| Abstract: |
| Trait-mediated behavioral responses (an indirect effect) to other species can affect population dynamics significantly. One example of such a response is modification of emigration probability, which has the potential to change species interactions and community structure. Habitat loss and fragmentation due to anthropogenic activities creates landscape-level spatial heterogeneity where remnant patches are often surrounded by a hostile matrix. Matrix composition or hostility is an important component of a landscape and can have profound effects on species movement and boundary behavior, persistence of a single species, and coexistence of interacting species. We model a system of two competitors dwelling in the same remnant patch surrounded by a hostile matrix. In this case, one competitor is being harvested (direct effect) and the other is not being harvested but is disrupted by the harvesting process, causing increased emigration (indirect effect). Thus, the second competitor exhibits a positive relationship between harvesting effort and emigration, i.e., harvesting-mediated emigration. In this talk, we will introduce our modeling framework and share some recent results demonstrating that community structure can be altered because of harvesting-mediated emigration and habitat fragmentation. |
|