Top Predator Populations Research Articles

Contamination of the Upper Class: Occurrence and Effects of Chemical Pollutants in Terrestrial Top Predators

Knowledge of the occurrence and effects of pollutants on terrestrial top predators will serve to better understand the issue and propose measurements to conserve biodiversity and ecosystems. We reviewed literature on the occurrence and effects of pollutants on terrestrial top predators, which was particularly scarce in comparison to the literature available on aquatic top predators. We have asked the following questions: Does chemical pollution affect terrestrial top predator population? What are the mechanisms (if known) behind chemical pollution effects on top predators? What types of chemical pollution most commonly affect top predator species? Pollutants present in the terrestrial top predators are industrial derived (PCBs), pesticides (insecticides and rodenticides), and trace metals (lead and mercury). Recent investigations on the effect of second-generation rodenticides (SGRs) are an emerging topic since these are causing deleterious effects on terrestrial top predator populations. On the other hand, eggshell thinning effects due to the old and known compounds such as DDT are still being observed in avian top predators. Further, lead pollution from spent ammunition affects predators after the hunting season. This information demonstrates that the occurrence and effects of chemical pollutants on terrestrial top predators is a relevant issue for species and ecosystem conservation. Topics such as biomagnification of pollutants, the impact of SGRs on carnivore populations, and alternatives of lead ammunition for hunting are relevant topics that warrant further research.

Dynamical Analysis of Fractional-Order Hastings-Powell Food Chain Model with Alternative Food

In this paper, a fractional-order Hastings-Powell food chain model is discussed. It is assumed that the top-predator population is supported by alternative food. Existence and local stability of equilibrium points of fractional-order system are investigated. Numerical simulations are conducted to illustrate analysis results. The analysis results show that alternative food can give a positive impact for top-predator population. Keywords: Alternative food, Fractional-order, Grunwald-Letnikov approximation, Hasting-Powell model, Stability.

Complex behavior of prey-predator system exhibiting group defense: A mathematical modeling study

Defense mechanisms are very important to all animal life. Predators in every biome must eat to survive. With predators being top on the food chain and always on the lookout for a meal, prey must constantly avoid being eaten. In this paper, we have proposed and analyzed a tri-trophic predator–prey model of one prey and two predator exhibiting group defense mechanism. We have assumed Monod-Haldane functional response for interaction between species due to group defense ability of prey and middle predator. We have performed Kolmogorov and Hopf bifurcation analysis for the model system. Linear and global stability of the model system have been analyzed. Lyapunov exponents are computed numerically and 2D scan for different parameters of the model have performed to characterize the complex behavior of the model system. The numerical simulations shows the chaotic and periodic oscillations of the model system for certain range of parameter. We have drawn bifurcation diagrams for different parameter values which shows the complex dynamical behavior of model system. This work is an attempt to study the effect of group defense mechanism of prey in predator population and effect of immigration within top predator population is investigated. It is also observed that in the presence of group defense, the model system stabilizes after adding a small amount of constant immigration within top predator population.

Dynamics of a three species ratio-dependent food chain model with intra-specific competition within the top predator

In this paper, a ratio-dependent food chain model has been considered. The total population has been divided into three classes, namely prey, predator and top-predator population. We have also incorporated intra-specific competition of predators in the model. We have studied the boundedness, dissipativeness and permanence of the solutions of the system and analyzed the existence of various equilibrium points and stability of the system at those equilibrium points. The system exhibits Bogdanov-Takens bifurcation, saddle-node bifurcation, Hopf bifurcation for suitable choice of the relevant parameters. The results of extensive numerical simulation are provided to support the validity of the theoretical findings. The ecological implications of our analytical and numerical findings are discussed.

