Direct negative density-dependence in a pond-breeding frog population

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Raluca I. Băncilă
  • Arpat Ozgul
  • Tibor Hartel
  • Tibor Sos
  • Benedikt R. Schmidt

Understanding population dynamics is critical for the management of animal populations. Comparatively little is known about the relative importance of endogenous (i.e. density-dependent) and exogenous (i.e. density-independent) factors on the population dynamics of amphibians with complex life cycles. We examined the potential effects of density-dependent and -independent (i.e. climatic) factors on population dynamics by analyzing a 15-yr time series data of the agile frog Rana dalmatina population from Târnava Mare Valley, Romania. We used two statistical models: 1) the partial rate correlation function to identify the feedback structure and the potential time lags in the time series data and 2) a Gompertz state-space model to simultaneously investigate direct and delayed density dependence as well as climatic effects on population growth rate. We found evidence for direct negative density dependence, whereas delayed density dependence and climate did not show a strong influence on population growth rate. Here we demonstrated that direct density dependence rather than delayed density dependence or climate determined the dynamics of our study population. Our results confirm the findings of many experimental studies and suggest that density dependence may buffer amphibian populations against environmental stress. Consequently, it may not be easy to scale up from individual-level effects to population-level effects.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEcography
Volume39
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)449-455
Number of pages7
ISSN0906-7590
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 05.2016

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Spatial and seasonal distribution of trace metals in floodplain soils
  2. Testing for Economies of Scope in European Railways
  3. Application of stress intensity factor superposition in residual stress fields considering crack closure
  4. Ringen um Sinn
  5. Collaboration for a more sustainable agriculture – when does it work?
  6. Effect of Welding Speed on Friction Stir Welds of PM2000 Alloy
  7. Analysis of benzalkonium chloride in the effluent from European hospitals by solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with post-column ion-pairing and fluorescence detection
  8. Carbon Management Accounting and Reporting in Practice
  9. The measurement of work ability
  10. Frankfurter Auschwitz-Prozess
  11. Leveling up? An inter-neighborhood experiment on parochialism and the efficiency of multi-level public goods provision
  12. Priming effects induced by glucose and decaying plant residues on SOM decomposition: A three-source 13C/14C partitioning study
  13. Das Essen und seine Genderscripte.
  14. Phantasmal Spaces
  15. The prospects of product carbon footprints in ERP systems
  16. Implementing education for sustainable development in the German school system
  17. Give and take frames in shared-resource negotiations
  18. The Effects of Altruism and Social Background in an Online-Based, Pay-What-You-Want Situation
  19. Framing climate uncertainty
  20. Reconceptualising Business-IT Alignment for Enabling Organisational Agility
  21. The Managerial Relevance of Marketing Science: Properties and Genesis
  22. Epistemologies of Diversity and Otherness
  23. Effects of pesticides on community structure and ecosystem functions in agricultural streams of three biogeographical regions in Europe
  24. Cultural influences on social feedback processing of character traits
  25. Land use modulates resistance of grasslands against future climate and inter-annual climate variability in a large field experiment
  26. Mathematics teachers’ domain-specific professional knowledge: conceptualization and test construction in COACTIV