Article
Fear in the dark? Community-level effects of non-lethal predators change with light regime
Oikos
(2013)
Abstract
The total effect of predators on prey is a combination of direct consumption, and non-consumptive effects (NCEs), such as predator-induced changes to prey morphology, behaviour and life history. Past research into NCEs has tended to focus on pair-wise interactions between predators and prey, while in natural ecosystems, species exist in complex communities with several trophic levels made up of multiple autotrophic and heterotropic species. To address how predator NCEs alter the photosynthetic and heterotrophic components of communities, we exposed microbial microcosms to one of three predator treatments: live predators (full predator effect), freeze-killed predators (NCEs only) or no predators (control), and incubated them under either 12 h:12 h light:dark conditions or continual darkness. Under 12 h:12 h light:dark conditions, NCEs-only communities never differed from predator-free communities, but differed from live predator communities. Under conditions of continual darkness, the structure of NCEs-only communities differed from predator-free controls, but not from live predator communities, suggesting NCEs can be strong enough to structure communities.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2013
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2013.00557.x
Citation Information
Edd Hammill. "Fear in the dark? Community-level effects of non-lethal predators change with light regime" Oikos Vol. 122 Iss. 12 (2013) p. 1662 - 1668 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/edd-hammill/49/