Specialist predator in a multi-species prey community:boreal voles and weasels  

作　　者：Janne SUNDELL Hannu YLÖNEN 

机构地区：[1]Metapopulation Research Group,Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences,University of Helsinki,Helsinki,Finland [2]Konnevesi Research Station,Department of Biological and Environmental Science,University of Jyväskylä,Jyväskylä,Finland

出　　处：《Integrative Zoology》2008年第1期51-63,共13页整合动物学（英文版）

基　　金：We are grateful to the Academy of Finland(projects 52045,44887 and 208478)for funding our research.Konnevesi Research Station has provided facilities for experimentation and thinking,as has Helsinki.

摘　　要：Dissimilar vulnerabilities of different prey types and preferences of predators are factors likely to contribute to community dynamics.This may happen via differential individual properties of prey animals(e.g.vigilance,escape)or via habitat effects making hunting by a predator easier and more rewarding in some habitats,or both.Furthermore,community dynamics may be influenced by predator mediated apparent competition,in which an increase in one prey type has negative effects on another prey type indirectly via the shared predator.We summarize the current knowledge from the field in a model predator–prey system consisting of sympatric boreal vole species and their common specialist predator and review field studies using predator manipulation and studies on the responses of individuals in the laboratory and in outdoor enclosures.The vole species studied represent different prey types that are thought to have different vulnerabilities.Our observations on the main resident specialist predator,the least weasel(Mustela nivalis nivalis L.),show that it hunts according to prey availability and suitability of the hunting habitat.Prey voles respond to the presence of the predator behaviorally in various ways to avoid predation.We conclude that even if the least weasel is a specialized predator of small rodents it acts like a generalist predator within the small rodent guild and may facilitate the coexistence of prey species via predator switching.This may lead to interspecific synchrony between prey populations,which has often been observed.We suggest that the processes determining the community impact of predator–prey interactions are driven by the behavioral arms race between the predator and the prey,together with the habitat-dependent density of prey and net gain for the predator.

关 键 词：apparent competition predator–prey interaction prey choice vole cycle 

分 类 号：O17[理学—数学]