Warning: file_get_contents(https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=29514972
&cmd=llinks): Failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
in C:\Inetpub\vhosts\kidney.de\httpdocs\pget.php on line 215
The enemy of my enemy is my friend: native pine marten recovery reverses the
decline of the red squirrel by suppressing grey squirrel populations
#MMPMID29514972
Sheehy E
; Sutherland C
; O'Reilly C
; Lambin X
Proc Biol Sci
2018[Mar]; 285
(1874
): ? PMID29514972
show ga
Shared enemies may instigate or modify competitive interactions between species.
The dis-equilibrium caused by non-native species introductions has revealed that
the outcome of such indirect interactions can often be dramatic. However, studies
of enemy-mediated competition mostly consider the impact of a single enemy,
despite species being embedded in complex networks of interactions. Here, we
demonstrate that native red and invasive grey squirrels in Britain, two
terrestrial species linked by resource and disease-mediated apparent competition,
are also now linked by a second enemy-mediated relationship involving a shared
native predator recovering from historical persecution, the European pine marten.
Through combining spatial capture-recapture techniques to estimate pine marten
density, and squirrel site-occupancy data, we find that the impact of exposure to
predation is highly asymmetrical, with non-native grey squirrel occupancy
strongly negatively affected by exposure to pine martens. By contrast, exposure
to pine marten predation has an indirect positive effect on red squirrel
populations. Pine marten predation thus reverses the well-documented outcome of
resource and apparent competition between red and grey squirrels.
free
free
free
