Potts, J.R., Hillen, T. and Lewis, M.A. (2016) The “edge effect” phenomenon: deriving population abundance patterns from individual animal movement decisions. Theoretical Ecology, 9 (2). pp. 233-247. ISSN 1874-1738
Abstract
Edge effects have been observed in a vast spectrum of animal populations. They occur where two conjoining habitats interact to create ecological phenomena that are not present in either habitat separately. On the individual-level, an edge effect is a change in behavioral tendency on or near the edge. On the population-level, it is a pattern of population abundance near an edge that cannot be explained in terms of either habitat in isolation. That these two levels of description exist suggests there ought to be a mathematical link between them. Here, we make inroads into providing such a link, deriving analytic expressions describing oft-observed population abundance patterns from a model of movement decisions near edges. Depending on the model parameters, we can see positive, negative, or transitional edge effects emerge. Importantly, the distance over which animals make their decisions to move between habitats turns out to be a key factor in quantifying the magnitude of certain observed edge effects.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2015. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematics and Statistics (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 17 Mar 2016 16:47 |
Last Modified: | 18 Oct 2016 12:11 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12080-015-0283-7 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Verlag |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s12080-015-0283-7 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:96564 |