Abstract
The study of mammals has promoted the development and testing of many ideas in contemporary ecology. Here we address recent developments in foraging and habitat selection, source-sink dynamics, competition (both within and between species), population cycles, predation (including apparent competition), mutualism, and biological invasions. Because mammals are appealing to the public, ecological insight gleaned from the study of mammals has disproportionate potential in educating the public about ecological principles and their application to wise management. Mammals have been central to many computational and statistical developments in recent years, including refinements to traditional approaches and metrics (e.g., capture-recapture) as well as advancements of novel and developing fields (e.g., spatial capture-recapture, occupancy modeling, integrated population models). The study of mammals also poses challenges in terms of fully characterizing dynamics in natural conditions. Ongoing climate change threatens to affect global ecosystems, and mammals provide visible and charismatic subjects for research on local and regional effects of such change as well as predictive modeling of the longterm effects on ecosystem function and stability. Although much remains to be done, the population ecology of mammals continues to be a vibrant and rapidly developing field. We anticipate that the next quarter century will prove as exciting and productive for the study of mammals as has the recent one.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 965-1007 |
Number of pages | 43 |
Journal | Journal of Mammalogy |
Volume | 100 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 23 May 2019 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgmentsThe authors wish to thank the editors of this Special Issue, A. V. Linzey and M. R. Willig, for the invitation to participate in this effort. We also thank D. W. Morris, B. P. Kotler, and three anonymous reviewers who provided cogent and very useful reviews with remarkably rapid turnaround. D. W. Morris and B. P. Kotler also pointed out that M. L. Rosenzweig coined the term “ghost of competition past” in an oral presentation in 1976, although J. H. Connell was the first to publish this concept; M. L. Rosenzweig provided additional detail on the history of the ghost. A. Previtali helped to proofread the translated abstract. DAK acknowledges support from National Science Foundation (NSF) (DEB-1456729) and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Hatch project CA-D-WFB-6126-H). SS and AO were supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Project 31003A_182286). JLO acknowledges support from NSF (DEB-1439550). LRP acknowledges support from NSF (DEB-1652420). XL thanks L. Ruffino for comments on the section on invasive species
Keywords
- competition
- foraging
- habitat selection
- metapopulations
- mutualism
- population cycles
- predation
- quantitative ecology
- source-sink dynamics
- LIFE-HISTORY TRAITS
- SOURCE-SINK DYNAMICS
- ESTIMATING DENSITY-DEPENDENCE
- ESTIMATING SITE OCCUPANCY
- DEER ODOCOILEUS-HEMIONUS
- PREDATOR-PREY THEORY
- GIVING-UP DENSITIES
- NORTH-AMERICAN ELK
- N-MIXTURE MODELS
- HABITAT SELECTION