Future climate stimulates population out-breaks by relaxing constraints on reproduction.

ABSTRACT: When conditions are stressful, reproduction and population growth are reduced, but when favourable, reproduction and population size can boom. Theory suggests climate change is an increasingly stressful environment, predicting extinctions or decreased abundances. However, if favourable conditions align, such as an increase in resources or release from competition and predation, future climate can fuel population growth. Tests of such population growth models and the mechanisms by which they are enabled are rare. We tested whether intergenerational increases in population size might be facilitated by adjustments in reproductive success to favourable environmental conditions in a large-scale mesocosm experiment. Herbivorous amphipod populations responded to future climate by increasing 20 fo

SUBMITTER: Heldt KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5022049 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature