Nonlinear responses to food availability shape effects of habitat fragmentation on consumers
| dc.contributor.author | Blackburn, Heather B., author | |
| dc.contributor.author | Detling, James K., advisor | |
| dc.contributor.author | Hobbs, N. Thompson, advisor | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-03-13T18:50:52Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-03-13T18:50:52Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2009 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Fragmentation of landscapes is a pervasive source of environmental change. Although understanding the effects of fragmentation has occupied ecologists for decades, there remain important gaps in our understanding of the way that fragmentation influences populations of mobile organisms. In particular, there is little tested theory explaining the way that fragmentation shapes interactions between consumers and resources. I propose a simple model that explains why fragmentation may harm consumers even when the total amount of resources on the landscape remains unchanged. In the model, I show that nonlinearity in the relationship between resource availability and benefit acquired from resources can cause a decrease in benefits to consumers when landscapes are subdivided into isolated parts. This decrease is the result of simple mathematical properties of the form of the relationship between resource availability and benefit, and is more severe with greater nonlinearity, with increasing fragmentation, or with greater unevenness of resource availability between fragments. I tested the predictions of the model using a laboratory system of cabbage looper (Trichoplusia ni) larvae on artificial landscapes. Consistent with the model's predictions, survivorship of larvae decreased with a combination of fragmentation and heterogeneity in resource availability. However, average mass of surviving larvae did not change in response to fragmentation alone. With basic knowledge of consumer resource use patterns and landscape structure, these observations can aid in making both generalized and quantitative predictions about the resource-mediated effects of fragmentation on consumers. | |
| dc.format.medium | born digital | |
| dc.format.medium | doctoral dissertations | |
| dc.identifier | ETDF_Blackburn_2009_3374680.pdf | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10217/237587 | |
| dc.language | English | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.publisher | Colorado State University. Libraries | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | 2000-2019 | |
| dc.rights | Copyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright. | |
| dc.rights.license | Per the terms of a contractual agreement, all use of this item is limited to the non-commercial use of Colorado State University and its authorized users. | |
| dc.subject | consumer-resource interactions | |
| dc.subject | habitat fragmentation | |
| dc.subject | landscape ecology | |
| dc.subject | spatial heterogeneity | |
| dc.subject | ecology | |
| dc.subject | agriculture | |
| dc.title | Nonlinear responses to food availability shape effects of habitat fragmentation on consumers | |
| dc.type | Text | |
| dcterms.rights.dpla | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Ecology | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Colorado State University | |
| thesis.degree.level | Doctoral | |
| thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) |
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