From Insects to Frogs, Egg-Juvenile Recruitment Can Have Persistent Effects on Population Sizes

Understanding what regulates population sizes of organisms with complex life cycles is challenging because limits on population sizes can occur at any stage or transition. We extend a conceptual framework to explore whether numbers of successfully laid eggs determine densities of later stages in ins...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of ecology, evolution, and systematics evolution, and systematics, 2021-01, Vol.52 (1), p.67-86
Main Authors: Downes, Barbara J, Peckarsky, Barbara L, Lancaster, Jill, Bovill, William D, Alp, Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amphibians
Aquatic habitats
complex life-cycle transitions
density dependence
dispersal capability
Egg laying
Eggs
Environmental Sciences
Freshwater fish
Frogs
habitat limitation of egg laying
Insects
Juveniles
Life cycles
oviposition
recruitment limitation
Snails
Spatial variations
Species
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Summary:Understanding what regulates population sizes of organisms with complex life cycles is challenging because limits on population sizes can occur at any stage or transition. We extend a conceptual framework to explore whether numbers of successfully laid eggs determine densities of later stages in insects, fish, amphibians, and snails inhabiting marine, freshwater, or terrestrial habitats. Our review suggests novel hypotheses, which propose characteristics of species or environments that create spatial variation in egg densities and predict when such patterns are maintained throughout subsequent life-cycle stages. Existing data, although limited, suggest that persistent, strong associations between egg and subsequent juvenile densities are likely for species where suitable egg-laying habitat is in short supply. Those associations are weakened in some environments and for some species by density-dependent losses of eggs or hatchlings. Such cross-ecosystem comparisons are fundamental to generality in ecology but demand place-based understandings of species' biology and natural history.
ISSN:1543-592X
1545-2069
DOI:10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-122420-102909