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Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Population Biology
Big Brains Stabilize Populations And Facilitate Colonization Of Variable Habitats In Birds, Trevor S. Fristoe, Andrew N. Iwaniuk, Carlos A. Botero
Big Brains Stabilize Populations And Facilitate Colonization Of Variable Habitats In Birds, Trevor S. Fristoe, Andrew N. Iwaniuk, Carlos A. Botero
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
The cognitive buffer hypothesis posits that environmental variability can be a major driver of the evolution of cognition because an enhanced ability to produce flexible behavioural responses facilitates coping with the unexpected. Although comparative evidence supports different aspects of this hypothesis, a direct connection between cognition and the ability to survive a variable and unpredictable environment has yet to be demonstrated. Here, we use complementary demographic and evolutionary analyses to show that among birds, the mechanistic premise of this hypothesis is well supported but the implied direction of causality is not. Specifically, we show that although population dynamics are more …
Negative Density Dependence Mediates Biodiversity–Productivity Relationships Across Scales, Joseph A. Lamanna, R Travis Belote, Laura A. Burkle, Christopher P. Catano, Jonathan A. Myers
Negative Density Dependence Mediates Biodiversity–Productivity Relationships Across Scales, Joseph A. Lamanna, R Travis Belote, Laura A. Burkle, Christopher P. Catano, Jonathan A. Myers
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
Regional species diversity generally increases with primary productivity whereas local diversity–productivity relationships are highly variable. This scale-dependence of the biodiversity–productivity relationship highlights the importance of understanding the mechanisms that govern variation in species composition among local communities, which is known as β-diversity. Hypotheses to explain changes in β-diversity with productivity invoke multiple mechanisms operating at local and regional scales, but the relative importance of these mechanisms is unknown. Here we show that changes in the strength of local density-dependent interactions within and among tree species explain changes in β-diversity across a subcontinental-productivity gradient. Stronger conspecific relative to …