E-Thesis 161 views
Conservation and disturbance of complex food webs across spatial scales / LUCIE THOMPSON
Swansea University Author: LUCIE THOMPSON
DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUThesis.69995
Abstract
Anthropogenic activities, such as deforestation, pollution, and climate change, are depleting natural resources and disrupting key ecosystem functions essential for life on Earth. Disturbances have myriads of implications for biodiversity including altering the balance of energy fluxes between specie...
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Swansea University, Wales, UK
2025
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Doctoral |
| Degree name: | Ph.D |
| Supervisor: | Lurgi, M. |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69995 |
| Abstract: |
Anthropogenic activities, such as deforestation, pollution, and climate change, are depleting natural resources and disrupting key ecosystem functions essential for life on Earth. Disturbances have myriads of implications for biodiversity including altering the balance of energy fluxes between species, via impacts on their ecological interactions. Disturbances on one species can ripple through the network of ecological interactions and affect species several “steps” away from the disturbed one. Similarly, connectivity corridors between habitat patches across landscapes link ecosystems together.So far, we know that trophic network topology varies along management intensity and productivity gradients and that this structure can modulate community stability in response to various disturbances. Furthermore, spatial considerations including the ability of species to disperse across landscape can stabilise community dynamics. Despite this knowledge, trophic interactions and spatial dynamics have stayed mostly confined to ecology and are not widely applied in conservation biology.This thesis seeks to address this gap and illustrate how trophic interactions and/or spatial dynamics in natural systems can inform conservation action. This research advances our knowledge on how species interaction networks, and particularly food webs, are being reshaped by anthropogenic disturbances, and explores the use of modelling tools to inform conservation.These cost-effective frameworks coupling trophic interactions and spatial dynamics offer new perspectives on how conservation actions can benefit communities. Notably, we illustrate how trophic interactions can play a role in modulating species’ sensitivity to disturbance. We find that large-bodied mobile consumers require significant energy which limits their ability to persist in degraded landscapes. We show that tools such as the maintenance of habitat heterogeneity can buffer against disturbances and that habitat restoration is an effective way of promoting recolonisation by extirpated species. In general, this research attempts to reframe the perspective from species-centred management to community-wide conservation, integrating considerations of habitat connectivity and quality. |
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| Item Description: |
A selection of content is redacted or is partially redacted from this thesis to protect sensitive and personal information. |
| Keywords: |
Food webs, disturbance, conservation, avian, biogeography, distribution |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |