Data from: Reproductive success of a keystone herbivore is more variable and responsive to climate in habitats with lower resource diversity|动物生态学数据集|气候变化影响数据集

1. The effects of climate on wild populations are often channeled through
species interactions. Population responses to climate variation can
therefore differ across habitats, owing to variation in the biotic
community. Theory predicts that consumer demography should be less
variable and less responsive to climate in habitats with greater resource
diversity. 2. We tested these predictions using a long-term study of
breeding lesser snow geese along the western coast of Hudson Bay,
Manitoba, Canada. Reproductive success was measured in 22 years from 114
locations, in either coastal or inland habitat types. We used Bayesian
analysis to estimate the response of reproductive success to climate in
each habitat type, along with residual variation not explained by climate.
We then quantified gosling diet composition in each habitat type to test
the prediction that reproductive success would be less variable and more
responsive to climate in habitats with lower resource diversity. 3.
Reproductive success responded positively to seasonal warmness, but this
response was much stronger in inland habitats than in coastal habitats.
Site- and year-level random effects were also three to five times more
variable in inland habitats. Simultaneously, land cover diversity and
gosling diet diversity were lower in inland habitats. 4. Our study
illustrates that spatial variation in resource diversity (and thus,
species interactions) can have important effects on consumer responses to
climate. In this system, climate change is expected to disproportionately
increase the reproductive success of snow geese in vast inland habitats,
potentially counteracting management efforts to reduce the abundance of
this keystone herbivore.