Trophic control of mesopredators in terrestrial ecosystems: top‐down or bottom‐up?

摘要: It has been argued that widespread extinctions of top predators have changed terrestrial ecosystem structures through mesopredator release, where increased abundances medium-sized detrimental effects on prey communities. This top-down concept received much attention within conservation biology, but few studies demonstrated the phenomenon. The criticized since alternative explanations involving bottom-up impacts from bioclimatic productivity and anthropogenic habitat change are rarely considered. We analyse response a (the red fox) to declines in (wolf Eurasian lynx) agricultural expansion over 90 years Sweden, taking into account. show release effect, determined its strength. activity were mediated by their predator populations. Thus, both processes need be understood for effective preservation biodiversity anthropogenically transformed ecosystems.