Changes in phytoplankton bloom phenology over the North Water (NOW) polynya: a response to changing environmental conditions

Marine ecological indicators can be used to assess the condition of the pelagic ecosystems. The bloom onset provides a warning bell for possible changes in trophic interactions and biogeochemical processes. However, depicting the phenology of phytoplankton blooms at high latitudes, where long-term observations are sparse or unavailable, is not a straightforward task. A data-interpolating empirical orthogonal function algorithm was applied to daily satellite-retrieved chlorophyll-a images to produce a long-term (1998–2014) and cloud-free data set over the North Water (NOW) polynya. The seasonal bloom was modeled using a multi-Gaussian approach from which a baseline of phenological characteristics was extracted. The correlation analysis highlights the influence of environmental factors, such as sea surface temperature, cloud fraction, wind stress, and sea-ice concentration, in modulating the bloom start date, its duration, and amplitude. The year-to-year variability in bloom onset appears to be controlled by a delicate balance between oceanographic and meteorological conditions. Blooms last longer during years characterized by a longer open-water period and are shorter during those characterized by greater sea-ice coverage. Noteworthy is the decrease in phytoplankton bloom amplitude over the 17 years examined. Collectively, these outcomes depict the NOW as a climate-sensitive region in which the pelagic marine ecosystem seems to be going toward a decline in chlorophyll-a concentrations. Satellite time series are still too short to differentiate between inter-annual variability, inter-decadal variability, and climate change signal. Should these changes persist; however, the NOW may no longer act as a productive regional oasis supporting thriving populations of zooplankton and top predators.

Resetting predator baselines in coral reef ecosystems

What did coral reef ecosystems look like before human impacts became pervasive? Early efforts to reconstruct baselines resulted in the controversial suggestion that pristine coral reefs have inverted trophic pyramids, with disproportionally large top predator biomass. The validity of the coral reef inverted trophic pyramid has been questioned, but until now, was not resolved empirically. We use data from an eight-year tag-recapture program with spatially explicit, capture-recapture models to re-examine the population size and density of a key top predator at Palmyra atoll, the same location that inspired the idea of inverted trophic biomass pyramids in coral reef ecosystems. Given that animal movement is suspected to have significantly biased early biomass estimates of highly mobile top predators, we focused our reassessment on the most mobile and most abundant predator at Palmyra, the grey reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos). We estimated a density of 21.3 (95% CI 17.8, 24.7) grey reef sharks/km2, which is an order of magnitude lower than the estimates that suggested an inverted trophic pyramid. Our results indicate that the trophic structure of an unexploited reef fish community is not inverted, and that even healthy top predator populations may be considerably smaller, and more precarious, than previously thought.

The feral pig as prey for jaguars: A reply to the ‘Letter from the Conservation Front Line’ by Verdade et al.

Due to habitat loss, poaching and high hunting pressure on their prey, the jaguar Panthera onca is one of the most endangered top predators in the Americas (Galetti et al., 2013; Treves & Bruskotter, 2014). The population of jaguars in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest was estimated to be less than 250 mature individuals, split into many isolated populations (Haag et al., 2010; Beisiegel, Sana & Moraes, 2012). In addition, most of its prey, white-lipped peccaries Tayassu pecari and tapirs Tapirus terrestris, are extinct or restricted to only a few areas (Jorge et al., 2013). In their ‘Letter from the Conservation Front Line’ published in Animal Conservation, Verdade et al. (2015) suggested that feral pigs (Sus scrofa) (Pedrosa et al., 2015), could be an alternative prey for jaguars and may help their populations to recover in Atlantic forest. Although jaguars are known to prey on feral pigs in Pantanal (Cavalcanti & Gese, 2010), we are skeptical that the jaguar's population size would increase and the distribution expand based upon preying on the pigs, and we doubt that jaguars will control the invasion of feral pigs in Brazil. First, feral pigs in the Pantanal are much smaller (body mass ~40 kg, Desbiez et al., 2009) than in the Atlantic forest (body mass ~100 kg, Oliveira, 2012), where they are therefore less likely to be preyed upon by jaguars, unless jaguars selectively prey upon juveniles and piglets. Second, prey's behavior is as important as their body size in determining the predator's success (Hopcraft, Sinclair & Packker, 2005); feral pigs are more aggressive (Graves, 1984) than native species or cattle (Montenegro, 1998; Cavalcanti et al., 2010; Cavalcanti & Gese, 2010). Third, although prey availability is one of the main issues for recovering top predator populations (Galetti et al., 2013; Ripple et al., 2014), jaguars are seen as a significant threat to cattle ranching (Ripple et al., 2014; Tortato et al., 2015). Currently, there are 10 million head of cattle in São Paulo state (Bueno, Martins & Caser, 2015) and they are probably a more logical choice for jaguars (Cavalcanti et al., 2010; Cavalcanti & Gese, 2010). Although cattle are bigger than feral pigs, they are constrained within fenced fields and are less aggressive due to domestication (Cavalcanti et al., 2010). Therefore, any increase in the population of jaguars is likely to negatively impact the attitude of farmers to this predator. We believe that the most effective means of garnering support for controlling invasive feral pigs is to demonstrate their socioeconomic impacts (Jeschke et al., 2014; Massei et al., 2015). Increasing human hunting pressure on feral pigs may decrease hunting pressure on jaguar's prey (Desbiez et al., 2011), thus indirectly benefiting jaguars.

