist with Natural but Not Industrial Disturbances
Resource Date:
August
2020
The Biophysical Climate Mitigation Potential of Boreal Peatlands During the Growing Season
Resource Date:
October
2020
Organization
Evaluation of Threshold Freezing Conditions for Winter Road Construction over Discontinuous Permafrost Peatlands, Subarctic Canada
Resource Date:
February
2020
Organization
Eastern Canadian Temperate Deciduous Forest
Resource Date:
2019
Organization
Rocky Mountain Subalpine – High Montane Forest
Resource Date:
2019
Organization
Was this helpful?
|