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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Role Of Reptile-Invertebrate Interactions In Enigmatic Reptile Declines, Meredith Swartwout
Role Of Reptile-Invertebrate Interactions In Enigmatic Reptile Declines, Meredith Swartwout
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Reptile populations are declining world-wide and the mechanisms behind many of these declines remain enigmatic. Food web interactions (i.e., reduced prey availability or increased predation) have been implicated behind some reptile declines. However, relatively little is known about predation on lizard and snake eggs, despite egg survival being important for population dynamics of some species. Ants are important predators of squamate reptile eggs in tropical and temperate systems. In Costa Rica, long-term declines in terrestrial anole lizards were linked with reduced leaf litter depth, a factor that could influence egg vulnerability to ant predation. Fire ants (genus Solenopsis) are aggressive …
Population Dynamics And Dispersal Coalitions In The Cooperatively Breeding Acorn Woodpecker, Natasha Hagemeyer
Population Dynamics And Dispersal Coalitions In The Cooperatively Breeding Acorn Woodpecker, Natasha Hagemeyer
Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations
Dispersal is a critical life-stage with consequences not only for the individual, but for population dynamics and thus the fate of the whole species. The creation of dispersal coalitions can lead to complex outcomes and affect how changes in abundance occur on the landscape. I examined population dynamics and dispersal coalitions in a population of cooperatively breeding acorn woodpeckers in central California, USA. Using a 34-year dataset on occupancy and abundance, I determined that increases in abundance were determined by dispersal to new locations. This resulted in increased occupancy, rather than increases in group size and larger coalitions. I then …