Flexibility of the spruce budworm - parasitoid food web

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dc.contributor.advisorMcCann, Kevin S.
dc.contributor.advisorEveleigh, Eldon S.
dc.contributor.authorGreyson-Gaito, Christopher Jochen
dc.date.accessioned2018-08-23T16:31:59Z
dc.date.available2018-08-23T16:31:59Z
dc.date.copyright2018
dc.date.created2018-07-26
dc.date.issued2018-08-23
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Integrative Biologyen_US
dc.degree.grantorUniversity of Guelphen_US
dc.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen_US
dc.degree.programmeIntegrative Biologyen_US
dc.description.abstractThe reduction in diversity is reducing the capacity of food webs to respond to variability. Two potentially important food web mechanisms are flexible food web structure and spatiotemporal coupling. To date, little research has examined flexibility and spatiotemporal coupling at the community scale. The large variation in spruce budworm densities every 35 years likely causes the community of parasitoids to shift from spruce budworm on balsam fir (a softwood) to other caterpillars on hardwood trees. We examined whether the parasitoid community flexibly responded to the changing relative abundances of spruce budworm and other caterpillars and exhibited spatiotemporal coupling of balsam fir and hardwoods. We found that the parasitoid community tracked the changing relative abundances of spruce budworm and other caterpillars and spatiotemporally coupled balsam fir and hardwoods. Community-level flexibility and spatiotemporal coupling could mute large oscillations. Therefore, maintaining hardwood tree diversity could similarly mute the large spruce budworm density fluctuations.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada - Discovery Grant
dc.description.sponsorshipCanadian Forest Service
dc.description.sponsorshipOntario Government
dc.description.sponsorshipUniversity of Guelph
dc.description.sponsorshipRoyal Canadian Geographical Society
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10214/14092
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Guelphen_US
dc.rightsAttribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ca/*
dc.subjectfood websen_US
dc.subjectecologyen_US
dc.subjectcouplingen_US
dc.subjectflexible food web structureen_US
dc.subjectspruce budwormen_US
dc.subjectChoristoneura fumiferanaen_US
dc.subjectparasitoidsen_US
dc.subjectbalsam firen_US
dc.subjectAbies balsameaen_US
dc.subjectsoftwoodsen_US
dc.subjecthardwoodsen_US
dc.subjectcommunityen_US
dc.subjectinsectsen_US
dc.titleFlexibility of the spruce budworm - parasitoid food weben_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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