| 1. |
- Bastviken, David, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Methane as a source of carbon and energy for lake pelagic food webs
- 2003
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Ingår i: Ecology. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 84:4, s. 969-981
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Water-column methane oxidation can represent a substantial carbon transformation pathway in lakes, and circumstantial evidence indicates that methane may be a potentially important source of carbon for pelagic food webs. We estimated methanotrophic bacterial production (MBP), methanotrophic bacterial growth efficiency (MBGE), heterotrophic bacterial production (HBP), primary production (PP), and the relative contribution of methanotrophic bacteria to overall bacterial biomass in three very different lakes during summer and winter. In addition, we measured stable carbon isotope ratios in particulate organic matter (POM), surface sediments, zooplankton, and methane. MBP corresponded to 0.3-7% of the organic C production by primary producers, and 0.5-17% of HBP during summer. During winter, MBP was 3-120% of HBP. MBP generally dominated the heterotrophic bacterial production at greater depths. Methanotrophic biomass was 3-11% of total bacterial biomass on a depth-integrated basis. Zooplankton were generally more depleted in 13C than POM. If phytoplankton d13C signatures were -35 to -30ë, such as the POM signals, observed zooplankton signatures could be explained by a fraction of 5-15% methanotrophic bacteria in their diet. The results indicate that methanotrophic bacteria can provide a significant food source for zooplankton, and that methane oxidation represents a potentially important benthic-pelagic carbon and energy link in many lakes, particularly during winter.
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| 2. |
- Brose, Ulrich, et al.
(författare)
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Consumer-resource body-size relationships in natural food webs
- 2006
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Ecological Society of America esa. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 87:10, s. 2411-2417
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has been suggested that differences in body size between consumer and resource species may have important implications for interaction strengths, population dynamics, and eventually food web structure, function, and evolution. Still, the general distribution of consumer-'resource body-size ratios in real ecosystems, and whether they vary systematically among habitats or broad taxonomic groups, is poorly understood. Using a unique global database on consumer and resource body sizes, we show that the mean body-size ratios of aquatic herbivorous and detritivorous consumers are several orders of magnitude larger than those of carnivorous predators. Carnivorous predator-prey body-size ratios vary across different habitats and predator and prey types (invertebrates, ectotherm, and endotherm vertebrates). Predator-prey body-size ratios are on average significantly higher (1) in freshwater habitats than in marine or terrestrial habitats, (2) for vertebrate than for invertebrate predators, and (3) for invertebrate than for ectotherm vertebrate prey. If recent studies that relate body-size ratios to interaction strengths are general, our results suggest that mean consumer-resource interaction strengths may vary systematically across different habitat categories and consumer types.
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| 3. |
- Ehrlén, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Dispersal limitation and patch occupancy in forest herbs
- 2000
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Ingår i: Ecology. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 81, s. 1667-1674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The distribution of species depends on the availability of suitable habitats, the capacity to disperse to these habitats, and the capacity of populations to persist after establishment. Dispersal limitation implies that not all suitable habitat patches will be occupied by a species. However, the extent to which dispersal limits local distribution is poorly known. In this study, we transplanted seeds, bulbils, and juvenile plants to examine patterns of dispersal limitation and patch occupancy in seven temperate-forest herbs. Recruitment was recorded during four years in 48 patches. The investigated species varied considerably in their natural abundance in the patches. Patterns of seedling emergence and establishment among patches were not related to any of nine investigated abiotic factors. In contrast, the availability of seeds or bulbils was found to limit recruitment in six of the investigated species. Establishment was also successful in many patches where the species did not occur naturally. Estimated patch occupancy in the investigated species ranged from 17.2% to 94.6%. Seed size was positively correlated with the probability of successful establishment of seeds and negatively correlated with patch occupancy. The results suggest that dispersal limitation is an important structuring factor in temperate-forest herb communities. The distribution of species can be perceived as the result of processes operating both among and within patches. Seed size is a key trait in these processes.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Romaní, Anna Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Interactions of bacteria and fungi on decomposing litter : Differential extracellular enzyme activities
- 2006
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Ingår i: Ecology. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 87:10, s. 2559-2569
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fungi and bacteria are key agents in plant litter decomposition in freshwater ecosystems. However, the specific roles of these two groups and their interactions during the decomposition process are unclear. We compared the growth and patterns of degradative enzymes expressed by communities of bacteria and fungi grown separately and in coexistence on Phragmites leaves. The two groups displayed both synergistic and antagonistic interactions. Bacteria grew better together with fungi than alone. In addition, there was a negative effect of bacteria on fungi, which appeared to be caused by suppression of fungal growth and biomass accrual rather than specifically affecting enzyme activity. Fungi growing alone had a high capacity for the decomposition of plant polymers such as lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose. In contrast, enzyme activities were in general low when bacteria grew alone, and the activity of key enzymes in the degradation of lignin and cellulose (phenol oxidase and cellobiohydrolase) was undetectable in the bacteria-only treatment. Still, biomass-specific activities of most enzymes were higher in bacteria than in fungi. The low total activity and growth of bacteria in the absence of fungi in spite of apparent high enzymatic efficiency during the degradation of many substrates suggest that fungi provide the bacteria with resources that the bacteria were not able to acquire on their own, most probably intermediate decomposition products released by fungi that could be used by bacteria.
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| 6. |
- Sjöberg, Kjell, et al.
(författare)
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Response of Mallard ducklings to variation in habitat quality : an experiment of food limitation
- 2000
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Ingår i: Ecology. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. - 0012-9658 ; 81:2, s. 329-335
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Occurrence of Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) pairs and broods was studied on 86 boreal lakes in two areas in south Finland during 1988-1997 (35 lakes) and 1989-1996 (51 lakes), and field experiments were conducted to determine whether food limitation is an important factor regulating population densities. In general, pairs and broods used and avoided the same lakes, but in both study areas, the proportion of lakes that were unoccupied every year was higher for broods (71% and 69%) than for pairs (26% and 31%). We hypothesized that lakes without breeding Mallards, and especially broods, were too poor to raise young in, and we tested that in field experiments on 22 lakes in boreal Sweden. Based on concentration of total phosphorus in the water, these lakes were divided into two groups: 11 "poor" lakes and 11 "rich" lakes. Mallard ducklings imprinted on humans were used to address brood-stage food limitation by studying mass change. Thirty-one individually marked ducklings were divided into three experimental groups: 12 ducklings were used in poor lakes, 12 ducklings in rich lakes, and 7 ducklings were used as controls receiving no experimental treatment in the field. Each group was studied in 11 daytime trials on 11 different lakes, except the control group which was kept in a pen with free access to food. Ducklings of all groups spent nights together as a big 31-individual group in the same pen and with free access to food. Ducklings foraging on poor lakes gained significantly less body mass than those feeding on rich lakes. At night, when ducklings of both groups had equal and free access to food, ducklings that had been feeding in a poor lake that day gained more mass than those that had been feeding in a rich lake. Overall, similar to 95% of daily mass gain was accounted for by daytime gain in the control group, the corresponding percentage was 35% in the rich-lake experimental group and 11% in the poor-lake experimental group. Thus, we have observational, as well as experimental, evidence to conclude that many boreal lakes are inferior breeding habitat for Mallards, especially during the brood stage. Our results suggest (1) that it is important to recognize at what stage of the yearly reproductive cycle food limitation may occur, (2) that brood stage may be more important than nesting stage for possible population limitation and regulation in breeding Mallards, and (3) that the reason why so many lakes in the boreal region lack breeding Mallards may be food limitation.
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| 7. |
- Jonsson, Per R., 1957, et al.
(författare)
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Interactions between wave action and grazing control the distribution of intertidal macroalgae
- 2006
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Ingår i: Ecology. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 87:5, s. 1169-1178
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Canopy-forming macroalgae are key species on temperate rocky shores. However, there is a lack of understanding of how the relative balance of physical and biological factors controls the establishment and persistence of intertidal macroalgae. Here we present an integrated study of the relative importance of wave-induced forces and grazing for the recruitment and Survival of the canopy-forming intertidal macroalgae Fucus vesiculosus and F. spiralis. A set of overtopped breakwaters provided a nearly unconfounded gradient in wave exposure between seaward and landward sides. A biomechanical analysis was performed based on empirical measurements of maximum drag forces in breaking waves, a model of long-term maximum wave height, and the breaking stress of Fucus spp. The estimated maximum flow speed (7-8 m/s) on the seaward side of the breakwaters was predicted to completely dislodge or prune Fucus spp. larger than similar to 10 cm, while dislodgment was highly unlikely on the landward side for all sizes. Experimental transplantation of Fucus spp. supported the biomechanical analysis but also suggested that mechanical abrasion may further limit survival in wave-exposed locations. Experimental removal of the limpet Patella vulgata, which was the principal grazer at this site, resulted in recruitment of Fucus spp. on the seaward side. We present a model of limpet grazing that indicates that limpet densities > 5-20 individuals/m(2) provide a proximate mechanism preventing establishment of Fucus spp., whereas wave action > 2 m/s reduces persistence through dislodgment and battering. In a conceptual model we further propose that recruitment and survival of juvenile Fucus spp. are controlled indirectly by wave exposure through higher limpet densities at exposed locations. This model predicts that climate change, and in particular an increased frequency of storm events in the northeast Atlantic, will restrict fucoids to more sheltered locations.
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| 8. |
- Carpenter, Stephen R., et al.
(författare)
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Ecosystem subsidies : Terrestrial support of aquatic food webs from C-13 addition to contrasting lakes
- 2005
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 86:10, s. 2737-2750
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Whole-lake additions of dissolved inorganic C-13 were used to measure allochthony (the terrestrial contribution of organic carbon to aquatic consumers) in two unproductive lakes (Paul and Peter Lakes in 2001), a nutrient-enriched lake (Peter Lake in 2002), and a dystrophic lake (Tuesday Lake in 2002). Three kinds of dynamic models were used to estimate allochthony: a process-rich, dual-isotope flow model based on mass balances of two carbon isotopes in 12 carbon pools; simple univariate time-series models driven by observed time courses of delta(13)CO(2); and multivariate autoregression models that combined information from time series of delta(13)C in several interacting carbon pools. All three models gave similar estimates of allochthony. In the three experiments without nutrient enrichment, flows of terrestrial carbon to dissolved and particulate organic carbon, zooplankton, Chaoborus, and fishes were substantial. For example, terrestrial sources accounted for more than half the carbon flow to juvenile and adult largemouth bass, pumpkinseed sunfish, golden shiners, brook sticklebacks, and fathead minnows in the unenriched experiments. Allochthony was highest in the dystrophic lake and lowest in the nutrient-enriched lake. Nutrient enrichment of Peter Lake decreased allochthony of zooplankton from 0.34-0.48 to 0-0.12, and of fishes from 0.51-0.80 to 0.25-0.55. These experiments show that lake ecosystem carbon cycles, including carbon flows to consumers, are heavily subsidized by organic carbon from the surrounding landscape.
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| 9. |
- Alatalo, Rauno V., et al.
(författare)
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Exploitation competition influences the use of foraging sites by tits : Experimental evidence
- 1987
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Ecological Society of America. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 68:2, s. 284-290
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In coniferous forests of central Sweden, tits (Paridae) and the Goldcrest, Regulus regulus, exploit nonrenewable resources in their group territories during winter. The smaller and socially subordinate species, the Goldcrest and the Coal Tit, Parus ater, forage on the outermost tree parts, while the larger and dominant Willow Tit, Parus montanus, and Crested Tit, Parus cristatus, forage on the inner tree parts. We removed Coal Tits and Goldcrests in three flocks in early winter to see if their absence would cause changes in the foraging patterns of the two dominant species. In late winter, Crested Tits foraged farther outward on branches of spruce in experimental flocks than they did in the control flocks. In spruce, Willow Tits foraged nearer the trunk than Crested Tits, and they did not respond to the experiment. In pine, Willow Tits, however, did move from branches to twigs in the absence of Coal Tits and Goldcrests. The experiment indicates that exploitation competition directly based on food depletion, without any interference, may influence the use of foraging sites by tits in coniferous forests.
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| 10. |
- Allen-Perkins, Alfonso, et al.
(författare)
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CropPol : a dynamic, open and global database on crop pollination
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 103:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Seventy five percent of the world's food crops benefit from insect pollination. Hence, there has been increased interest in how global change drivers impact this critical ecosystem service. Because standardized data on crop pollination are rarely available, we are limited in our capacity to understand the variation in pollination benefits to crop yield, as well as to anticipate changes in this service, develop predictions, and inform management actions. Here, we present CropPol, a dynamic, open and global database on crop pollination. It contains measurements recorded from 202 crop studies, covering 3,394 field observations, 2,552 yield measurements (i.e. berry weight, number of fruits and kg per hectare, among others), and 47,752 insect records from 48 commercial crops distributed around the globe. CropPol comprises 32 of the 87 leading global crops and commodities that are pollinator dependent. Malus domestica is the most represented crop (32 studies), followed by Brassica napus (22 studies), Vaccinium corymbosum (13 studies), and Citrullus lanatus (12 studies). The most abundant pollinator guilds recorded are honey bees (34.22% counts), bumblebees (19.19%), flies other than Syrphidae and Bombyliidae (13.18%), other wild bees (13.13%), beetles (10.97%), Syrphidae (4.87%), and Bombyliidae (0.05%). Locations comprise 34 countries distributed among Europe (76 studies), Northern America (60), Latin America and the Caribbean (29), Asia (20), Oceania (10), and Africa (7). Sampling spans three decades and is concentrated on 2001-05 (21 studies), 2006-10 (40), 2011-15 (88), and 2016-20 (50). This is the most comprehensive open global data set on measurements of crop flower visitors, crop pollinators and pollination to date, and we encourage researchers to add more datasets to this database in the future. This data set is released for non-commercial use only. Credits should be given to this paper (i.e., proper citation), and the products generated with this database should be shared under the same license terms (CC BY-NC-SA). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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| 11. |
- Andersson, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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The spatial structure of bacterial communities is influenced by historical environmental conditions
- 2014
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 95:5, s. 1134-1140
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The spatial structure of ecological communities, including that of bacteria, is often influenced by species sorting by contemporary environmental conditions. Moreover, historical processes, i.e., ecological and evolutionary events that have occurred at some point in the past, such as dispersal limitation, drift, priority effects, or selection by past environmental conditions, can be important, but are generally investigated much less. Here, we conducted a field study using 16 rock pools, where we specifically compared the importance of past vs. contemporary environmental conditions for bacterial community structure by correlating present differences in bacterial community composition among pools to environmental conditions measured on the same day, as well as to those measured 2, 4, 6, and 8 d earlier. The results prove that selection by past environmental conditions exists, since we were able to show that bacterial communities are, to a greater extent, an imprint of past compared to contemporary environmental conditions. We suggest that this is the result of a combination of different mechanisms, including priority effects that cause rapid adaptation to new environmental conditions of taxa that have been initially selected by past environmental conditions, and slower rates of turnover in community composition compared to environmental conditions.
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| 12. |
- Andersson, Per Gösta, 1964-
(författare)
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Alternative confidence intervals for the total of a skewed biological population
- 2004
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Ingår i: Ecology. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 85:11, s. 3166-3171
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a 1999 Ecology article, T. G. Gregoire and O. Schabenberger addressed the problem of obtaining truly symmetric confidence intervals for the total of a positively skewed biological population under simple random sampling. Their simulation study revealed that the skewness induced a substantial positive correlation between the estimator of the total and the estimator of its variance. This caused the standard nominally symmetric t-based intervals, based on approximate normality of the estimator of the total, to be highly unbalanced, i.e., intervals much more often missed from below than from above. To better cope with this situation I suggest an alternative confidence interval procedure that takes into account and adjusts for the induced correlation. A simulation study based on one of the populations used by Gregoire and Schabenberger shows that the resulting adjusted intervals have more balanced noncoverage probabilities and often higher coverage probability than the standard intervals in cases of substantial correlation. I also provide an example of an unequal probability design using auxiliary information, where there is much less need for an adjustment.
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| 13. |
- Angeler, David
(författare)
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Statistical performance and information content of time lag analysis and redundancy analysis in time series modeling
- 2009
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 90, s. 3245-3257
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Time lag analysis (TLA) is a distance-based approach used to study temporal dynamics of ecological communities by measuring community dissimilarity over increasing time lags. Despite its increased use in recent years, its performance in comparison with other more direct methods (i.e., canonical ordination) has not been evaluated. This study fills this gap using extensive simulations and real data sets from experimental temporary ponds (true zooplankton communities) and landscape studies (landscape categories as pseudo-communities) that differ in community structure and anthropogenic stress history. Modeling time with a principal coordinate of neighborhood matrices (PCNM) approach, the canonical ordination technique (redundancy analysis; RDA) consistently outperformed the other statistical tests (i.e., TLAs, Mantel test, and RDA based on linear time trends) using all real data. In addition, the RDA-PCNM revealed different patterns of temporal change, and the strength of each individual time pattern, in terms of adjusted variance explained, could be evaluated. It also identified species contributions to these patterns of temporal change. This additional information is not provided by distance-based methods. The simulation study revealed better Type I error properties of the canonical ordination techniques compared with the distance-based approaches when no deterministic component of change was imposed on the communities. The simulation also revealed that strong emphasis on uniform deterministic change and low variability at other temporal scales is needed to result in decreased statistical power of the RDA-PCNM approach relative to the other methods. Based on the statistical performance of and information content provided by RDA-PCNM models, this technique serves ecologists as a powerful tool for modeling temporal change of ecological (pseudo-) communities.
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| 14. |
- Angeler, David
(författare)
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The distribution and role of functional abundance in cross-scale resilience
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 99, s. 2421-2432
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The cross-scale resilience model suggests that system-level ecological resilience emerges from the distribution of species' functions within and across the spatial and temporal scales of a system. It has provided a quantitative method for calculating the resilience of a given system and so has been a valuable contribution to a largely qualitative field. As it is currently laid out, the model accounts for the spatial and temporal scales at which environmental resources and species are present and the functional roles species play but does not inform us about how much resource is present or how much function is provided. In short, it does not account for abundance in the distribution of species and their functional roles within and across the scales of a system. We detail the ways in which we would expect species' abundance to be relevant to the cross-scale resilience model based on the extensive abundance literature in ecology. We also put forward a series of testable hypotheses that would improve our ability to anticipate and quantify how resilience is generated, and how ecosystems will (or will not) buffer recent rapid global changes. This stream of research may provide an improved foundation for the quantitative evaluation of ecological resilience.
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| 15. |
- Araújo, M.S., et al.
(författare)
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Network analysis reveals contrasting effects of intraspecific competition on individual versus population diets
- 2008
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 89:7, s. 1981-1993
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optimal foraging theory predicts that individuals should become more opportunistic when intraspecific competition is high and preferred resources are scarce. This density-dependent diet shift should result in increased diet breadth for individuals as they add previously unused prey to their repertoire. As a result, the niche breadth of the population as a whole should increase. In a recent study, R. Svanback and D. I. Bolnick confirmed that intraspecific competition led to increased population diet breadth in threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). However, individual diet breadth did not expand as resource levels declined. Here, we present a new method based on complex network theory that moves beyond a simple measure of diet breadth, and we use the method to reexamine the stickleback experiment. This method reveals that the population as a whole added new types of prey as stickleback density was increased. However, whereas foraging theory predicts that niche expansion is achieved by individuals accepting new prey in addition to previously preferred prey, we found that a subset of individuals ceased to use their previously preferred prey, even though other members of their population continued to specialize on the original prey types. As a result, populations were subdivided into groups of ecologically similar individuals, with diet variation among groups reflecting phenotype-dependent changes in foraging behavior as prey density declined. These results are consistent with foraging theory if we assume that quantitative trait variation among consumers affects prey preferences, and if cognitive constraints prevent individuals from continuing to use their formerly preferred prey while adding new prey.
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Ask, Jenny, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Whole-lake estimates of carbon flux through algae and bacteria in benthic and pelagic habitats of clear-water lakes
- 2009
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Ingår i: Ecology. - Washington, DC, USA : Ecological Society of America. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 90:7, s. 1923-1932
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study quantified new biomass production of algae and bacteria in both benthic and pelagic habitats of clear-water lakes to contrast how carbon from the atmosphere and terrestrial sources regulates whole-lake metabolism. We studied four small unproductive lakes in subarctic northern Sweden during one summer season. The production of new biomass in both benthic and pelagic habitats was calculated as the sum of autotrophic production by algae and heterotrophic production by bacteria using allochthonous organic carbon (OC). Whole-lake production of new biomass was dominated by the benthic habitat (86% +/- 4% [mean +/- SD]) and by primary production (77% +/- 9%). Still, heterotrophic bacteria fueled by allochthonous OC constituted a significant portion of the new biomass production in both benthic (19% +/- 11%) and pelagic habitats (51% +/- 24%). In addition, overall net production (primary production minus respiration) was close to zero in the benthic habitats but highly negative (-163 +/- 81 mg C.m(-2).d(-1)) in pelagic regions of all lakes. We conclude (1) that allochthonous OC supported a significant part of total production of new biomass in both pelagic and benthic habitats, (2) that benthic habitats dominated the whole-lake production of new biomass, and (3) that respiration and net CO2 production dominated the carbon flux of the pelagic habitats and biomass production dominated the benthic carbon flux. Taken together, these findings suggest that previous investigations have greatly underestimated the productivity of clear-water lakes when benthic autotrophic production and metabolism of allochthonous OC have not been measured.
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| 18. |
- Balslev, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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Palm community transects and soil properties in western Amazonia
- 2019
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 100:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Western Amazonia is a global biodiversity hotspot that encompasses extensive variation in geologic, climatic, and biotic features. Palms (Arecaceae) are among the most diverse and iconic groups of plants in the region with more than 150 species that exhibit extraordinary variation of geographical distributions, regional abundance patterns, and life history strategies and growth forms, and provide myriad ecosystem services. Understanding the ecological and evolutionary drivers that underpin palm distribution and abundance patterns may shed light on the evolution and ecology of the tropical forest biomes more generally. Edaphic conditions, in particular, are increasingly recognized as critical drivers of tropical plant diversity and distributions but data deficiencies inhibit our understanding of plant-soil relationships at broad scales, especially in the tropics. We present data from 546, 0.25-ha (5 x 500 m) georeferenced transects located throughout western Amazonia where all individual palms were identified, counted, and assigned to a life-history stage. Several environmental covariates were recorded along each transect and surface soil samples were collected from multiple points in N = 464 of transects. Altogether, the transects include 532,602 individuals belonging to 135 species. Variation among transects in terms of palm species richness and abundance is associated with major habitat types and soil properties. The soil properties including pH, acidity, all macronutrients for all samples, and texture, carbon, nitrogen, and micronutrients for some transects vary substantially across the study area, providing insight to broad-scale variation of tropical surface soils. The data provided here will help advance our understanding of plant distributions and abundance patterns, and associations with soil conditions. No copyright restrictions are associated with this data set but please cite this paper if data are used for publication.
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| 19. |
- Barabas, György, et al.
(författare)
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Chessons coexistence theory: reply
- 2020
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 101:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
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| 20. |
- Bartels, Pia, et al.
(författare)
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Reciprocal subsidies between freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems structure consumer resource dynamics
- 2012
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 93:5, s. 1173-1182
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cross-ecosystem movements of material and energy, particularly reciprocal resource fluxes across the freshwater-land interface, have received major attention. Freshwater ecosystems may receive higher amounts of subsidies (i.e., resources produced outside the focal ecosystem) than terrestrial ecosystems, potentially leading to increased secondary production in freshwaters. Here we used a meta-analytic approach to quantify the magnitude and direction of subsidy inputs across the freshwater-land interface and to determine subsequent responses in recipient animals. Terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems differed in the magnitude of subsidies they received, with aquatic ecosystems generally receiving higher subsidies than terrestrial ecosystems. Surprisingly, and despite the large discrepancy in magnitude, the contribution of these subsidies to animal carbon inferred from stable isotope composition did not differ between freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, likely due to the differences in subsidy quality. The contribution of allochthonous subsidies was highest to primary consumers and predators, suggesting that bottom-up and top-down effects may be affected considerably by the input of allochthonous resources. Future work on subsidies will profit from a food web dynamic approach including indirect trophic interactions and propagating effects.
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| 21. |
- Beisner, Beatrix E., et al.
(författare)
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The role of environmental and spatial processes in structuring lake communities from bacteria to fish
- 2006
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Ingår i: Ecology. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 87:12, s. 2985-2991
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We assessed the relative roles of local environmental conditions and dispersal on community structure in a landscape of lakes for the major trophic groups. We use taxonomic presence–absence and abundance data for bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish from 18 lakes in southern Quebec, Canada. The question of interest was whether communities composed of organisms with more limited dispersal abilities, because of size and life history (zooplankton and fish) would show a different effect of lake distribution than communities composed of good dispersers (bacteria and phytoplankton). We examine the variation in structure attributable to local environmental (i.e., lake chemical and physical variables) vs. dispersal predictors (i.e., overland and watercourse distances between lakes) using variation partitioning techniques. Overall, we show that less motile species (crustacean zooplankton and fish) are better predicted by spatial factors than by local environmental ones. Furthermore, we show that for zooplankton abundances, both overland and watercourse dispersal pathways are equally strong, though they may select for different components of the community, while for fish, only watercourses are relevant dispersal pathways. These results suggest that crustacean zooplankton and fish are more constrained by dispersal and therefore more likely to operate as a metacommunity than are bacteria and phytoplankton within this studied landscape.
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| 22. |
- Bejarano, Maria D., et al.
(författare)
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Traits of riparian woody plants responding to hydrological and hydraulic conditions : A Northern Swedish database
- 2016
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 97:10, s. 2892-2892
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The main goal of this study was to create a database that ultimately serves further studies on riparian vegetation and flow response guilds in the boreal region and on transferability of results across different regions. To achieve this aim, we compiled traits for all woody riparian species in northern Sweden which, directly or indirectly, underlie their responses to hydrological and hydraulic conditions, between October 2012 and April 2015. Consulted sources of information were diverse, ranging from scientific to informative and whose accuracy might or might not be verified. They were focused on particular or several traits and species from concrete areas to a worldwide perspective. Sources were characterized by different degrees of accessibility and showed a wide variety of descriptions, categorical and ordinal classifications, and numerical information for each trait. Our effort was to synthesize information for each trait from all sources into the common frame of our own database, following own defined criteria so that comparisons between species are congruent. Therefore, this data set is unique in that it comprehensively combines and homogenizes morphological, phenological, reproductive, and ecological data for 59 woody, riparian, boreal species and from 118 sources of information, that would otherwise be scattered and hardly available.
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| 23. |
- Belinchon, Rocio, et al.
(författare)
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Local epiphyte establishment and future metapopulation dynamics in landscapes with different spatiotemporal properties
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 98, s. 741-750
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the relative importance of different ecological processes on the metapopulation dynamics of species is the basis for accurately forecasting metapopulation size in fragmented landscapes. Successful local colonization depends on both species dispersal range and how local habitat conditions affect establishment success. Moreover, there is limited understanding of the effects of different spatiotemporal landscape properties on future metapopulation size. We investigate which factors drive the future metapopulation size of the epiphytic model lichen species Lobaria pulmonaria in a managed forest landscape. First, we test the importance of dispersal and local conditions on the colonization-extinction dynamics of the species using Bayesian state-space modelling of a large-scale data set collected over a 10-yr period. Second, we test the importance of dispersal and establishment limitation in explaining establishment probability and subsequent local population growth, based on a 10-yr propagule sowing experiment. Third, we test how future metapopulation size is affected by different metapopulation and spatiotemporal landscape dynamics, using simulations with the metapopulation models fitted to the empirical data. The colonization probability increased with tree inclination and connectivity, with a mean dispersal distance of 97 m (95% credible intervals, 5-530 m). Local extinctions were mainly deterministic set by tree mortality, but also by tree cutting by forestry. No experimental establishments took place on clearcuts, and in closed forest the establishment probability was higher on trees growing on moist than on dry-mesic soils. The subsequent local population growth rate increased with increasing bark roughness. The simulations showed that the restricted dispersal range estimated (compared to non-restricted dispersal range), and short tree rotation length (65 yr instead of 120) had approximately the same negative effects on future metapopulation size, while regeneration of trees creating a random tree pattern instead of an aggregated one had only some negative effect. However, using the colonization rate obtained with the experimentally added diaspores led to a considerable increase in metapopulation size, making the dispersal limitation of the species clear. The future metapopulation size is thus set by the number of host trees located in shady conditions, not isolated from occupied trees, and by the rotation length of these host trees.
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| 24. |
- Berggren, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Unified understanding of intrinsic and extrinsic controls of dissolved organic carbon reactivity in aquatic ecosystems
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 103:9
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite our growing understanding of the global carbon cycle, scientific consensus on the drivers and mechanisms that control dissolved organic carbon (DOC) turnover in aquatic systems is lacking, hampered by the mismatch between research that approaches DOC reactivity from either intrinsic (inherent chemical properties) or extrinsic (environmental context) perspectives. Here we propose a conceptual view of DOC reactivity in which the combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors controls turnover rates and determines which reactions will occur. We review three major types of reactions (biological, photochemical, and flocculation) from an intrinsic chemical perspective and further define the environmental features that modulate the expression of chemically inherent reactivity potential. Finally, we propose hypotheses of how extrinsic and intrinsic factors together shape patterns in DOC turnover across the land-to-ocean continuum, underscoring that there is no intrinsic DOC reactivity without environmental context. By acknowledging the intrinsic–extrinsic control duality, our framework intends to foster improved modeling of DOC reactivity and its impact on ecosystem services.
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| 25. |
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| 26. |
- Bergvall, Ulrika Alm, et al.
(författare)
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Plant secondary compounds and the frequency of food types affect food choice by mammalian herbivores
- 2005
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 86:9, s. 2450-2460
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have investigated food choice in individual fallow deer (Dama dama) encountering different relative frequencies of food types in the form of bowls containing pellets with either high or low concentrations of hydrolyzable tannin. We performed two similar experiments, one with large and one with small differences in tannic acid concentration. With small differences in tannic acid concentration, the ratio of the consumption per low- and high-tannin bowl was independent of frequency of occurrence, but with large differences in tannic acid concentration, we found frequency-dependent food choice. The deer ate proportionally less from high-tannin bowls if these occurred at low relative frequency. Variation between frequency treatments in the average order of encounter of bowl types might have produced this effect, because we found that the deer left a high-tannin bowl more quickly if they had switched to it from a low-tannin bowl. We argue that the perceived contrast between the tastes of different food types can play a role for food choice by mammalian herbivores.
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| 27. |
- Bokhorst, Stef Frederik, et al.
(författare)
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Lichen physiological traits and growth forms affect communities of associated invertebrates
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 96, s. 2394-2407
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While there has been much interest in the relationships between traits of primary producers and composition of associated invertebrate consumer communities, our knowledge is largely based on studies from vascular plants, while other types of functionally important producers, such as lichens, have rarely been considered. To address how physiological traits of lichens drive community composition of invertebrates, we collected thalli from 27 lichen species from southern Norway and quantified the communities of associated springtails, mites, and nematodes. For each lichen species, we measured key physiological thallus traits and determined whether invertebrate communities were correlated with these traits. We also explored whether invertebrate communities differed among lichen groups, categorized according to nitrogen-fixing ability, growth form, and substratum. Lichen traits explained up to 39% of the variation in abundances of major invertebrate groups. For many invertebrate groups, abundance was positively correlated with lichen N and P concentrations, N: P ratio, and the percentage of water content on saturation (WC), but had few relationships with concentrations of carbon-based secondary compounds. Diversity and taxonomic richness of invertebrate groups were sometimes also correlated with lichen N and N: P ratios. Nitrogen-fixing lichens showed higher abundance and diversity of some invertebrate groups than did non-N-fixing lichens. However, this emerged in part because most N-fixing lichens have a foliose growth form that benefits invertebrates, through improving the microclimate, independently of N concentration. Furthermore, invertebrate communities associated with terricolous lichens were determined more by their close proximity to the soil invertebrate pool than by lichen traits. Overall, our results reveal that differences between lichen species have a large impact on the invertebrate communities that live among the thalli. Different invertebrate groups show contrasting responses to traits that are indicative of thallus quality (nutrient concentrations), and thallus growth form is often an important determinant of the invertebrate community. Given the large diversity of lichen traits and growth forms that occur in many ecosystems, lichen-invertebrate communities may be an important contributor to overall community diversity in boreal forests.
