Alternations in the foraging behaviour of a primary consumer drive patch transition dynamics in a temperate rocky reef ecosystem.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Smith JG
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9546210 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Alternations in the foraging behaviour of a primary consumer drive patch transition dynamics in a temperate rocky reef ecosystem.
Smith Joshua G JG Tinker M Tim MT
Ecology letters 20220629 8
Understanding the role of animal behaviour in linking individuals to ecosystems is central to advancing knowledge surrounding community structure, stability and transition dynamics. Using 22 years of long-term subtidal monitoring, we show that an abrupt outbreak of purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus), which occurred in 2014 in southern Monterey Bay, California, USA, was primarily driven by a behavioural shift, not by a demographic response (i.e. survival or recruitment). We then t ...[more]
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