| 1. |
- Crone, Elizabeth E., et al.
(författare)
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Ability of Matrix Models to Explain the Past and Predict the Future of Plant Populations
- 2013
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Ingår i: Conservation Biology. - : Wiley. - 0888-8892 .- 1523-1739. ; 27:5, s. 968-978
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Uncertainty associated with ecological forecasts has long been recognized, but forecast accuracy is rarely quantified. We evaluated how well data on 82 populations of 20 species of plants spanning 3 continents explained and predicted plant population dynamics. We parameterized stage-based matrix models with demographic data from individually marked plants and determined how well these models forecast population sizes observed at least 5 years into the future. Simple demographic models forecasted population dynamics poorly; only 40% of observed population sizes fell within our forecasts' 95% confidence limits. However, these models explained population dynamics during the years in which data were collected; observed changes in population size during the data-collection period were strongly positively correlated with population growth rate. Thus, these models are at least a sound way to quantify population status. Poor forecasts were not associated with the number of individual plants or years of data. We tested whether vital rates were density dependent and found both positive and negative density dependence. However, density dependence was not associated with forecast error. Forecast error was significantly associated with environmental differences between the data collection and forecast periods. To forecast population fates, more detailed models, such as those that project how environments are likely to change and how these changes will affect population dynamics, may be needed. Such detailed models are not always feasible. Thus, it may be wiser to make risk-averse decisions than to expect precise forecasts from models. Habilidad de los Modelos Matriciales para Explicar el Pasado y Predecir el Futuro de las Poblaciones de Plantas Resumen La incertidumbre asociada con el pronostico ecologico ha sido reconocida durante un largo tiempo pero rara vez se cuantifica su seguridad. Evaluamos que tan bien la informacion de 82 poblaciones de 20 especies de plantas a lo largo de 3 continentes explica y predice la dinamica de poblacion de las plantas. Realizamos parametros con modelos matriciales con base en estadios con datos demograficos a partir de plantas marcadas individualmente y determinamos que tan bien estos modelos pronostican el tamano de las poblaciones al menos 5 anos en el futuro. Los modelos demograficos simples pronosticaron pobremente las dinamicas de poblacion; solamente el 40% de las poblaciones observadas cayo dentro de los limites de confianza de 85% de nuestros pronosticos. Estos modelos sin embargo explicaron la dinamica de poblacion a lo largo de los anos en los que se colectaron datos; los cambios observados en el tamano de la poblacion durante el periodo de colecta de datos estuvieron positivamente correlacionados con la tasa de crecimiento de la poblacion. Asi, estos modelos son por lo menos una manera segura de cuantificar el estado de la poblacion. Los pronosticos debiles no estuvieron asociados con el numero de plantas individuales o con los anos de datos. Probamos si las tasas vitales dependian de la densidad y encontramos que existe dependencia hacia la densidad tanto positiva como negativa, sin embargo la dependencia de densidad no se asocio con el error de pronostico. El error de pronostico estuvo significativamente asociado con diferencias ambientales entre la recoleccion de datos y los periodos de pronostico. Para predecir el destino de las poblaciones se necesitan modelos mas detallados, como aquellos que proyectan los cambios probables en el ambiente y como estos cambios afectaran a la dinamica de las poblaciones. Tales modelos tan detallados no siempre son factibles. Por ello puede ser mejor tomar decisiones aversas a riesgos que esperar pronosticos precisos de los modelos.
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| 2. |
- Doak, Daniel F., et al.
(författare)
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Recommendations for Improving Recovery Criteria under the US Endangered Species Act
- 2015
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Ingår i: BioScience. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0006-3568 .- 1525-3244. ; 65:2, s. 189-199
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recovery criteria, the thresholds mandated by the Endangered Species Act that define when species may be considered for downlisting or removal from the endangered species list, are a key component of conservation planning in the United States. We recommend improvements in the definition and scientific justification of recovery criteria, addressing both data-rich and data-poor situations. We emphasize the distinction between recovery actions and recovery criteria and recommend the use of quantitative population analyses to measure the impacts of threats and to explicitly tie recovery criteria to population status. To this end, we provide a brief tutorial on the legal and practical requirements and constraints of recovery criteria development. We conclude by contrasting our recommendations with other alternatives and by describing ways in which academic scientists can contribute productively to the planning process and to endangered species recovery.