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| 28. |
- Borgström, Pernilla, et al.
(författare)
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Above- and belowground insect herbivory modifies the response of a grassland plant community to nitrogen eutrophication
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 98, s. 545-554
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the role that species interactions play in determining the rate and direction of ecosystem change due to nitrogen (N) eutrophication is important for predicting the consequences of global change. Insects might play a major role in this context. They consume substantial amounts of plant biomass and can alter competitive interactions among plants, indirectly shaping plant community composition. Nitrogen eutrophication affects plant communities globally, but there is limited experimental evidence of how insect herbivory modifies plant community response to raised N levels. Even less is known about the roles of above- and below-ground herbivory in shaping plant communities, and how the interaction between the two might modify a plant community's response to N eutrophication. We conducted a 3-yr field experiment where grassland plant communities were subjected to above- and belowground insect herbivory with and without N addition, in a full-factorial design. We found that herbivory modified plant community responses to N addition. Aboveground herbivory decreased aboveground plant community biomass by 21%, but only at elevated N. When combined, above- and belowground herbivory had a stronger negative effect on plant community biomass at ambient N (11% decrease) than at elevated N (4% decrease). In addition, herbivory shifted the functional composition of the plant community, and the magnitude of the shifts depended on the N level. The N and herbivory treatments synergistically conferred a competitive advantage to forbs, which benefited when both herbivory types were present at elevated N. Evenness among the plant species groups increased when aboveground herbivory was present, but N addition attenuated this increase. Our results demonstrate that a deeper understanding of how plant-herbivore interactions above and below ground shape the composition of a plant community is crucial for making reliable predictions about the ecological consequences of global change.
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| 29. |
- Brodersen, Jakob, et al.
(författare)
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Condition-dependent individual decision-making determines cyprinid partial migration
- 2008
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 89:5, s. 1195-1200
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Partial migration is a common phenomenon among many animals and occurs in many types of ecosystems. Understanding the mechanisms behind partial migration is of major importance for the understanding of population dynamics and, eventually, ecosystem processes. We studied the effects of food availability on the seasonal partial migration of cyprinid fish from a lake to connected streams during winter by the use of passive telemetry. Fish with increased access to food were found to migrate in higher proportion, earlier in the season, and to reside in the streams for a longer period compared to fish with decreased access to food. Furthermore, fewer unfed migrants returned to the lake, indicating higher overwinter mortality. Our results suggest that individual fish trade off safety from predation and access to food differently depending on their body condition, which results in a condition-dependent partial migration. Hence, our main conclusion is that individual decision-making is based on assessment of own condition which offers a mechanistic explanation to partial migration. Moreover, this may be of high importance for understanding population responses to environmental variation as well as ecosystem dynamics and stability. Read More: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/07-1318.1
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| 30. |
- Brodin, Tomas, et al.
(författare)
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Conflicting selection pressures on the growth/predation risk trade-off in a damselfly
- 2004
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 85:11, s. 2927-2932
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Activity is an important behavioral trait that in most animals mediates a trade-off between obtaining food for growth and avoiding predation. Active individuals usually experience a higher encounter rate with food items and predators and, as a consequence, grow faster and suffer higher predation pressure than less active individuals. We investigated how predator-induced mortality and growth of the damselfly Coenagrion hastulatum depend on activity at the level of the genotype. Larvae from six different C. hastulatum families were reared in two different predator treatments: predator present or absent. Families differed in activity, and active families grew to a significantly larger size than less-active families. Within families there was a plastic response to predators. Larvae reared without predators were more active and grew larger than larvae reared with a nonlethal predator. In the presence of a lethal predator the active families experienced higher mortality than the less active families. The results illustrate that the growth/predation-risk trade-off was mediated by activity and clearly show a cost of antipredator behavior. They also suggest that variation in activity level might be genetically regulated and could explain why C. hastulatum are abundant in aquatic systems both with and without potential predators.
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| 31. |
- Brose, Ulrich, et al.
(författare)
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Body sizes of consumers and their resources
- 2005
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Ecological Society of America. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 86:9, s. 2545-2545
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Trophic information—who eats whom—and species’ body sizes are two of the most basic descriptions necessary to understand community structure as well as ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Consumer–resource body size ratios between predators and their prey, and parasitoids and their hosts, have recently gained increasing attention due to their important implications for species’ interaction strengths and dynamical population stability. This data set documents body sizes of consumers and their resources. We gathered body size data for the food webs of Skipwith Pond, a parasitoid community of grass-feeding chalcid wasps in British grasslands; the pelagic community of the Benguela system, a source web based on broom in the United Kingdom; Broadstone Stream, UK; the Grand Caric¸aie marsh at Lake Neuchaˆtel, Switzerland; Tuesday Lake, USA; alpine lakes in the Sierra Nevada of California; Mill Stream, UK; and the eastern Weddell Sea Shelf, Antarctica. Further consumer–resource body size data are included for planktonic predators, predatory nematodes, parasitoids, marine fish predators, freshwater invertebrates, Australian terrestrial consumers, and aphid parasitoids. Containing 16 807 records, this is the largest data set ever compiled for body sizes of consumers and their resources. In addition to body sizes, the data set includes information on consumer and resource taxonomy, the geographic location of the study, the habitat studied, the type of the feeding interaction (e.g., predacious, parasitic) and the metabolic categories of the species (e.g., invertebrate, ectotherm vertebrate). The present data set was gathered with the intent to stimulate research on effects of consumer–resource body size patterns on food-web structure, interaction-strength distributions, population dynamics, and community stability. The use of a common data set may facilitate cross-study comparisons and understanding of the relationships between different scientific approaches and models.
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| 32. |
- Bundschuh, Mirco
(författare)
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Fungal-fungal and fungal-bacterial interactions in aquatic decomposer communities: bacteria promote fungal diversity
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 102
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fungi produce a variety of extracellular enzymes, making recalcitrant substrates bioavailable. Thus, fungi are central for the decomposition of dead organic matter such as leaf litter. Despite their ecological importance, our understanding of relationships between fungal species diversity and ecosystem functioning is limited, especially with regard to aquatic habitats. Moreover, fungal interactions with other groups of microorganisms such as bacteria are rarely investigated. This lack of information may be attributed to methodological limitations in tracking the biomass of individual fungal species in communities, impeding a detailed assessment of deviations from the overall performance expected from the sum of individual species' performances, so-called net diversity effects (NDEs). We used fungal species-specific biomolecular tools to target fungal-fungal and fungal-bacterial interactions on submerged leaves using four cosmopolitan aquatic fungal species and a stream microbial community dominated by bacteria. In microcosms, we experimentally manipulated fungal diversity and bacterial absence/presence and assessed functional performances and fungal community composition after 14 d of incubation. Fungal community data were used to evaluate NDEs on leaf colonization. The individual fungal species were functionally distinct and fungal cultures were on average more efficient than the bacterial culture. In absence of bacteria, NDEs correlated with growth rate (negatively) and genetic divergence (positively), but were predominantly negative, suggesting that higher fungal diversity led to a lower colonization success (niche overlap). In both absence and presence of bacteria, the overall functional performances of the communities were largely defined by their composition (i.e., no interactions at the functional level). In the presence of bacteria, NDEs correlated with genetic divergence (positively) and were largely positive, suggesting higher fungal diversity stimulated colonization (niche complementarity). This stimulation may be driven by a bacteria-induced inhibition of fungal growth, alleviating competition among fungi. Resulting feedback loops eventually promote fungal coexistence and synergistic interactions. Nonetheless, overall functional performances are reduced compared to bacteria-free cultures. These findings highlight the necessity to conduct future studies, investigating biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships using artificial systems, without exclusion of key organisms naturally co-occurring in the compartment of interest. Otherwise, study outcomes might not reflect true ecological relationships and ultimately misguide conservation strategies.
