Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

The Interactive Effects Of Predators, Resources, And Disturbance On Freshwater Snail Populations From The Everglades, Clifton B. Ruehl

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The origins of population dynamics depend on interplay between abiotic and biotic factors; the relative importance of each changing across space and time. Predation is a central feature of ecological communities that removes individuals (consumption) and alters prey traits (non-consumptive). Resource quality mitigates non-consumptive predator effects by stimulating growth and reproduction. Disturbance resets predator-prey interactions by removing both. I integrate experiments, time-series analysis, and performance trials to examine the relative importance of these on the population dynamics of a snail species by studying a variety of their traits. A review of ninety-three published articles revealed that snail abundance was much …