Dissecting geographic variation in population synchrony using the common vole in central Europe as a test bed.

ABSTRACT: Spatial synchrony of population fluctuations is ubiquitous in nature. Theoretical models suggest that correlated environmental stochasticity, dispersal, and trophic interactions are important promoters of synchrony in nature to leave characteristic signatures of distance-dependent decays in synchrony. Recent refinements of this theory have clarified how distance-decay curves may steepen if local dynamics are governed by different density-dependent feedbacks and how synchrony should vary regionally if the importance and correlation of environmental stochasticity is location-specific. We analysed spatiotemporal data for the common vole, Microtus arvalis from 49 districts in the Czech Republic to examine the pattern of population synchrony between 2000 and 2014. By extending the nonparametric

SUBMITTER: Gouveia AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4716503 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature