Graduation Year
2020
Graduation Month
May
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
School or Department
Wildlife Biology
Major
Wildlife Biology – Terrestrial
Faculty Mentor Department
Wildlife Biology
Faculty Mentor
Mark Hebblewhite
Faculty Reader(s)
Evelyn H. Merrill and Jedediah F. Brodie
Keywords
Trophic Cascades, Intermediate Grazing Hypothesis, Grassland, Herbivory, Predation, Elk
Subject Categories
Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Abstract
Top-down predator-prey effects that alter the abundance, biomass, or productivity of a population community across more than one link in a food web are referred to as trophic cascades. While these effects have been extensively studied in aquatic environments, fewer studies have examined trophic cascades in terrestrial ecosystems. And fewer still terrestrial studies have tested for trophic cascades between vertebrates and grassland vegetation. Across the globe, grassland plant biomass is driven by both precipitation and non-linear positive feedbacks between grazing and plant productivity, as predicted by the Intermediate Grazing Hypothesis. Yet little is known about the role that apex carnivores play in regard to trophic impacts on grassland biomass. We utilized a long-term dataset collected over the last two decades on a montane rough-fescue grassland adjacent to Banff National Park, Alberta, to test whether top-down effects regulate grassland biomass in a wolf-elk system. First, we measured annual growing season plant biomass from 2006 – 2018 at 61 repeat sampled plots in the grassland. Next, we measured wolf predation risk using a previously developed wolf resource selection function created from GPS radiocollar data from 5 wolf packs. Finally, we measured grazing intensity using Brownian Bridge Movement Models derived from GPS radiocollar data from 131 unique elk. We then tested top-down, bottom-up and abiotic hypotheses for grassland biomass over time in program R. The top model incorporated precipitation and positive non-linear effects of elk use, excluding predator effects and thus failing to support the trophic cascade hypothesis. This may be due to the observational nature of this study, or predation effects in this system may be obscured by human use. Alternatively, our results also support the hypothesis that intermediate grazing may outweigh the benefits of predation in grassland systems. Our study serves to help fill a gap in trophic cascade literature, and emphasizes that positive feedback between grazers and grasslands may trump top-down effects. Understanding when trophic cascade theory is or is not applicable is vital for carnivore management, conservation, and reintroduction efforts across North America.
Honors College Research Project
No
GLI Capstone Project
no
Recommended Citation
Weeks, Trevor C., "Bottom-up Herbivore-Plant Feedbacks Trump Trophic Cascades in a Wolf-Elk-Grassland System" (2020). Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts. 298.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/utpp/298
Included in
© Copyright 2020 Trevor C. Weeks