Seasonal food webs with migrations: multi-season models reveal indirect species interactions in the Canadian Arctic tundra.

ABSTRACT: Models incorporating seasonality are necessary to fully assess the impact of global warming on Arctic communities. Seasonal migrations are a key component of Arctic food webs that still elude current theories predicting a single community equilibrium. We develop a multi-season model of predator-prey dynamics using a hybrid dynamical systems framework applied to a simplified tundra food web (lemming-fox-goose-owl). Hybrid systems models can accommodate multiple equilibria, which is a basic requirement for modelling food webs whose topology changes with season. We demonstrate that our model can generate multi-annual cycling in lemming dynamics, solely from a combined effect of seasonality and state-dependent behaviour. We compare our multi-season model to a static model of the predator-prey

SUBMITTER: Hutchison C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7481661 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature