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bioRxiv · 10.1101/722215

Grazer behavior can regulate large-scale patterns of community states

Karatayev, V. A.·Baskett, M. L.·Kushner, D. J.·Shears, N. T.·Caselle, J. E.·Boettiger, C.
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Abstract

Ecosystem patterning can arise from environmental heterogeneity, biological feedbacks that produce multiple persistent ecological states, or their interaction. One source of feed-backs is density-dependent changes in behavior that regulates species interactions. By fitting state-space models to large-scale ([~]500km) surveys on temperate rocky reefs, we find that behavioral feedbacks best explain why kelp and urchin barrens form either reef-wide patches or local mosaics. Best-supported models in California include feedbacks where starvation intensifies grazing across entire reefs create reef-scale, alternatively stable kelp- and urchin-dominated states (32% of reefs). Best-fitting models in New Zealand include the feedback of urchins avoiding dense kelp stands that can increase abrasion and predation risk, which drives a transition from shallower urchin-dominated to deeper kelp-dominated zones, with patchiness at 3-8m depths with intermediate wave stress. Connecting locally-studied processes with region-wide data, we highlight how behavior can explain community patterning and why some systems exhibit community-wide alternative stable states.

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Karatayev, V. A., Baskett, M. L., Kushner, D. J., Shears, N. T., Caselle, J. E., Boettiger, C.. 2019-08-01. Grazer behavior can regulate large-scale patterns of community states. https://doi.org/10.1101/722215

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