OOS 27
Demographic Buffering Beyond the Comfort Zone: Species’ Responses to Anthropogenic Disturbances

Tuesday, August 11, 2015: 1:30 PM-5:00 PM
316, Baltimore Convention Center
Organizer:
Maria Paniw
Co-organizer:
Roberto Salguero-Gomez
Moderator:
Maria Paniw
Many species across the animal and plant kingdom have evolved traits and life-history strategies to adapt to frequent natural disturbances. Humans, managing a large part of the world´s natural areas, have altered the frequency and severity of such disturbance regimes and introduced novel disturbances. Such changes may affect demographic processes (e.g. survival, growth, reproduction) of disturbance-adapted species, resulting in changed population dynamics and structure and vulnerability to local extinction. Synthesizing information on how humans change population dynamics of such species, either through direct alterations (e.g. fire suppression, dam-controlled flooding, deforestation) or through climate change (droughts, hurricanes, frosts), is crucial as the anthropogenic footprint will likely increase in the future. Theoretical models, supported by empirical studies, predict that species living in frequently disturbed habitats are more flexible to adapt to changes in disturbances than those in more stable environments. Recent studies, however, suggest that some these disturbance-adapted species, long believed to profit from novel disturbance regimes, may indeed be at the risk of extinction. The discrepancies between theory and current empirical studies may be partly explained by (a) an incomplete knowledge of the life cycle of disturbance-adapted species and (b) the multiple and complex ways in which humans change disturbance regimes. This session will aim to address the question “What are the life-history peculiarities of disturbed-adapted species that allow them to buffer against anthropogenic effects, and under what circumstances are these strategies not successful? Speakers will offer novel perspectives to this timely question by drawing from various disturbance types (fires, droughts, hurricanes, deforestation and frost) and taxonomic groups (plants and insects).
1:30 PM
Hurricanes, seed-predators and elasticities: Global patterns with local consequences
Carol Horvitz, University of Miami; John B Pascarella, Sam Houston State University; Shripad Tuljapurkar, Stanford University
1:50 PM
Estimating demographic drivers of transient population dynamics in changing environments: Towards a holistic understanding
David N. Koons, Utah State University; David T. Iles, Utah State University; Michael Schaub, Swiss Ornithological Institute
2:10 PM
What is the relative importance of different life-history stages in intra- and inter-population responses to disturbance? Tests with a long-lived keystone herbivore in Neotropical savannas
Ernane H. M. Vieira-Neto, University of Florida; Emilio M. Bruna, University of Florida; Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia
2:30 PM
The effects of mutualist partner identity on plant demography are context-dependen
Emilio M. Bruna, University of Florida; Thiago Izzo, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso; Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia; Brian D. Inouye, Florida State University
2:50 PM
Demographic differences between road and scrub populations of Florida scrub plants
Pedro Quintana-Ascencio, University of Central Florida; Eric S. Menges, Archbold Biological Station; Stephanie M. Koontz, Archbold Biological Station; Carl Weekley, Archbold Biological Station; Jennifer Navarra, Lake Wales Ridge State Forest; Stacy A. Smith, Archbold Biological Station; Suzanne Kennedy, Flora Vista, Inc.
3:10 PM
3:20 PM
Interactive effects of herbivores, habitat and fire on the population dynamics of a rare plant endemic to the Florida scrub
Matthew R. Tye, Uppsala University; Pedro Quintana-Ascencio, University of Central Florida; Eric S. Menges, Archbold Biological Station; Carl W. Weekley, Archbold Biological Station; Roberto Salguero-Gomez, The University of Queensland
3:40 PM
Population viability models for an endangered endemic subtropical butterfly: Effects of fire and hurricanes on population dynamics and risk of extinction
Robert M. McElderry, University of Miami; Mark H. Salvato, Research Biologist; Carol C. Horvitz, University of Miami
4:00 PM
Forest fragmentation alters the population dynamics of a late-successional tropical tree
Jenny Zambrano, University of Illinois at Chicago; Roberto Salguero-Gomez, The University of Queensland
4:20 PM
How a drier climate will impact populations of a Neotropical weed (Asclepias curassavica) in Monteverde, Costa Rica
Kimberly M. Kellett, The University of Georgia; Richard Shefferson, University of Tokyo