Impact of generalist type sexually reproductive top predator interference on the dynamics of a food chain model

Food uptake ability of higher trophic level species are more complicated and interesting due to their choice and availability of food and consequently their growth. In the present study, the effect of top predator interference on the dynamics of a tritrophic food chain model involving an intermediate and a generalist type top predator are considered. It is assumed that the interaction between the logistically growing prey and intermediate predator follows the Volterra scheme, while that between the top predator and its favorite food i.e. the intermediate predator follows Crowley–Martin type functional response. Also, it is considered that the growth of top predator is by sexual reproduction. The boundedness of the system, existence of an attracting set, local and global stability of non-negative equilibrium points and uniform persistence are established by very complicated and highly nonlinear biological considerations. With the help of empirical results from different field and laboratory experiment, it is clarified that Crowley–Martin type functional response gives better result than other predator dependent functional responses for the issue of interference among own population. Also it is clarified from literature survey that high trophic species are mostly generalist type i.e. they can survive rather than their favorite food depending upon the present environmental situation and their growth rate depends upon the mating success. Moreover, increasing the top predator interference stabilizes the system, while increasing the normalization of the residual reduction in the top predator population destabilizes the system. Different numerical examples support these ecological phenomenon.

Dynamical Behaviour of an Epidemic Model with Disease in Top-Predator Population Only: A Bifurcation Study

In ecology, disease in the top-predator population plays an important role for controlling chaotic dynamics of a predator-prey system. We modify Hastings and Powell’s (HP) (Hastings and Powell, Ecology 72:896–903, 1991) food chain model by introducing disease in the top-predator population only. The modified model is analysed to obtain different conditions for which the system exhibits stability around the biologically feasible equilibrium points. Through numerical simulations we display that the modified system enters into periodic solutions depending upon the force of infection and half saturation constant. In addition, we study numerically that the system undergoes a saddle-node bifurcation. We utilize the MATCONT2.5.1 package to obtain various kinds of Hopf points and their continuation curves in the proposed model. Our results demonstrate that infection rate of top-predator population is the key parameter for controlling the chaotic dynamics observed in original HP model.

Dissolved Organic Carbon Reduces Habitat Coupling by Top Predators in Lake Ecosystems

Increasing input of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon (DOC) has been identified as a widespread environmental phenomenon in many aquatic ecosystems. Terrestrial DOC influences basal trophic levels: it can subsidize pelagic bacterial production and impede benthic primary production via light attenuation. However, little is known about the impacts of elevated DOC concentrations on higher trophic levels, especially on top consumers. Here, we used Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis) to investigate the effects of increasing DOC concentrations on top predator populations. We applied stable isotope analysis and geometric morphometrics to estimate long-term resource and habitat utilization of perch. Habitat coupling, the ability to exploit littoral and pelagic resources, strongly decreased with increasing DOC concentrations due to a shift toward feeding predominantly on pelagic resources. Simultaneously, resource use and body morphology became increasingly alike for littoral and pelagic perch populations with increasing DOC, suggesting more intense competition in lakes with high DOC. Eye size of perch increased with increasing DOC concentrations, likely as a result of deteriorating visual conditions, suggesting a sensory response to environmental change. Increasing input of DOC to aquatic ecosystems is a common result of environmental change and might affect top predator populations in multiple and complex ways.

Connecting the dots: mapping habitat connectivity for tigers in central India

Large connected landscapes are paramount to maintain top predator populations. Across their range, tiger (Panthera tigris) populations occur in small fragmented patches of habitat, often isolated by large distances in human-dominated landscapes. We assessed connectivity between 16 protected areas (PAs) in central India, a global priority landscape for tiger conservation, using data on land use and land cover, human population density, and transportation infrastructure. We identified and prioritized movement routes using a combination of least-cost corridor modeling and circuit theory. Our analyses suggest that there are several opportunities to maintain connectivity in this landscape. We mapped a total of thirty-five linkages in the region and calculated metrics to estimate their quality and importance. The highest quality linkages as measured by the ratio of cost-weighted distance to Euclidean distance are Kanha–Phen/Bandhavgarh–SanjayGhasidas/Melghat–Satpura, and cost-weighted distance to least-cost path length are Nawegaon–Tadoba/Achanakmar–SanjayGhasidas/Kanha–Phen. We used current flow centrality to evaluate the contribution of each PA and linkage toward facilitating animal movement. Values are highest for Kanha and Pench tiger reserves, and the linkages between Kanha–Phen, Kanha–Pench, and Pench–Satpura, suggesting that these PAs and linkages play a critical role in maintaining connectivity in central India. In addition, smaller areas such as Bor, Nawegaon, and Phen have high centrality scores relative to their areas and thus may act as important stepping stones. We mapped pinch points, which are sections of the linkages where tiger movement is restricted due to unfavorable habitat, transportation networks, human habitation, or a combination of factors. Currently, very limited data exist on tiger movement outside of PAs to validate model results. Regional-scale connectivity mapping efforts can assist managers and policy makers to develop strategic plans for balancing wildlife conservation and other land uses in the landscape.

Pollutant accumulation patterns in nestlings of an avian top predator: biochemical and metabolic effects

The exposure to persistent pollutants such as organochlorine compounds (OCs) or metals has been associated with declines in top predator populations, which can accumulate high amounts of these pollutants from their prey. However, understanding how variation in OC and metal accumulation in wild species affects their biochemical and physiological responses is a big challenge, especially for endangered predators like the Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata). This bird of prey is an interesting study model because the differences in diet composition among populations and territories can account for important pollutant uptake variations. We compared OC and metal accumulation in blood of Bonelli's eagle nestlings from three populations across Spain as a function of origin, age class (nestlings vs. adults), sex and number of siblings per nest, and related accumulation patterns to responses indicative of body condition, biochemistry and antioxidant status. Nestlings from Catalonia, the most industrialized area, showed the highest concentrations of PCBs and arsenic, and the lowest concentrations of zinc. The two former substances, together with DDTs, exerted an overall influence on nestling's physiology. PCBs and arsenic were associated with reduced retinol levels, pointing to oxidative damage in exposed individuals, which was also consistent with the low zinc levels in individuals from the polluted region. Increased plasma DDT levels were related to reduced body condition and lower levels of triglycerides. Mercury accumulation in Castile and Leon was higher in nestlings that were alone in the nest than in nestlings that shared it with a sibling; this suggests an increased mercury uptake from secondary prey in territories where preferred prey (i.e. rabbits) are scarce, which are also the territories where productivity is reduced. Overall, the results reveal a spatial variation in pollutant accumulation patterns and associated physiological effects, and suggest the major role that territory quality may have in such patterns.

Large‐scale oceanographic fluctuations drive Antarctic petrel survival and reproduction

Polar Regions are experiencing environmental changes at unprecedented rates. These changes can spread throughout entire food webs from lower trophic levels to apex predators. As many top predators forage over large areas, these indirect effects may be associated with large‐scale patterns of climate variability. Using global climate indices that are known to impact the Southern Ocean ecosystem (the El Niño Southern Oscillation and Antarctic Oscillation Indices) we assessed their efficacy to predict variation in the demographic parameters of Antarctic seabirds. First, we used a long‐term dataset on adult survival (estimated from capture–mark–recapture data) and reproduction of Antarctic petrel Thalassoica antarctica, from the largest known breeding colony (Svarthamaren, Dronning Maud Land) and examined whether large‐scale oceanographic fluctuations impact survival and reproduction. Second, we conducted an exhaustive literature review to determine whether the effects of large‐scale environmental variability on Antarctic seabirds have a coherent fingerprint across the Antarctic continent and nearby islands. We found that most of the variation in both reproductive success, timing of hatching, and survival of Antarctic petrels can be accurately modeled using the two modes of large‐scale climate variability in Antarctica. The literature review, combined with the results from our field study, suggests that while the anticipated trends in the global patterns of climatic variability will generally have detrimental effects on populations of top predators in the Southwest Atlantic, these conclusions cannot be extrapolated to all seabird populations in Antarctica without additional data.

Conservation Challenges of Predator Recovery

Predators are critical components of ecosystems. Globally, conservation efforts have targeted depleted populations of top predators for legal protection, and in many cases, this protection has helped their recoveries. Where the recovery of individual species is the goal, these efforts can be seen as largely successful. From an ecosystem perspective, however, predator recovery can introduce significant new conservation and legal challenges. We highlight three types of conflicts created by a single-species focus: (1) recovering predator populations that increase competition with humans for the same prey, (2) new tradeoffs that emerge when protected predators consume protected prey, and (3) multiple predator populations that compete for the same limited prey. We use two food webs with parallel conservation challenges, the Northeast Pacific Ocean and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, to demonstrate legal/policy conflicts and the policy levers that exist to ameliorate conflicts. In some cases, scientific uncertainty about the ecological interaction hinders progress towards resolving conflicts. In others, available policy options are insufficient. In all cases, management decisions must be made in the face of an unknown future. We suggest a framework that incorporates multispecies science, policy tools, and tradeoff analyses into management.

Baltic Sea management: Successes and failures.

Severe environmental problems documented in the Baltic Sea in the 1960s led to the 1974 creation of the Helsinki Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area. We introduce this special issue by briefly summarizing successes and failures of Baltic environmental management in the following 40 years. The loads of many polluting substances have been greatly reduced, but legacy pollution slows recovery. Top predator populations have recovered, and human exposure to potential toxins has been reduced. The cod stock has partially recovered. Nutrient loads are decreasing, but deep-water anoxia and cyanobacterial blooms remain extensive, and climate change threatens the advances made. Ecosystem-based management is the agreed principle, but in practice the various environmental problems are still handled separately, since we still lack both basic ecological knowledge and appropriate governance structures for managing them together, in a true ecosystem approach.

Trophic cascades in an invaded ecosystem: native keystone predators facilitate a dominant invader in an estuarine community

Determining how various factors contribute to the invasibility of systems is essential for both understanding community formation and informing management of natural areas. Research demonstrating that predators can provide biotic resistance to invasions by consuming invasive species has led to the presence of healthy predator populations being associated with reduced invasion potential of ecosystems. However, predators structure communities in many ways and their presence could also potentially facilitate invasions if they decrease populations of native species that compete with or consume an invader. We considered these two impacts of predators on invasion by analyzing the effects of two keystone predators (Pisaster spp. and Enhydra lutris nereis) on two foundation species (a native mussel Mytilus californianus and the invasive exotic bryozoan Watersipora subtorquata, a putative competitor for space with Mytilus californianus). Both native predators were found to facilitate the invasion of the exotic bryozoan, and the rate of invasion was highest when both predators were present. Facilitation of W. subtorquata occurred via indirect mechanisms that partly involved the removal of a competitor (mussels) via predation. These results illustrate that although predators can provide biotic resistance to invasion, healthy predator populations do not always confer this advantage and in fact may facilitate invasions. Therefore, implementation of management actions to enhance populations of top predators could also potentially increase the invasibility of some ecosystems.

Shifts in attack behavior of an important kelp forest predator within marine reserves

Marine reserves have become increasingly valuable tools with which to manage eco- systems. These reserves consistently restore populations of top predators, often reducing avail- ability of their favored prey. We hypothesized that such prey reduction in reserves causes pro- tected predators to alter their attack behavior to include less palatable prey, potentially amplifying top-down effects on community structure. To test this hypothesis, we presented the relatively unpalatable sea hare Aplysia californica to freely foraging spiny lobsters Panulirus interruptus in 4 marine no-take reserves, each paired with an adjacent fished area. We found that lobsters only attacked sea hares inside reserves, where lobster density was significantly greater than that of the adjacent fished areas. Attacks on otherwise unpalatable prey exclusively in no-take reserves was likely caused by increased hunger, since in the laboratory only food-deprived lobsters attacked sea hares. These findings are the first to suggest that management involving no-take reserves may have unintended consequences on community structure that result from behavioral changes in key predators in the face of increased competition for food. We suspect that these effects may become more widely detected as reserves across the globe grow older and are researched further.

Immigration can destabilize tri-trophic interactions: implications for conservation of top predators

Top predators often have large home ranges and thus are especially vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation. Increasing connectance among habitat patches is therefore a common conservation strategy, based in part on models showing that increased migration between subpopulations can reduce vulnerability arising from population isolation. Although three-dimensional models are appropriate for exploring consequences to top predators, the effects of immigration on tri-trophic interactions have rarely been considered. To explore the effects of immigration on the equilibrium abundances of top predators, we studied the effects of immigration in the three-dimensional Rosenzweig-MacArthur model. To investigate the stability of the top predator equilibrium, we used MATCONT to perform a bifurcation analysis. For some combinations of model parameters with low rates of top predator immigration, population trajectories spiral towards a stable focus. Holding other parameters constant, as immigration rate is increased, a supercritical Hopf bifurcation results in a stable limit cycle and thus top predator populations that cycle between high and low abundances. Furthermore, bistability arises as immigration of the intermediate predator is increased. In this case, top predators may exist at relatively low abundances while prey become extinct, or for other initial conditions, the relatively higher top predator abundance controls intermediate predators allowing for non-zero prey population abundance and increased diversity. Thus, our results reveal one of two outcomes when immigration is added to the model. First, over some range of top predator immigration rates, population abundance cycles between high and low values, making extinction from the trough of such cycles more likely than otherwise. Second, for relatively higher intermediate predator migration rates, top predators may exist at low values in a truncated system with impoverished diversity, again with extinction more likely.

Demographic and functional responses of wild dogs to poison baiting

SummaryLethal control of wild dogs – that is Dingo (Canis lupus dingo) and Dingo/Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) hybrids – to reduce livestock predation in Australian rangelands is claimed to cause continental‐scale impacts on biodiversity. Although top predator populations may recover numerically after baiting, they are predicted to be functionally different and incapable of fulfilling critical ecological roles. This study reports the impact of baiting programmes on wild dog abundance, age structures and the prey of wild dogs during large‐scale manipulative experiments. Wild dog relative abundance almost always decreased after baiting, but reductions were variable and short‐lived unless the prior baiting programme was particularly effective or there were follow‐up baiting programmes within a few months. However, age structures of wild dogs in baited and nil‐treatment areas were demonstrably different, and prey populations did diverge relative to nil‐treatment areas. Re‐analysed observations of wild dogs preying on kangaroos from a separate study show that successful chases that result in attacks of kangaroos by wild dogs occurred when mean wild dog ages were higher and mean group size was larger. It is likely that the impact of lethal control on wild dog numbers, group sizes and age structures compromise their ability to handle large difficult‐to‐catch prey. Under certain circumstances, these changes sometimes lead to increased calf loss (Bos indicus/B. taurus genotypes) and kangaroo numbers. Rangeland beef producers could consider controlling wild dogs in high‐risk periods when predation is more likely and avoid baiting at other times.

Top-predator interference and gestation delay as determinants of the dynamics of a realistic model food chain

An attempt has been made to understand the role of top predator interference and gestation delay on the dynamics of a three species food chain model involving intermediate and top predator populations. Interaction between the prey and an intermediate predator follows the Volterra scheme (with Holling type IV functional response), while that between the top predator and its prey depends on Beddington–DeAngelis type functional response. Stability switches and Hopf-bifurcation occurs when the delay crosses some critical value. Model system exhibits irregular behavior when the interference is high or gestation period is larger than its critical value. Furthermore, the direction of Hopf-bifurcation and the stability of the bifurcating periodic solutions are determined using the center manifold theorem and normal form theory. Computer simulations have been carried out to illustrate the analytical findings. Different diagnostic tests, like, initial sensitivity, Lyapunov exponent, recurrence plot tests ensure the complex dynamical behavior of the model system. Finally, we observed the subcritical Hopf-bifurcation phenomena in the designed model system and the bifurcating periodic solution is unstable for the considered set of parameter values.