Kindvall, Oskar
- Department of Entomology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Research article1998Peer reviewed
Individual mobility prevents an Allee effect in sparse populations of the bush cricket Metrioptera roeseli: an experimental study
Kindvall, Oskar; Vessby, Karolina; Hartman, Göran; Berggren, Åsa
Abstract
The bush cricket, Metrioptera roeseli (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae), occurs in patchy and heterogeneous agricultural landscapes. Such a mosaic of different types of grassland habitats causes spatial variation in local population density. Low population densities may result in fewer mating opportunities that can give rise to an Allee effect, possibly leading to a population decline or extinction. This experimental study shows that individuals can avoid an Allee effect by adjusting their movement behaviour in sparse populations. Even at a population density of Eve individuals per hectare, i.e. approximately one percent of normal population densities, no reduction of mating frequencies was detected. Observed net displacements made by different individuals in high and low population densities could successfully be predicted by a simple model of animal movement.
Published in
Oikos
1998, volume: 81, number: 3, pages: 449-457
Publisher: MUNKSGAARD INT PUBL LTD
SLU Authors
Vessby, Karolina
- Department of Entomology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Entomology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Hartman, Göran
- Department of Conservation Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Conservation Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Berggren, Åsa
- Department of Conservation Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Conservation Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
UKÄ Subject classification
Ecology
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3546766
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/52111