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| 3. |
- Pironon, Samuel, et al.
(författare)
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Do geographic, climatic or historical ranges differentiate the performance of central versus peripheral populations?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Global Ecology and Biogeography. - : Wiley. - 1466-822X .- 1466-8238. ; 24:6, s. 611-620
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AimThe centre-periphery hypothesis' (CPH) predicts that species performance (genetics, physiology, morphology, demography) will decline gradually from the centre towards the periphery of the geographic range. This hypothesis has been subjected to continuous debate since the 1980s, essentially because empirical studies have shown contrasting patterns. Moreover, it has been proposed that species performance might not be higher at the geographic range centre but rather at the environmental optimum or at sites presenting greater environmental stability in time. In this paper we re-evaluate the CPH by disentangling the effects of geographic, climatic and historical centrality/marginality on the demography of three widely distributed plant species and the genetic diversity of one of them. LocationEurope and North America. MethodsBased on a species distribution modelling approach, we test whether demographic parameters (vital rates, stochastic population growth rates, density) of three plant species of contrasting life-forms, and the genetic diversity of one of them, are higher at their geographic range centres, climatic optima or projected glacial refugia. ResultsWhile geographic, climatic and historical centre-periphery gradients are often not concordant, overall, none of them explain well the distribution of species demographic performance, whereas genetic diversity responds positively only to a historical centrality, related to post-glacial range dynamics. Main conclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first assessment of the response of species performance to three centrality gradients, considering all the components of different species life cycles and genetic diversity information across continental distributions. Our results are inconsistent with the idea that geographically, climatically or historically marginal populations generally perform worse than central ones. We particularly emphasize the importance of adopting an interdisciplinary approach in order to understand the relative effects of contemporary versus historical and geographic versus ecological factors on the distribution of species performance.
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| 4. |
- Villellas, Jesus, et al.
(författare)
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Demographic compensation among populations : what is it, how does it arise and what are its implications?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Ecology Letters. - : Wiley. - 1461-023X .- 1461-0248. ; 18:11, s. 1139-1152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Most species are exposed to significant environmental gradients across their ranges, but vital rates (survival, growth, reproduction and recruitment) need not respond in the same direction to those gradients. Opposing vital rate trends across environments, a phenomenon that has been loosely called demographic compensation', may allow species to occupy larger geographical ranges and alter their responses to climate change. Yet the term has never been precisely defined, nor has its existence or strength been assessed for multiple species. Here, we provide a rigorous definition, and use it to develop a strong test for demographic compensation. By applying the test to data from 26 published, multi-population demographic studies of plants, we show that demographic compensation commonly occurs. We also investigate the mechanisms by which this phenomenon arises by assessing which demographic processes and life stages are most often involved. In addition, we quantify the effect of demographic compensation on variation in population growth rates across environmental gradients, a potentially important determinant of the size of a species' geographical range. Finally, we discuss the implications of demographic compensation for the responses of single populations and species' ranges to temporal environmental variation and to ongoing environmental trends, e.g. due to climate change.
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| 5. |
- Wiedorn, Max O., et al.
(författare)
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Megahertz serial crystallography
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2041-1723. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The new European X-ray Free-Electron Laser is the first X-ray free-electron laser capable of delivering X-ray pulses with a megahertz inter-pulse spacing, more than four orders of magnitude higher than previously possible. However, to date, it has been unclear whether it would indeed be possible to measure high-quality diffraction data at megahertz pulse repetition rates. Here, we show that high-quality structures can indeed be obtained using currently available operating conditions at the European XFEL. We present two complete data sets, one from the well-known model system lysozyme and the other from a so far unknown complex of a beta-lactamase from K. pneumoniae involved in antibiotic resistance. This result opens up megahertz serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) as a tool for reliable structure determination, substrate screening and the efficient measurement of the evolution and dynamics of molecular structures using megahertz repetition rate pulses available at this new class of X-ray laser source.
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