Perturbation drives changing metapopulation dynamics in a top marine predator
Abstract
Metapopulation theory assumes a balance between local decays/extinctions and local growth/new colonisations. Here we investigate whether recent population declines across part of the UK harbour seal range represent normal metapopulation dynamics or are indicative of perturbations potentially threatening the metapopulation viability, using 20 years of population trends, location tracking data (n = 380), and UK-wide, multi-generational population genetic data (n = 269). First, we use microsatellite data to show that two genetic groups previously identified are distinct metapopulations: northern and southern. Then, we characterize the northern metapopulation dynamics in two different periods, before and after the start of regional declines (pre-/peri-perturbation). We identify source-sink dynamics across the northern metapopulation, with two putative source populations apparently supporting three likely sink populations, and a recent metapopulation-wide disruption of migration coincident with the perturbation. The northern metapopulation appears to be in decay, highlighting that changes in local populations can lead to radical alterations in the overall metapopulation's persistence and dynamics.
Citation
Carroll , E L , Hall , A , Olsen , M T , Onoufriou , A B , Gaggiotti , O E & Russell , D J F 2020 , ' Perturbation drives changing metapopulation dynamics in a top marine predator ' , Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences , vol. 287 , no. 1928 , 20200318 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0318
Publication
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0962-8452Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: O.E.G. was supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant no. HR09011). E.L.C. was supported by a Newton Fellowship (Royal Society of London), Marie Curie Fellowship (EU Horizon2020) and a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (Royal Society of New Zealand). A.J.H. and D.J.F.R. were supportedby NERC (grant no. SMRU 10/001).Collections
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