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Talkin' 'bout my generation: environmental variability and cohort effects
Andrew P Beckerman1, Tim G Benton, Craig T Lapsley
1Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, United Kingdom. apbl@stir.ac.uk
The American Naturalist
|January 23, 2004
Summary
Past environmental conditions can create cohort effects, impacting population dynamics. This study demonstrates how early life conditions influence later performance, affecting population variability.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Population Dynamics
Background:
- Environmental conditions can have lasting effects on populations.
- Cohort effects arise from synchronized, delayed life-history responses to past environments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how plasticity in density-dependent traits generates cohort effects.
- To determine the population dynamic consequences of these cohort effects.
Main Methods:
- Experimental manipulation of early-life density and food availability.
- Assessment of interactions between early and maturity conditions on life-history traits.
- Application of a stochastic cohort effects model to simulate population dynamics.
Main Results:
- Early environmental conditions significantly influenced subsequent juvenile traits.
- Conditions at maturity interacted with early conditions to shape adult performance.
- Density and food availability at maturity also generated cohort effects.
Conclusions:
- Plasticity in response to historical environments can alter density dependence.
- Cohort effects substantially influence population dynamics and variability.
- Understanding these effects is crucial for predicting population persistence in variable environments.