|
|||||
|
|
Trophic interactions in a high arctic snow goose colony |
|
| Authors: | Gauthier Gilles Bêty Joël Giroux Jean-François Rochefort Line |
| Affiliation: | 1 Département de biologie and Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, G1K 7P4. Canada 2 Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, P.O. Box 8888, Stn Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada 3 Département de phytologie and Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, G1K 7P4, Canada |
| Abstract: | We examined the role of trophic interactions in structuringa high arctic tundra community characterized by a large breedingcolony of greater snow geese (Chen caerulescens atlantica).According to the exploitation ecosystem hypothesis of Oksanenet al. (1981), food chains are controlled by top-down interactions.However, because the arctic primary productivity is low, herbivorepopulations are too small to support functional predator populationsand these communities should thus be dominated by the plant/herbivore trophic-level interaction. Since 1990, we have beenmonitoring annual abundance and productivity of geese, the impactof goose grazing, predator abundance (mostly arctic foxes, Alopexlagopus) and the abundance of lemmings, the other significantherbivore in this community, on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada.Goose grazing consistently removed a significant proportionof the standing crop ( |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 PubMed Oxford 等数据库收录！ | |