Interspecific interactions are conditional on temperature in an Appalachian stream salamander community

Interspecific interactions are conditional on temperature in an Appalachian stream salamander community

Differences in the rates of responses to climate change have the potential to disrupt well-established ecological interactions among species. In semi-aquatic communities, competitive asymmetry based on body size currently maintains competitive exclusion and coexistence via interference competition....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oecologia Vol. 188; no. 2; pp. 623 - 631
Main Authors: Hoffacker, Mary Lou, Cecala, Kristen K., Ennen, Joshua R., Mitchell, Shawna M., Davenport, Jon M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Science + Business Media 01-10-2018
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Amphibians
Aquatic communities
Aquatic reptiles
Biological competition
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Body size
Character displacement
Climate change
Closed experimental ecosystems
Coexistence
Communities
Competition
Ecology
GLOBAL CHANGE ECOLOGY – ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Global temperature changes
Habitat selection
Habitat utilization
Habitats
High temperature
Hydrology/Water Resources
Interactions
Interference
Interspecific
Interspecific relationships
Life Sciences
Mesocosms
Plant Sciences
Rivers
Species
Stability
Temperature effects
Weather forecasting
Competition
Climate change
Size-structured
Plethodontidae
Interference
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Summary:Differences in the rates of responses to climate change have the potential to disrupt well-established ecological interactions among species. In semi-aquatic communities, competitive asymmetry based on body size currently maintains competitive exclusion and coexistence via interference competition. Elevated temperatures are predicted to have the strongest negative effects on large species and aquatic species. Our objectives were to evaluate the interaction between the effects of elevated temperatures and competitor identity on growth and habitat selection behavior of semi-aquatic salamanders in stream mesocosms. We observed interference competition between small and large species. Elevated temperatures had a negative effect on the larger species and a neutral effect on the smaller species. At elevated temperatures, the strength of interference competition declined, and the smaller species co-occupied the same aquatic cover objects as the larger species more frequently. Disruptions in competitive interactions in this community may affect habitat use patterns and decrease selection for character displacement among species. Determining how biotic interactions change along abiotic gradients is necessary to predict the future long-term stability of current communities.
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ISSN:0029-8549
1432-1939
DOI:10.1007/s00442-018-4228-x