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Vertical heterogeneity in predation pressure in a temperate forest canopy
The forest canopy offers a vertical gradient across which variation in predation pressure implies variation in refuge quality for arthropods. Direct and indirect experimental approaches were combined to assess whether canopy strata differ in ability to offer refuge to various arthropod groups. Verti...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
PeerJ Inc.
2013
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3757462/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24010017 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.138 |
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author | Aikens, Kathleen R. Timms, Laura L. Buddle, Christopher M. |
author_facet | Aikens, Kathleen R. Timms, Laura L. Buddle, Christopher M. |
author_sort | Aikens, Kathleen R. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The forest canopy offers a vertical gradient across which variation in predation pressure implies variation in refuge quality for arthropods. Direct and indirect experimental approaches were combined to assess whether canopy strata differ in ability to offer refuge to various arthropod groups. Vertical heterogeneity in impact of avian predators was quantified using exclosure cages in the understory, lower, mid, and upper canopy of a north-temperate deciduous forest near Montreal, Quebec. Bait trials were completed in the same strata to investigate the effects of invertebrate predators. Exclusion of birds yielded higher arthropod densities across all strata, although treatment effects were small for some taxa. Observed gradients in predation pressure were similar for both birds and invertebrate predators; the highest predation pressure was observed in the understory and decreased with height. Our findings support a view of the forest canopy that is heterogeneous with respect to arthropod refuge from natural enemies. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3757462 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2013 |
publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-37574622013-09-04 Vertical heterogeneity in predation pressure in a temperate forest canopy Aikens, Kathleen R. Timms, Laura L. Buddle, Christopher M. PeerJ Biodiversity The forest canopy offers a vertical gradient across which variation in predation pressure implies variation in refuge quality for arthropods. Direct and indirect experimental approaches were combined to assess whether canopy strata differ in ability to offer refuge to various arthropod groups. Vertical heterogeneity in impact of avian predators was quantified using exclosure cages in the understory, lower, mid, and upper canopy of a north-temperate deciduous forest near Montreal, Quebec. Bait trials were completed in the same strata to investigate the effects of invertebrate predators. Exclusion of birds yielded higher arthropod densities across all strata, although treatment effects were small for some taxa. Observed gradients in predation pressure were similar for both birds and invertebrate predators; the highest predation pressure was observed in the understory and decreased with height. Our findings support a view of the forest canopy that is heterogeneous with respect to arthropod refuge from natural enemies. PeerJ Inc. 2013-08-22 /pmc/articles/PMC3757462/ /pubmed/24010017 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.138 Text en © 2013 Aikens et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Biodiversity Aikens, Kathleen R. Timms, Laura L. Buddle, Christopher M. Vertical heterogeneity in predation pressure in a temperate forest canopy |
title | Vertical heterogeneity in predation pressure in a temperate forest canopy |
title_full | Vertical heterogeneity in predation pressure in a temperate forest canopy |
title_fullStr | Vertical heterogeneity in predation pressure in a temperate forest canopy |
title_full_unstemmed | Vertical heterogeneity in predation pressure in a temperate forest canopy |
title_short | Vertical heterogeneity in predation pressure in a temperate forest canopy |
title_sort | vertical heterogeneity in predation pressure in a temperate forest canopy |
topic | Biodiversity |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3757462/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24010017 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.138 |
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