Journal article
Nonlinear scaling of foraging contacts with rodent population density
Oikos, Vol.126(6), pp.792-800
06/2017
Abstract
Density-dependent shifts in population processes like territoriality, reproduction, dispersal, and parasite transmission are driven by changes in contacts between individuals. Despite this, surprisingly little is known about how contacts change with density, and thus the mechanisms driving density-dependent processes. A simple linear contact-density function is often assumed, but this is not based on a sound basis of empirical data. We addressed this question using a replicated, semi-natural experiment in which we measured contacts at feeding stations between multimammate mice, Mastomys natalensis, across ten distinct, linearly increasing densities between 10 and 272 animals/ha. Unexpectedly, unique contacts increased not linearly but sigmoidally with density, which we attribute to the species' scramble competition mating system, small-scale dominance/avoidance and absence of territoriality. These results provide new insights into how species' characteristics can relate to density-dependent changes in contacts, and the unexpected shape of the contact-density function warrants that density-dependence in ecological models, such as parasite transmission models, must be parameterized with care.
Details
- Title
- Nonlinear scaling of foraging contacts with rodent population density
- Authors/Creators
- B. Borremans (Author/Creator) - University of AntwerpJ. Reijniers (Author/Creator) - University of AntwerpN.K. Hughes (Author/Creator) - University of AntwerpS.S. Godfrey (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityS. Gryseels (Author/Creator) - University of AntwerpR.H. Makundi (Author/Creator) - Sokoine University of AgricultureH. Leirs (Author/Creator) - University of Antwerp
- Publication Details
- Oikos, Vol.126(6), pp.792-800
- Publisher
- Blackwell Publishing Inc.
- Identifiers
- 991005544848007891
- Copyright
- © 1999 - 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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Source: InCites
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology
- 3.35.721 Rodent Ecology
- Web Of Science research areas
- Ecology
- ESI research areas
- Environment/Ecology