How habitat selection, succession, and assembly rules can influence landscape ecology in natural and disturbed areas
Keywords:
Assembly rules, Australia, community ecology, dasyurids, disturbances, habitat selection, landscape ecology, rodents, sand mining, small mammals, succession, wildfireAbstract
Why should one find a particular set of small mammals at any particular site? This question is at the heart of community ecology, and while no definitive and conclusive answer can yet be provided, this paper does summarize a body of research that has explored, and I think clarified, some of the factors that influence which species occur where and when. The impacts of disturbances such as wildfire and sand mining are examined, along with the regeneration of vegetation and recolonization by small mammals that follow such disturbances in heathland and eucalypt forest in coastal eastern Australia. I describe results from experiments that confirm that these small mammal species do indeed choose or select habitats, rather than just make use of the habitats that are available. Further replicated, experimental removals, as manipulations of each species, one at a time, confirm that interspecific competition between these small mammal species is an important factor determining which species are found where and when, if the temporal aspect of succession is included. Guild assembly rules are examined to illustrate how they may determine which species may or may not become part of a community. Here, my review and synthesis illustrate how the major influences upon the community and landscape ecology of small mammals in the area examined are both spatially variable and temporally dynamic.References
BROWN, J. H., AND M. KURZIUS. 1987. Composition of desert rodent faunas: combinations of co-existing species. Annales Zoologici Fennici 24:227–237.
BROWN, J. H., D. A. KELT, AND B. J. FOX. 2002. Assembly rules and competition in desert rodents. American Naturalist 160:815–818.
CAROLIN, R. C. 1970. Myall Lakes an ancient and modern monument. Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia 5:123–129.
CONNELL, J. H., AND R. O. SLATYER. 1977. Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. American Naturalist 111:1119-1144.
DIAMOND, J. M. 1975. Assembly of species communities. Pp. 342–444 in Ecology and Evolution of Communities (Cody, M. L., and J. M. Diamond eds.). Harvard University Press. Harvard, USA.
DIAMOND, J. M., AND T. J. CASE (EDS.). 1986. Community Ecology. Harper & Row. New York, USA.
FOX, B. J. 1980. The Ecology of a Small Mammal Community: Secondary Succession, Niche Dynamics, Habitat Partitioning, Community Structure and Species Diversity. PhD Thesis. Macquarie University, Australia.
FOX, B. J. 1981. Niche parameters and species richness. Ecology 62:1415–25.
FOX, B. J. 1982. Fire and mammalian secondary succession in an Australian coastal heath. Ecology 63:1332–41.
FOX, B. J. 1985. Small mammal communities in Australian temperate heathlands and forests. Australian Mammalogy 8:153–158.
FOX, B. J. 1987. Species assembly and the evolution of community structure. Evolutionary Ecology 1:201–213.
FOX, B. J. 1990a. Two hundred years of disturbance: how has it aided our understanding of “succession†in Australia? Pp. 521–529, in Australian Ecosystems: 200 years of Utilisation, Degradation and Reconstruction (Saunders, D. A., A. J. M. Hopkins, and J. D. Majer, eds.). Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia Volume 16.
FOX, B. J. 1990b. Changes in the structure of mammal communities over successional time scales. Oikos 59:321–329.
FOX, B. J. 1996. Long-term studies of small mammal communities in disturbed habitats of eastern Australia. Pp. 467–501, in Long-term Studies of Vertebrate Communities (Cody, M. L., and J. A. Smallwood eds.). Academic Press. Orlando, U.S.A.
FOX, B. J. 1999. The genesis and development of guild assembly rules. Pp. 23–57, in The Search for Assembly Rules in Ecological Communities (Weiher, E., and P. Keddy eds.). Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, U.K.
FOX, B. J., AND J. H. BROWN. 1993. Assembly rules for functional groups in North American desert rodent communities. Oikos 67:358–370.
FOX, B. J., AND M.D. FOX. 1978. Recolonization of coastal heath by Pseudomys novaehollandiae following sand mining. Australian Journal of Ecology 3:447–465.
FOX, B. J., AND M. D. FOX. 1981. A comparison of vegetation classifications as descriptors of small mammal habitat preference. Pp. 66–80, in Vegetation Classification in the Australian Region (Gillison, A. N., and D. J. Anderson, eds.). Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in association with Australian National University Press. Canberra, Australia.
FOX, B. J., AND M. D. FOX. 1984. Small-mammal recolonization of open forest following sand mining. Australian Journal of Ecology 9:241–52.
FOX, B. J., AND M. D. FOX. 2000. Factors determining mammal species richness on habitat islands and isolates: habitat diversity, disturbance, species interactions and guild assembly rules. Global Ecology and Biogeography 9:19–37.
FOX, B. J., AND G. GULLICK. 1989. Interspecific competition between mice: a reciprocal field manipulation experiment. Australian Journal of Ecology 14:357–66.
FOX, B. J., AND G. L. KIRKLAND, JR. 1992. North American soricid communities follow Australian small mammal assembly rule. Journal of Mammalogy 73:491–503.
FOX, B. J. AND J. LUO. 1996. Estimating competition coefficients in the field: a validity test of the regression method. Oikos 77:291-300.
FOX, B. J., AND G. M. MCKAY. 1981. Small mammal response to pyric successional changes in eucalypt forest. Australian Journal of Ecology 6:29–42.
FOX, B. J., AND A. R. POPLE. 1984. Experimental confirmation of interspecific competition between native and introduced mice. Australian Journal of Ecology 9:323–334.
FOX, B. J., AND L. E. TWIGG. 1991. Experimental transplants of Pseudomys novaehollandiae onto young stages of post-mining regeneration. Australian Journal of Ecology 16:281–287.
FOX, B. J., M. D. FOX, J. E. TAYLOR, G. P. JACKSON, J. SIMPSON, P. HIGGS, L. REBEC, AND R. AVERY. 1996. Comparison of regeneration following burning, clearing and mineral sand mining at Tomago, N.S.W. I. Structure and growth of the vegetation. Australian Journal of Ecology 21:184–199.
FOX, B. J., J. E. TAYLOR, AND P. T. THOMPSON. 2003. Experimental manipulation of habitat structure: A retrogression of the small mammal succession. Journal of Animal Ecology 72:927–940.
GANZHORN, J. U. 1997. Test of Fox’s assembly rule for functional groups in lemur communities in Madagascar. Journal of Zoology London 241:533–542.
HAERING, R., AND B. J. FOX. 1995. Habitat utilization patterns of sympatric populations of Pseudomys gracilicaudatus and Rattus lutreolus in coastal heathland: a multivariate analysis. Australian Journal of Ecology 20:427–441.
HAERING, R., AND B. J. FOX. 1997. Habitat use by sympatric populations of Pseudomys novaehollandiae and Mus domesticus in coastal heathland. Australian Journal of Ecology 22:69–80.
HESKE, E. J., J. H. BROWN, AND S. MISTRY. 1994. Long-term experimental study of a Chihuahuan desert rodent community: 13 years of competition. Ecology 75:438–445.
HIGGS, P., AND B. J. FOX. 1993. Interspecific competition: a mechanism for rodent succession after fire in wet heathland. Australian Journal of Ecology 18:193–201.
HILTY, J. A., W. Z. LIDICKER, JR., AND A. M. MERENLENDER. 2006. Corridor ecology: the science and practice of linking landscapes for biodiversity conservation. Island Press, Washington, U.S.A.
HILTY, J. A., A. T. H. KEELEY, A. M. MERENLENDER, AND W. Z. LIDICKER JR. 2019. Corridor Ecology, (second edition): Linking Landscapes for Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Adaptation. Island Press, Washington, U.S.A.
KELT, J. A., M. L. TAPER, AND P. L. MESERVE. 1995. Assessing the impact of competition on the assembly of communities: a case study using small mammals. Ecology 76:1283–1296.
KELT, D. A., K. ROGOVIN, G. SHENBROT, AND J. H. BROWN. 1999. Patterns in the structure of Asian and North American desert small mammal communities. Journal of Biogeography 26:825–841.
KNIGHT, E. H., AND B. J. FOX. 2000. Does habitat structure mediate the effects of forest fragmentation and human-induced disturbance on Antechinus stuartii abundance. Australian Journal of Zoology 48:577–595.
LIDICKER, W. Z., JR. 1995. The landscape concept: something old, something new. Pp. 3–19 in Landscape approaches in mammalian ecology and conservation (Lidicker, Jr., W. Z. ed.). University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, U.S.A.
LIDICKER, W. Z. 2007. Landscape ecology: whence came this creature? Ecology 88:2140–2141.
LIDICKER, W. Z. 2008. Levels of organization in biology: on the nature and nomenclature of ecology’s fourth level. Biological Reviews 83:71–78.
LIDICKER, W. Z. 2011. The International Federation of Mammalogists: What is it and what does it do? Therya 2: 5–6.
LUO, J. AND B. J. FOX. 1995. Competitive effects of Rattus lutreolus on food resource use by Pseudomys gracilicaudatus. Australian Journal of Ecology. 20:481-489.
LUO, J. AND B. J. FOX. 1996. Seasonal and successional dietary shifts of two sympatric rodents in coastal heathland: a possible mechanism for coexistence. Australian Journal of Ecology 21:121-132.
LUO, J., V. MONAMY, AND B. J. FOX. 1998. Competition between two Australian rodent species: a regression analysis. Journal of Mammalogy 79:962-971.
MACARTHUR, R. H., AND E. O. WILSON. 1963. An equilibrium theory of insular zoogeography. Evolution 17:373–387.
MACARTHUR, R. H., AND WILSON, E. O. 1967. The Theory of Island Biogeography. Monographs in Population Biology. No 1. Princeton University Press. Princeton, U.S.A.
M’CLOSKEY, R. T. 1978. Niche separation and assembly in four species of Sonoran Desert rodents. American Naturalist 112:683–694.
M’CLOSKEY, R. T. 1985. Species pools and combinations of heteromyid rodents. Journal of Mammalogy 66:132–134.
MONAMY, V., AND B. J. FOX. 2000. Small mammal succession is determined by vegetation density rather than time elapsed since disturbance. Austral Ecology 25:580–87.
MONAMY, V., AND B. J. FOX. 2010. Responses of two species of heathland rodent to habitat manipulation: vegetation density thresholds and the habitat accommodation model. Austral Ecology 35:334–347.
MORRIS, D. W., AND T. W. KNIGHT. 1996. Can consumer-resource dynamics explain patterns of guild assembly? American Naturalist 147:558–575.
MORRIS, D. W., B. J. FOX, J. LUO, AND V. MONAMY. 2000. Habitat-dependent competition and the coexistence of Australian heathland rodents. Oikos 91:294–306.
OSBORNE, T. G., AND R. N. ROBERTSON. 1939. A reconnaissance survey of the vegetation of the Myall Lakes. Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales. 64:279–296.
RIGHETTI, J., FOX, B. J., AND CROFT, D. B. 2000. Behavioural mechanisms of competition in small dasyurid marsupials. Aust. J. Zool. 48: 561–576.
ROSS, K. A., B. J. FOX, AND M. D. FOX. 2002. Changes to plant species richness in forest fragments: fragment age, disturbance and fire history may be as important as area. Journal of Biogeography 29:749–765.
ROSS K. A., J. E. TAYLOR, M. D. FOX, AND B. J. FOX. 2004. Interaction of multiple disturbances: importance of disturbance interval in the effects of fire on rehabilitating mined areas. Austral Ecology 29:508–529.
SPECHT, R. L. 1970. Vegetation. Pp. 44-67, in The Australian Environment (Leeper, G. W. ed.). Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Canberra and Melbourne University Press. Melbourne, Australia.
SPECHT, R. L. 1981. Responses of selected ecosystems, heathlands and related shrublands. Pp. 395–415, in Fire and the Australian biota (Gill, A. M., R. H. Groves, and I. Noble, eds.). Australian Academy of Science. Canberra, Australia.
THOMPSON, P. T., AND B. J. FOX. 1993. Asymmetric competition in Australian heathland rodents: a reciprocal removal experiment demonstrating the influence of size-class structure. Oikos 67:264–278.
TILMAN, D. 1982. Resource competition and community structure. Princeton University Press. Princeton, U.S.A.
TWIGG, L. E., B. J. FOX, AND J. LUO. 1989. The modified primary succession following sand mining: a validation of the use of chronosequence analysis. Australian Journal of Ecology 14:441–447.
Published
Issue
Section
License
THERYA is based on its open access policy allowing free download of the complete contents of the magazine in digital format. It also authorizes the author to place the article in the format published by the magazine on your personal website, or in an open access repository, distribute copies of the article published in electronic or printed format that the author deems appropriate, and reuse part or whole article in own articles or future books, giving the corresponding credits.
