TY  - STD
AU  - Niels M. Schmidt, Rolf A. Ims
PY  - 2012//
TI  - Response of an arctic predator guild to collapsing lemming cycles
KW  - Alpine and arctic lemming populations appear to be highly sensitive to climate change
KW  - and when faced with warmer and shorter winters
KW  - their well-known high-amplitude population cycles may collapse. Being keystone species in tundra ecosystems
KW  - changed lemming dynamics may convey significant knock-on effects on trophically linked species. Here
KW  - we analyse long-term (1988–2010)
KW  - community-wide monitoring data from two sites in high-arctic Greenland and document how a collapse in collared lemming cyclicity affects the population dynamics of the predator guild. Dramatic changes were observed in two highly specialized lemming predators: snowy owl and stoat. Following the lemming cycle collapse
KW  - snowy owl fledgling production declined by 98 per cent
KW  - and there was indication of a severe population decline of stoats at one site. The less specialized long-tailed skua and the generalist arctic fox were more loosely coupled to the lemming dynamics. Still
KW  - the lemming collapse had noticeable effects on their reproductive performance. Predator responses differed somewhat between sites in all species and could arise from site-specific differences in lemming dynamics
KW  - intra-guild interactions or subsidies from other resources. Nevertheless
KW  - population extinctions and community restructuring of this arctic endemic predator guild are likely if the lemming dynamics are maintained at the current non-cyclic
KW  - low-density state.
SN  - 0962-8452, 1471-2954
L1  - http://publi.ipev.fr/polar_references/files/yes
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.1490
N1  - exported from refbase (http://publi.ipev.fr/polar_references/show.php?record=6948), last updated on Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0100
ID  - NielsM.Schmidt2012
ER  -