Projects per year
Abstract
Large rain events drive dramatic resource pulses and the complex pulse-reserve dynamics of arid ecosystems change between high-rain years and drought. However, arid-zone animal responses to short-term changes in climate are unknown, particularly smaller rain events that briefly interrupt longer-term drought. Using arthropods as model animals, we determined the effects of a small rain event on arthropod abundance in western New South Wales, Australia during a longer-term shift toward drought. Arthropod abundance decreased over 2 yr, but captures of 10 out of 15 ordinal taxa increased dramatically after the small rain event (<40 mm). The magnitude of increases ranged from 10.4 million% (collembolans) to 81% (spiders). After 3 months, most taxa returned to prerain abundance. However, small soil-dwelling beetles, mites, spiders, and collembolans retained high abundances despite the onset of winter temperatures and lack of subsequent rain. As predicted by pulse-reserve models, most arid-zone arthropod populations declined during drought. However, small rain events may play a role in buffering some taxa from declines during longer-term drought or other xenobiotic influences. We outline the framework for a new model of animal responses to environmental conditions in the arid zone, as some species clearly benefit from rain inputs that do not dramatically influence primary productivity.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | e02884 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-9 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Ecology |
Volume | 100 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright by the Ecological Society of America. Citation: Maute, K., G. C. Hose, P. Story, C. M. Bull, and K. French. 2019. Surviving drought: a frameworkfor understanding animal responses to small rain events in the arid zone. Ecology 100(11):e02884.
10.1002/ecy.2884
Keywords
- arthropod
- buffer
- desert
- herbivore
- pulse-reserve
- soil
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Surviving drought: a framework for understanding animal responses to small rain events in the arid zone'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
-
The effect of aerial spraying of two pesticides on semi-arid grasslands
Hose, G., French, K., Bull, C., Story, P. & Woodman, J.
20/12/11 → 20/12/14
Project: Research