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| 33. |
- Cardoso Pereira, Cássio, et al.
(författare)
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Subtle structures with not-so-subtle functions : A data set of arthropod constructs and their host plants
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 103:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The construction of shelters on plants by arthropods might influence other organisms via changes in colonization, community richness, species composition, and functionality. Arthropods, including beetles, caterpillars, sawflies, spiders, and wasps often interact with host plants via the construction of shelters, building a variety of structures such as leaf ties, tents, rolls, and bags; leaf and stem galls, and hollowed out stems. Such constructs might have both an adaptive value in terms of protection (i.e., serve as shelters) but may also exert a strong influence on terrestrial community diversity in the engineered and neighboring hosts via colonization by secondary occupants. Although different traits of the host plant (e.g., physical, chemical, and architectural features) may affect the potential for ecosystem engineering by insects, such effects have been, to a certain degree, overlooked. Further analyses of how plant traits affect the occurrence of shelters may therefore enrich our understanding of the organizing principles of plant-based communities. This data set includes more than 1000 unique records of ecosystem engineering by arthropods, in the form of structures built on plants. All records have been published in the literature, and span both natural structures (91% of the records) and structures artificially created by researchers (9% of the records). The data were gathered between 1932 and 2021, across more than 50 countries and several ecosystems, ranging from polar to tropical zones. In addition to data on host plants and engineers, we aggregated data on the type of constructs and the identity of inquilines using these structures. This data set highlights the importance of these subtle structures for the organization of terrestrial arthropod communities, enabling hypotheses testing in ecological studies addressing ecosystem engineering and facilitation mediated by constructs. There are no copyright restrictions and please cite this paper when using the data in publications.
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| 34. |
- Carreira, B. M., et al.
(författare)
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Warm vegetarians? : Heat waves and diet shifts in tadpoles
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 97:11, s. 2964-2974
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Temperature can play an important role in determining the feeding preferences of ectotherms. In light of the warmer temperatures arising with the current climatic changes, omnivorous ectotherms may perform diet shifts toward higher herbivory to optimize energetic intake. Such diet shifts may also occur during heat waves, which are projected to become more frequent, intense, and longer lasting in the future. Here, we investigated how heat waves of different duration affect feeding preferences in omnivorous anuran tadpoles and how these choices affect larval life history. In laboratory experiments, we fed tadpoles of three species on animal, plant, or mixed diet and exposed them to short heat waves (similar to the heat waves these species experience currently) or long heat waves (predicted to increase under climate change). We estimated the dietary choices of tadpoles fed on the mixed diet using stable isotopes and recorded tadpole survival and growth, larval period, and mass at metamorphosis. Tadpole feeding preferences were associated with their thermal background, with herbivory increasing with breeding temperature in nature. Patterns in survival, growth, and development generally support decreased efficiency of carnivorous diets and increased efficiency or higher relative quality of herbivorous diets at higher temperatures. All three species increased herbivory in at least one of the heat wave treatments, but the responses varied among species. Diet shifts toward higher herbivory were maladaptive in one species, but beneficial in the other two. Higher herbivory in omnivorous ectotherms under warmer temperatures may impact species differently and further contribute to changes in the structure and function of freshwater environments.
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| 35. |
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| 36. |
- Cheeke, Tanya, et al.
(författare)
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Variation in hyphal production rather than turnover regulates standing fungal biomass in temperate hardwood forests
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 102:3
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soil fungi link above- and belowground carbon (C) fluxes through their interactions with plants and contribute to C and nutrient dynamics through the production, turnover, and activity of fungal hyphae. Despite their importance to ecosystem processes, estimates of hyphal production and turnover rates are relatively uncommon, especially in temperate hardwood forests. We sequentially harvested hyphal ingrowth bags to quantify the rates of Dikarya (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota) hyphal production and turnover in three hardwood forests in the Midwestern United States, where plots differed in their abundance of arbuscular (AM)-vs. ectomycorrhizal (ECM)-associated trees. Hyphal production rates increased linearly with the percentage of ECM trees and annual production rates were 66% higher in ECM- than AM-dominated plots. Hyphal turnover rates did not differ across the mycorrhizal gradient (plots varying in their abundance of AM vs. ECM trees), suggesting that the greater fungal biomass in ECM-dominated plots relates to greater fungal production rather than slower fungal turnover. Differences in hyphal production across the gradient aligned with distinctly different fungal communities and activities. As ECM trees increased in dominance, fungi inside ingrowth bags produced more extracellular enzymes involved in degrading nitrogen (N)-bearing relative to C-bearing compounds, suggesting greater fungal (and possibly plant) N demand in ECM-dominated soils. Collectively, our results demonstrate that shifts in temperate tree species composition that result in changes in the dominant type of mycorrhizal association may have strong impacts on Dikarya hyphal production, fungal community composition and extracellular enzyme activity, with important consequences for soil C and N cycling.
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| 37. |
- Christiansen, Ditte M., 1990-, et al.
(författare)
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High-resolution data are necessary to understand the effects of climate on plant population dynamics of a forest herb
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 105:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate is assumed to strongly influence species distribution and abundance. Although the performance of many organisms is influenced by the climate in their immediate proximity, the climate data used to model their distributions often have a coarse spatial resolution. This is problematic because the local climate experienced by individuals might deviate substantially from the regional average. This problem is likely to be particularly important for sessile organisms like plants and in environments where small-scale variation in climate is large. To quantify the effect of local temperature on vital rates and population growth rates, we used temperature values measured at the local scale (in situ logger measures) and integral projection models with demographic data from 37 populations of the forest herb Lathyrus vernus across a wide latitudinal gradient in Sweden. To assess how the spatial resolution of temperature data influences assessments of climate effects, we compared effects from models using local data with models using regionally aggregated temperature data at several spatial resolutions (≥1 km). Using local temperature data, we found that spring frost reduced the asymptotic population growth rate in the first of two annual transitions and influenced survival in both transitions. Only one of the four regional estimates showed a similar negative effect of spring frost on population growth rate. Our results for a perennial forest herb show that analyses using regionally aggregated data often fail to identify the effects of climate on population dynamics. This emphasizes the importance of using organism-relevant estimates of climate when examining effects on individual performance and population dynamics, as well as when modeling species distributions. For sessile organisms that experience the environment over small spatial scales, this will require climate data at high spatial resolutions.
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| 38. |
- Cirtwill, Alyssa, et al.
(författare)
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Host taxonomy constrains the properties of trophic transmission routes for parasites in lake food webs
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : WILEY. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 98:9, s. 2401-2412
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Some parasites move from one host to another via trophic transmission, the consumption of the parasite (inside its current host) by its future host. Feeding links among free-living species can thus be understood as potential transmission routes for parasites. As these links have different dynamic and structural properties, they may also vary in their effectiveness as trophic transmission routes. That is, some links may be better than others in allowing parasites to complete their complex life cycles. However, not all links are accessible to parasites as most are restricted to a small number of host taxa. This restriction means that differences between links involving host and non-host taxa must be considered when assessing whether transmission routes for parasites have different food web properties than other links. Here we use four New Zealand lake food webs to test whether link properties (contribution of a link to the predators diet, prey abundance, prey biomass, amount of biomass transferred, centrality, and asymmetry) affect trophic transmission of parasites. Critically, we do this using both models that neglect the taxonomy of free-living species and models that explicitly include information about which free-living species are members of suitable host taxa. Although the best-fit model excluding taxonomic information suggested that transmission routes have different properties than other feeding links, when including taxonomy, the best-fit model included only an intercept. This means that the taxonomy of free-living species is a key determinant of parasite transmission routes and that food-web properties of transmission routes are constrained by the properties of host taxa. In particular, many intermediate hosts (prey) attain high biomasses and are involved in highly central links while links connecting intermediate to definitive (predator) hosts tend to be dynamically weak.
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| 39. |
- Clymans, Wim, et al.
(författare)
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Silica uptake and release in live and decaying biomass in a northern hardwood forest
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 97:11, s. 3044-3057
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In terrestrial ecosystems, a large portion (20-80%) of the dissolved Si (DSi) in soil solution has passed through vegetation. While the importance of this terrestrial Si filter is generally accepted, few data exist on the pools and fluxes of Si in forest vegetation and the rate of release of Si from decomposing plant tissues. We quantified the pools and fluxes of Si through vegetation and coarse woody debris (CWD) in a northern hardwood forest ecosystem (Watershed 6, W6) at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) in New Hampshire, USA. Previous work suggested that the decomposition of CWD may have significantly contributed to an excess of DSi reported in stream-waters following experimental deforestation of Watershed 2 (W2) at the HBEF. We found that woody biomass (wood+bark) and foliage account for approximately 65% and 31%, respectively, of the total Si in biomass at the HBEF. During the decay of American beech (Fagus grandifolia) boles, Si loss tracked the whole-bole mass loss, while yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum) decomposition resulted in a preferential Si retention of up to 30% after 16yr. A power-law model for the changes in wood and bark Si concentrations during decomposition, in combination with an exponential model for whole-bole mass loss, successfully reproduced Si dynamics in decaying boles. Our data suggest that a minimum of 50% of the DSi annually produced in the soil of a biogeochemical reference watershed (W6) derives from biogenic Si (BSi) dissolution. The major source is fresh litter, whereas only similar to 2% comes from the decay of CWD. Decay of tree boles could only account for 9% of the excess DSi release observed following the experimental deforestation of W2. Therefore, elevated DSi concentrations after forest disturbance are largely derived from other sources (e.g., dissolution of BSi from forest floor soils and/or mineral weathering).
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| 40. |
- Cromsigt, Joris
(författare)
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Spatial heterogeneity facilitates carnivore coexistence
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 102
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Competitively dominant carnivore species can limit the population sizes and alter the behavior of inferior competitors. Established mechanisms that enable carnivore coexistence include spatial and temporal avoidance of dominant predator species by subordinates, and dietary niche separation. However, spatial heterogeneity across landscapes could provide inferior competitors with refuges in the form of areas with lower competitor density and/or locations that provide concealment from competitors. Here, we combine temporally overlapping telemetry data from dominant lions (Panthera leo) and subordinate African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) with high-resolution remote sensing in an integrated step selection analysis to investigate how fine-scaled landscape heterogeneity might facilitate carnivore coexistence in South Africa's Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, where both predators occur at exceptionally high densities. We ask whether the primary lion-avoidance strategy of wild dogs is spatial avoidance of lions or areas frequented by lions, or if wild dogs selectively use landscape features to avoid detection by lions. Within this framework, we also test whether wild dogs rely on proactive or reactive responses to lion risk. In contrast to previous studies finding strong spatial avoidance of lions by wild dogs, we found that the primary wild dog lion-avoidance strategy was to select landscape features that aid in avoidance of lion detection. This habitat selection was routinely used by wild dogs, and especially when in areas and during times of high lion-encounter risk, suggesting a proactive response to lion risk. Our findings suggest that spatial landscape heterogeneity could represent an alternative mechanism for carnivore coexistence, especially as ever-shrinking carnivore ranges force inferior competitors into increased contact with dominant species.
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| 41. |
- Cunningham, G. D., et al.
(författare)
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Degrees of change: between and within population variation in thermal reaction norms of phenology in a viviparous lizard
- 2020
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 101:10
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As the earth warms, populations will be faced with novel environments to which they may not be adapted. In the short term, populations can be buffered against the negative effects, or maximize the beneficial effects, of such environmental change via phenotypic plasticity and, in the longer term, via adaptive evolution. However, the extent and direction of these population-level responses will be dependent on the degree to which responses vary among the individuals within them (i.e., within population variation in plasticity), which is, itself, likely to vary among populations. Despite this, we have estimates of among-individual variation in plastic responses across multiple populations for only a few systems. This lack of data limits our ability to predict the consequences of environmental change for population and species persistence accurately. Here, we utilized a 16-yr data set from climatically distinct populations of the viviparous skinkNiveoscincus ocellatustracking over 1,200 litters from more than 600 females from each population to examine inter- and intrapopulation variability in the response of parturition date to environmental temperature. We found that these populations share a common population-mean reaction norm but differ in the degree to which reaction norms vary among individuals. These results suggest that even where populations share a common mean-level response, we cannot assume that they will be affected similarly by altered environmental conditions. If we are to assess how changing climates will impact species and populations accurately, we require estimates of how plastic responses vary both among and within populations.
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| 42. |
- Curveira-Santos, Goncalo, et al.
(författare)
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Broad aggressive interactions among African carnivores suggest intraguild killing is driven by more than competition
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 103:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Theory on intraguild killing (IGK) is central to mammalian carnivore community ecology and top-down ecosystem regulation. Yet, the cryptic nature of IGK hinders empirical evaluations. Using a novel data source - online photographs of interspecific aggression between African carnivores - we revisited existing predictions about the extent and drivers of IGK. Compared with seminal reviews, our constructed IGK network yielded 10 more species and nearly twice as many interactions. The extent of interactions increased 37% when considering intraguild aggression (direct attack) as a precursor of killing events. We show that IGK occurs over a wider range of body-mass ratios than predicted by standing competition-based views, with highly asymmetrical interactions being pervasive. Evidence that large species, particularly hypercarnivore felids, target sympatric carnivores with a wide range of body sizes suggests that current IGK theory is incomplete, underestimating alternative competition pathways and the role of predatory and incidental killing. Our findings reinforce the potential for IGK-mediated cascades in species-rich assemblages and community-wide suppressive effects of large carnivores.
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| 43. |
- Dahlgren, Johan P., et al.
(författare)
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Nonlinear relationships between vital rates and state variables in demographic models
- 2011
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 92:5, s. 1181-1187
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To accurately estimate population dynamics and viability, structured population models account for among-individual differences in demographic parameters that are related to individual state. In the widely used matrix models, such differences are incorporated in terms of discrete state categories, whereas integral projection models (IPMs) use continuous state variables to avoid artificial classes. In IPMs, and sometimes also in matrix models, parameterization is based on regressions that do not always model nonlinear relationships between demographic parameters and state variables. We stress the importance of testing for nonlinearity and propose using restricted cubic splines in order to allow for a wide variety of relationships in regressions and demographic models. For the plant Borderea pyrenaica, we found that vital rate relationships with size and age were nonlinear and that the parameterization method had large effects on predicted population growth rates, lambda (linear IPM, 0.95; nonlinear IPMs, 1.00; matrix model, 0.96). Our results suggest that restricted cubic spline models are more reliable than linear or polynomial models. Because even weak nonlinearity in relationships between vital rates and state variables can have large effects on model predictions, we suggest that restricted cubic regression splines should be considered for parameterizing models of population dynamics whenever linearity cannot be assumed.
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| 44. |
- Dahlgren, Johan P., et al.
(författare)
-
The demography of climate-driven and density-regulated population dynamics in a perennial plant
- 2016
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 97:4, s. 899-907
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Identifying the internal and external drivers of population dynamics is a key objective in ecology, currently accentuated by the need to forecast the effects of climate change on species distributions and abundances. The interplay between environmental and density effects is one particularly important aspect of such forecasts. We examined the simultaneous impact of climate and intraspecific density on vital rates of the dwarf shrub Fumana procumbens over 20 yr, using generalized additive mixed models. We then analyzed effects on population dynamics using integral projection models. The population projection models accurately captured observed fluctuations in population size. Our analyses suggested the population was intrinsically regulated but with annual fluctuations in response to variation in weather. Simulations showed that implicitly assuming variation in demographic rates to be driven solely by the environment can overestimate extinction risks if there is density dependence. We conclude that density regulation can dampen effects of climate change on Fumana population size, and discuss the need to quantify density dependence in predictions of population responses to environmental changes.
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| 45. |
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| 46. |
- de Kroon, Hans, et al.
