Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland.
Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
J Anim Ecol. 2018 Jul;87(4):1172-1181. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12826. Epub 2018 Apr 25.
Comparative studies about the relationships between vital rates and ecological traits at the community level are conspicuously lacking for most taxa because estimating vital rates requires detailed demographic data. Identifying relationships between vital rates and ecological traits could help to better understand ecological and evolutionary demographic mechanisms that lead to interspecific differences in vital rates. We use novel dynamic N-mixture models for counts to achieve this for a whole avian community comprising 53 passerine species, while simultaneously accounting for density dependence and environmental stochasticity in recruitment and survival and, importantly, correcting our inferences for imperfect detection. Demographic stochasticity is taken into account in the form of the binomial and Poisson distributions describing survival events and number of recruits. We then explore relationships between estimated demographic parameters (i.e., vital rates) and ecological traits related to migration patterns, diet, habitat and nesting location of each species. The relative importance of recruitment and adult survival as contributors to population growth varied greatly among species, and interspecific differences in vital rates partly reflected differences in ecological traits. Migratory mode was associated with interspecific differences in population growth and density dependence. Resident species had higher population growth rates than long- and short-distance migrants. We found no relationships between diet and population growth rate. Habitat differences were associated with different growth rates: alpine, wetland and farmland species had lower population growth rates than forest species. Differences in population growth rates among nesting locations showed that breeding habitat is essential for population dynamics. Our study reveals relationships between ecological traits and contributions of vital rates to population growth and suggests ways in which patterns of population growth fluctuations in a community might be determined by life history.
关于关键生活史参数与群落水平生态特征之间关系的比较研究，在大多数分类群中明显缺乏，因为估计关键生活史参数需要详细的种群动态数据。确定关键生活史参数与生态特征之间的关系，有助于更好地理解导致关键生活史参数在种间存在差异的生态和进化种群动态机制。我们使用新的计数动态 N-混合模型来实现这一目标，该模型涵盖了 53 种雀形目鸟类物种的整个鸟类群落，同时考虑了在繁殖和存活过程中密度依赖和环境随机性的影响，并且重要的是，纠正了我们对不完全检测的推断。生存事件和新繁殖个体数量的二项式和泊松分布以随机抽样的形式来考虑种群动态的随机性。然后，我们探索了估计的种群动态参数（即关键生活史参数）与与物种的迁徙模式、饮食、栖息地和筑巢地点相关的生态特征之间的关系。在不同物种中，繁殖和成年个体的存活率对种群增长的相对重要性差异很大，而关键生活史参数的种间差异部分反映了生态特征的差异。迁徙模式与种群增长和密度依赖性的种间差异有关。留鸟物种的种群增长率高于长距离和短距离迁徙者。我们没有发现饮食与种群增长率之间的关系。栖息地差异与不同的生长率有关：高山、湿地和农田物种的种群增长率低于森林物种。筑巢地点的种群增长率差异表明繁殖栖息地对种群动态至关重要。我们的研究揭示了生态特征与关键生活史参数对种群增长的贡献之间的关系，并提出了群落中种群增长波动模式可能由生活史决定的方式。
