Careau, Vincent; Lecomte, Nicolas; Bêty, Joël; Giroux, Jean-François; Gauthier, Gilles; Berteaux, Dominique (2008): (Table 1) Stage of the lemming cycle and nesting parameters of the greater snow geese between 1996-2005, Bylot Island [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.786411, Supplement to: Careau, V et al. (2008): Hoarding of pulsed resources: Temporal variations in egg-caching by arctic fox. Ecoscience, 15(2), 268-276, https://doi.org/10.2980/15-2-3097
Always quote citation above when using data! You can download the citation in several formats below.
Abstract:
Resource pulses are common in various ecosystems and often have large impacts on ecosystem functioning. Many animals hoard food during resource pulses, yet how this behaviour affects pulse diffusion through trophic levels is poorly known because of a lack of individual-based studies. Our objective was to examine how the hoarding behaviour of arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) preying on a seasonal pulsed resource (goose eggs) was affected by annual and seasonal changes in resource availability. We monitored foraging behaviour of foxes in a greater snow goose (Chen caerulescens atlanticus) colony during 8 nesting seasons that covered 2 lemming cycles. The number of goose eggs taken and cached per hour by foxes declined 6-fold from laying to hatching, while the proportion of eggs cached remained constant. In contrast, the proportion of eggs cached by foxes fluctuated in response to the annual lemming cycle independently of the seasonal pulse of goose eggs. Foxes cached the majority of eggs taken (> 90%) when lemming abundance was high or moderate but only 40% during the low phase of the cycle. This likely occurred because foxes consumed a greater proportion of goose eggs to fulfill their energy requirement at low lemming abundance. Our study clearly illustrates a behavioural mechanism that extends the energetic benefits of a resource pulse. The hoarding behaviour of the main predator enhances the allochthonous nutrients input brought by migrating birds from the south into the arctic terrestrial ecosystem. This could increase average predator density and promote indirect interactions among prey.
Project(s):
Coverage:
Latitude: 72.883300 * Longitude: -79.900000
Date/Time Start: 1996-01-01T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2005-01-01T00:00:00
Minimum Elevation: 40.0 m * Maximum Elevation: 40.0 m
Event(s):
Comment:
Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150
Parameter(s):
# | Name | Short Name | Unit | Principal Investigator | Method/Device | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | DATE/TIME | Date/Time | Geocode | |||
2 | Number | No | Careau, Vincent | of years after lemming peak | ||
3 | Chen caerulescens atlanticus, nests per area | C. caerulescens atlanticus nests | #/ha | Careau, Vincent | ||
4 | Number of nests | Nests | # | Careau, Vincent | monitored | |
5 | Chen caerulescens atlanticus, egg laying date | C. caerulescens atlanticus egg laying | Careau, Vincent | |||
6 | Chen caerulescens atlanticus, hatching date | C. caerulescens atlanticus hatching | Careau, Vincent | |||
7 | Time coverage | Coverage | Careau, Vincent | |||
8 | Time in hours | Time | h | Careau, Vincent | observation effort |
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)
Size:
56 data points
Data
1 Date/Time | 2 No | 3 C. caerulescens atlanticus nests [#/ha] | 4 Nests [#] | 5 C. caerulescens atlanticus egg laying | 6 C. caerulescens atlanticus hatching | 7 Coverage | 8 Time [h] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | 0 | 1.3 | 367 | 1996-06-14 | 1996-07-11 | 1996-06-22 to 1996-07-06 | 96 |
1997 | 1 | 3.3 | 326 | 1997-06-10 | 1997-07-07 | 1997-06-23 to 1997-07-06 | 96 |
1998 | 2 | 4.5 | 349 | 1998-06-07 | 1998-07-04 | 1998-06-23 to 1998-07-01 | 96 |
1999 | 3 | 1.4 | 185 | 1999-06-17 | 1999-07-12 | 1999-06-24 to 1999-07-08 | 96 |
2002 | 2 | 7.4 | 470 | 2002-06-16 | 2002-07-11 | 2002-06-23 to 2002-07-10 | 111 |
2003 | 3 | 11.0 | 585 | 2003-06-09 | 2003-07-06 | 2003-06-13 to 2003-07-02 | 92 |
2004 | 0 | 0.8 | 676 | 2004-06-11 | 2004-07-07 | 2004-06-15 to 2004-07-12 | 198 |
2005 | 1 | 3.8 | 346 | 2005-06-12 | 2005-07-08 | 2005-06-08 to 2005-07-14 | 363 |