(författare)
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Elasticities : a review of methods and model limitations
- 2000
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Ingår i: Ecology. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 81:3, s. 607-618
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Elasticity is a perturbation measure in matrix projection models that quantifiesthe proportional change in population growth rate as a function of a proportionalchange in a demographic transition (growth, survival, reproduction, etc.). Elasticities thusindicate the relative "importance" of life cycle transitions for population growth and maintenance.In this paper, we discuss the applications of elasticity analysis, and its extension,loop analysis, in life history studies and conservation. Elasticity can be interpreted as therelative contribution of a demographic parameter to population growth rate. Loop analysisreveals the underlying pathway structure of the life cycle graph. The different kinds ofresults of the two analyses in studies of life histories are emphasized. Because elasticitiesquantify the relative importance of life cycle transitions to population growth rate, it isgenerally inferred that management should focus on the transitions with the largest elasticities.Such predictions based on elasticities seem robust, but we do identify three situationswhere problems may arise. The mathematical properties and biological constraints thatunderlie these pitfalls are explained. Examples illustrate the additional information thatneeds to be taken into account for a sensible use of elasticities in population management.We conclude by indicating topics that are in need of research.
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| 47. |
- Deininger, Anne, et al.
(författare)
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Phytoplankton response to whole lake inorganic N fertilization along a gradient in dissolved organic carbon
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 98:4, s. 982-994
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Global change has increased inorganic nitrogen (N) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC; i.e. ‘browning’) inputs to northern hemisphere boreal lakes. However, we do not know how phytoplankton in nutrient poor lake ecosystems of different DOC concentration respond to increased N availability. Here, we monitored changes in phytoplankton production, biomass and community composition in response to whole lake inorganic N fertilization in six boreal unproductive Swedish lakes divided into three lake pairs (control, N enriched) at three DOC levels (low, medium, high), with one reference year (2011) and two impact years (2012, 2013). We found that phytoplankton biomass and production decreased with DOC concentration before N fertilization. Further, phytoplankton community composition also differed with respect to DOC, with a dominance of non-flagellated autotrophs at low DOC towards an increasing dominance of flagellated autotrophs with increased lake DOC concentration. The N fertilization increased phytoplankton biomass and production in all lakes, but did not affect phytoplankton community composition. However, the net response in biomass and production to N fertilization declined with increasing DOC, implying that the lake DOC concentration is critical in order to infer phytoplankton responses to N fertilization, and that the system switches from being primarily nutrient limited to becoming increasingly light limited with increased DOC concentration. In conclusion, our results show that browning will reduce phytoplankton production and biomass and influence phytoplankton community composition, whereas increased inorganic N loadings from deposition, forestry or other land use will primarily enhance phytoplankton biomass and production. Together, any change in the landscape that enhances inorganic N availability will increase phytoplankton production and biomass, but the positive effects of N will be much weaker or even neutralized in browner lakes as caused by light limitation.
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| 48. |
- Denmead, Lisa H., et al.
(författare)
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The role of ants, birds and bats for ecosystem functions and yield in oil palm plantations
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 98:7, s. 1945-1956
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- One of the world's most important and rapidly expanding crops, oil palm, is associated with low levels of biodiversity. Changes in predator communities might alter ecosystem services and subsequently sustainable management but these links have received little attention to date. Here, for the first time, we manipulated ant and flying vertebrate (birds and bats) access to oil palms in six smallholder plantations in Sumatra (Indonesia) and measured effects on arthropod communities, related ecosystem functions (herbivory, predation, decomposition and pollination) and crop yield. Arthropod predators increased in response to reductions in ant and bird access, but the overall effect of experimental manipulations on ecosystem functions was minimal. Similarly, effects on yield were not significant. We conclude that ecosystem functions and productivity in oil palm are, under current levels of low pest pressure and large pollinator populations, robust to large reductions of major predators.
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| 49. |
- Diehl, S., et al.
(författare)
-
EFFECTS OF PISCIVORE-MEDIATED HABITAT USE ON RESOURCES, DIET, AND GROWTH OF PERCH
- 1995
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Ingår i: Ecology. - UMEA UNIV,DEPT ANIM ECOL,S-90187 UMEA,SWEDEN. : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 76:6, s. 1712-1726
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigated experimentally how presence or absence of different piscivores influenced habitat use, diet, and individual growth of two size classes of juvenile perch (Perca fluviatilis) and abundances of juvenile perch resources in different habitats. Pond enclosures encompassed 3 X 6 m of dense vegetation and 9 X 6 m of open habitat, and were stocked with 75 young-of-year and 30 1-yr-old perch and with either three piscivorous perch, three northern pike (Esox lucius), or no piscivores. Northern pike were both larger and possessed a larger gape than piscivorous perch. To isolate behavioral responses of juvenile perch to piscivores, we replaced consumed young-of-year perch. Prey fish mortality was lowest without piscivores and highest with northern pike. Young-of-year perch increased their use of vegetation in the presence of both piscivores, whereas 1-yr-old perch increased their use of vegetation only with northern pike. For both age classes of prey fish, increased use of the vegetation led to reduced individual growth, owing to two complementary mechanisms. First, the physical complexity of submerged macrophytes likely interfered with the benthic feeding of perch, Second, increased use of the (relatively small) vegetated habitat increased the mean density experienced by prey fish. Piscivore-induced changes of prey fish densities in the two habitats had substantial effects on the biomass of prey fish resources in the open habitat, but only minor effects in the vegetation. Sialis lutaria, the major predatory macroinvertebrate (approximate to 50% of total macroinvertebrate biomass in the open habitat), and total predatory macroinvertebrates were positively affected by piscivores in the open habitat, but not in the vegetation. Chironomids (<3% of total macroinvertebrate biomass in the vegetation) and the sizes of nonpredatory macroinvertebrates were negatively affected by piscivores in the vegetation, but not in the open habitat. Biomass of nonpredatory macroinvertebrates, Cladocera, and Copepoda did not differ among treatments in either habitat. From our review of field experiments, vulnerable prey fish always change their habitat use in the presence of piscivores. Behaviorally mediated indirect effects of piscivores on individual growth rates and prey fish resources were just as frequently observed as direct effects of piscivores on prey fish survival.
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| 50. |
- Diehl, Sebastian, et al.
(författare)
-
Stoichiometric mismatch causes a warming-induced regime shift in experimental plankton communities
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Ecology. - : Ecological Society of America. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many ecosystems, consumers respond to warming differently than their resources, sometimes leading to temporal mismatches between seasonal maxima in consumer demand and resource availability. A potentially equally pervasive, but less acknowledged threat to the temporal coherence of consumer-resource interactions is mismatch in food quality. Many plant and algal communities respond to warming with shifts toward more carbon-rich species and growth forms, thereby diluting essential elements in their biomass and intensifying the stoichiometric mismatch with herbivore nutrient requirements. Here we report on a mesocosm experiment on the spring succession of an assembled plankton community in which we manipulated temperature (ambient vs. +3.6°C) and presence versus absence of two types of grazers (ciliates and Daphnia), and where warming caused a dramatic regime shift that coincided with extreme stoichiometric mismatch. At ambient temperatures, a typical spring succession developed, where a moderate bloom of nutritionally adequate phytoplankton was grazed down to a clear-water phase by a developing Daphnia population. While warming accelerated initial Daphnia population growth, it speeded up algal growth rates even more, triggering a massive phytoplankton bloom of poor food quality. Consistent with the predictions of a stoichiometric producer–grazer model, accelerated phytoplankton growth promoted the emergence of an alternative system attractor, where the extremely low phosphorus content of the abundant algal food eventually drove Daphnia to extinction. Where present, ciliates slowed down the phytoplankton bloom and the deterioration of its nutritional value, but this only delayed the regime shift. Eventually, phytoplankton also grew out of grazer control in the presence of ciliates, and the Daphnia population crashed. To our knowledge, the experiment is the first empirical demonstration of the “paradox of energy enrichment” (grazer starvation in an abundance of energy-rich but nutritionally imbalanced food) in a multispecies phytoplankton community. More generally, our results support the notion that warming can exacerbate the stoichiometric mismatch at the plant–herbivore interface and limit energy transfer to higher trophic levels.
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