Category: community ecology

Coblentz et al. show that individual differences among predators, such as the whelk Nucella ostrina shown here with its barnacle prey Balanus glandula, can alter the populationlevel strengths of predator-prey interactions.
community ecology

Differences among individual predators alter their population feeding rates on prey

Coblentz, Kyle; Merhoff, Stephanie; Novak, Mark No two individuals are exactly alike. This is as true for other organisms as it is for humans. Despite this fact, ecologists often treat individuals as identical out of convenience or necessity. However, recent developments in ecological theory have identified conditions under which individual differences may play important ecological roles. One of these is when the relationship between the … Continue reading Differences among individual predators alter their population feeding rates on prey

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A harvested Carex plant. We studied biomass production and chemical composition of shoots, roots, and rhizomes. (photo credit: Juergen Kreyling)
community ecology

Formerly drained fen peatlands might again act as carbon sinks after rewetting despite high nutrient levels

Hinzke, Tjorven; Li, Guixiang; Tanneberger, Franziska; Seeber, Elke; Aggenbach, Camiel; Lange, Jelena; Kozub, Lukasz; Knorr, Klaus-Holger; Kreyling, Juergen; Kotowski, Wiktor The increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere are responsible for the main part of global climate change. Plants use the carbon (C) contained in atmospheric CO2 to build their tissues. When plants die, CO2 is released again to the atmosphere from decaying … Continue reading Formerly drained fen peatlands might again act as carbon sinks after rewetting despite high nutrient levels

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Bleached coral (C) Chris Wall
community ecology

Shifting baselines: Physiological legacies contribute to the response of reef coral to frequent heat waves

Christopher B. Wall, Contessa A. Ricci, Alexandra D. Wen, Bren E. Ledbetter, Delania E. Klinger, Laura D. Mydlarz, Ruth D. Gates, Hollie M. Putnam Coral reefs are threatened by climate change and the increasing frequency and severity of marine heatwaves, which disrupt the important symbiosis between reef building coral animals and their unicellular symbiont algae (Symbiodiniaceae) in a process known as “coral bleaching,” which can lead to widespread coral mortality.In Hawai‘i, the … Continue reading Shifting baselines: Physiological legacies contribute to the response of reef coral to frequent heat waves

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Wood mouse
community ecology

Spatiotemporal variation in drivers of parasitism in a wild wood mouse population

Sweeny, Amy; Albery, Gregory; Venkatesan, Saudamini; Fenton, Andy; Pedersen, Amy In natural populations, it is common for individuals to be infected with parasites. However, some individuals become much more infected than others. This variation is well-documented across a range of hosts and parasites, but it is not always clear what factors determine which individuals in a population become most infected. Importantly, because studies to address … Continue reading Spatiotemporal variation in drivers of parasitism in a wild wood mouse population

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Hybrid interaction network in an olive grove. Spheres with different colours represent species that belong to different groups (e.g., blue for predators, yellow for plants). Lines linking spheres show interactions and the colour of these lines indicate the type of the interaction (e.g., red for pollination and blu for predation).
community ecology

Agricultural intensification can affect different groups and interaction types in opposite ways

Martínez Núñez, Carlos; Rey, Pedro Understanding how agricultural intensification affects different groups of species and different types of interactions (e.g., pollination and predation) is an interesting challenge, which can also help us to improve management in agricultural landscapes. In this study, we use bee hotels (artificially provided cavities such as reed stems where some bees and wasps nest) to study how pollination and predation vary … Continue reading Agricultural intensification can affect different groups and interaction types in opposite ways

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View of our study site, a meadow at the University of Wyoming - National Park Service (UW-NPS) research station, near Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park (USA). As is common in the region, arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata; Asterales: Asteraceae) and other forbs are interspersed with sagebrush in open meadows surrounded by mixed conifer forests. Photo: Sylvain Pincebourde.
community ecology

Tell me how small you are and I will tell you how hot you are

Pincebourde, Sylvain; Dillon, Michael; Woods, Art When it comes to climate, size matters. Large animals, including humans, feel hot or cold based primarily on air temperature and the strength of incoming sunlight. For these large animals, the temperature of nearby objects is largely irrelevant. Most animals, however, are tiny, and the surfaces they live on, including the soil and rocks, stems and leaves, and even … Continue reading Tell me how small you are and I will tell you how hot you are

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community ecology

Carbon dioxide emissions from forest soils depends on tree species and nitrogen availability

Jian Li, Saeed Alaei, Moyan Zhou, and Per Bengtson Boreal forests play an important role in the global carbon cycle. By fixing carbon dioxide in their biomass during photosynthesis, trees efficiently take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When the trees (or part thereof) dies, carbon and nutrients stored in the dead tree parts are transformed into soil organic matter. Soil microorganisms decompose this organic … Continue reading Carbon dioxide emissions from forest soils depends on tree species and nitrogen availability

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Species-rich temperate grasslands of the Central Europe (the White Carpathians region). Photo credit: Agnes J. Albert.
community ecology

Weak relationship between leaf drought tolerance and easy-to-measure traits in grassland plants

Majekova, Maria; Hájek, Tomáš; Albert, Agnes; de Bello, Francesco; Dolezal, Jiri; Götzenberger, Lars; Janeček, Štepán; Leps, Jan; Liancourt, Pierre; Mudrák, Ondrej Grasslands are an important ecosystem that sustains much biodiversity. Even in non-arid regions like Western and Central Europe, climate change is predicted to increase the occurrence of extreme drought events. This will decrease the water available for plants and potentially have a negative impact … Continue reading Weak relationship between leaf drought tolerance and easy-to-measure traits in grassland plants

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community ecology

Nitrogen-induced changes in biodiversity and plant community composition affect soil respiration

Diange Zhang, Yunfeng Peng, Fei Li, Guibiao Yang, Jun Wang, Jianchun Yu, Guoying Zhou and Yuanhe Meeting future food and energy demands is one of the greatest challenges during the 21st century. One way to address this challenge is to apply more fertilizers and burn more fossil fuels. Beside increasing food and energy production, these agricultural and industrial activities could promote atmospheric nitrogen deposition, and … Continue reading Nitrogen-induced changes in biodiversity and plant community composition affect soil respiration

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The photos showed the experimental sites across three different land use types in Danjiangkou, China. The photos were taken during field measuring soil denitrification in 2018.
community ecology

Keystone species affect the relationship between soil microbial diversity and ecosystem function under land use change in subtropical China

Fan Yang, Qiong Chen, Qian Zhang, Chunyan Long, Wei Jia, