Europe-wide dampening of population cycles in keystone herbivores.
Thomas Cornulier
(1)
,
Nigel G Yoccoz
(2)
,
Vincent Bretagnolle
(3)
,
Jon E Brommer
(4)
,
Alain Butet
(5)
,
Frauke Ecke
(6, 7)
,
David A Elston
(8)
,
Erik Framstad
(9)
,
Heikki Henttonen
(10)
,
Birger Hörnfeldt
(6)
,
Otso Huitu
(11)
,
Christian Imholt
(12)
,
Rolf A Ims
(2)
,
Jens Jacob
(12)
,
Bogumiła Jędrzejewska
(13)
,
Alexandre Millon
(1)
,
Steve J Petty
(1, 14)
,
Hannu Pietiäinen
(4)
,
Emil Tkadlec
(15, 16)
,
Karol Zub
(13)
,
Xavier Lambin
(17)
1
School of Biological Sciences
2 Department of Arctic and Marine Biology
3 CEBC - Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé
4 Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences [Helsinki]
5 ECOBIO - Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution [Rennes]
6 Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies
7 Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment
8 Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland
9 NINA - Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
10 Vantaa Research Unit
11 Finnish Forest Research Institute
12 Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants
13 Mammal Research Institute
14 Centre for Human and Ecological Sciences
15 Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences
16 Institute of Vertebrate Biology
17 School of Biological Science
2 Department of Arctic and Marine Biology
3 CEBC - Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé
4 Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences [Helsinki]
5 ECOBIO - Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution [Rennes]
6 Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies
7 Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment
8 Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland
9 NINA - Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
10 Vantaa Research Unit
11 Finnish Forest Research Institute
12 Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants
13 Mammal Research Institute
14 Centre for Human and Ecological Sciences
15 Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences
16 Institute of Vertebrate Biology
17 School of Biological Science
Vincent Bretagnolle
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 762235
- ORCID : 0000-0002-2320-7755
Alain Butet
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 178849
- IdHAL : alain-butet
- ORCID : 0000-0002-9173-3466
- IdRef : 076148459
Alexandre Millon
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 18913
- IdHAL : alexandre-millon
- ORCID : 0000-0002-9475-4123
- IdRef : 115124837
Résumé
Suggestions of collapse in small herbivore cycles since the 1980s have raised concerns about the loss of essential ecosystem functions. Whether such phenomena are general and result from extrinsic environmental changes or from intrinsic process stochasticity is currently unknown. Using a large compilation of time series of vole abundances, we demonstrate consistent cycle amplitude dampening associated with a reduction in winter population growth, although regulatory processes responsible for cyclicity have not been lost. The underlying syndrome of change throughout Europe and grass-eating vole species suggests a common climatic driver. Increasing intervals of low-amplitude small herbivore population fluctuations are expected in the future, and these may have cascading impacts on trophic webs across ecosystems.