Information-Mediated Allee Effects in Breeding Habitat Selection
(2015) In American Naturalist 186(6). p.162-171- Abstract
- Social information is used widely in breeding habitat selection and provides an efficient means for individuals to select habitat, but the population-level consequences of this process are not well explored. At low population densities, efficiencies may be reduced because there are insufficient information providers to cue high-quality habitat. This constitutes what we call an information-mediated Allee effect. We present the first general model for an information-mediated Allee effect applied to breeding habitat selection and unify personal and social information, Allee effects, and ecological traps into a common framework. In a second model, we consider an explicit mechanism of social information gathering through prospecting on... (More)
- Social information is used widely in breeding habitat selection and provides an efficient means for individuals to select habitat, but the population-level consequences of this process are not well explored. At low population densities, efficiencies may be reduced because there are insufficient information providers to cue high-quality habitat. This constitutes what we call an information-mediated Allee effect. We present the first general model for an information-mediated Allee effect applied to breeding habitat selection and unify personal and social information, Allee effects, and ecological traps into a common framework. In a second model, we consider an explicit mechanism of social information gathering through prospecting on conspecific breeding performance. In each model, we independently vary personal and social information use to demonstrate how dependency on social information may result in either weak or strong Allee effects that, in turn, affect population extinction risk. Abrupt transitions between outcomes can occur through reduced information transfer or small changes in habitat composition. Overall, information-mediated Allee effects may produce positive feedbacks that amplify population declines in species that are already experiencing environmentally driven stressors, such as habitat loss and degradation. Alternatively, social information has the capacity to rescue populations from ecological traps. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8532802
- author
- Schmidt, Kenneth A. ; Johansson, Jacob LU and Betts, Matthew G.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Allee effect, Allee threshold, ecological trap, habitat selection, social information
- in
- American Naturalist
- volume
- 186
- issue
- 6
- pages
- 162 - 171
- publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000365307700002
- scopus:84947566637
- pmid:26655992
- ISSN
- 0003-0147
- DOI
- 10.1086/683659
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e8067bdf-688f-4ed5-be0e-e97d5d0adcf2 (old id 8532802)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:56:47
- date last changed
- 2022-04-04 22:47:25
@article{e8067bdf-688f-4ed5-be0e-e97d5d0adcf2,
abstract = {{Social information is used widely in breeding habitat selection and provides an efficient means for individuals to select habitat, but the population-level consequences of this process are not well explored. At low population densities, efficiencies may be reduced because there are insufficient information providers to cue high-quality habitat. This constitutes what we call an information-mediated Allee effect. We present the first general model for an information-mediated Allee effect applied to breeding habitat selection and unify personal and social information, Allee effects, and ecological traps into a common framework. In a second model, we consider an explicit mechanism of social information gathering through prospecting on conspecific breeding performance. In each model, we independently vary personal and social information use to demonstrate how dependency on social information may result in either weak or strong Allee effects that, in turn, affect population extinction risk. Abrupt transitions between outcomes can occur through reduced information transfer or small changes in habitat composition. Overall, information-mediated Allee effects may produce positive feedbacks that amplify population declines in species that are already experiencing environmentally driven stressors, such as habitat loss and degradation. Alternatively, social information has the capacity to rescue populations from ecological traps.}},
author = {{Schmidt, Kenneth A. and Johansson, Jacob and Betts, Matthew G.}},
issn = {{0003-0147}},
keywords = {{Allee effect; Allee threshold; ecological trap; habitat selection; social information}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{6}},
pages = {{162--171}},
publisher = {{University of Chicago Press}},
series = {{American Naturalist}},
title = {{Information-Mediated Allee Effects in Breeding Habitat Selection}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/683659}},
doi = {{10.1086/683659}},
volume = {{186}},
year = {{2015}},
}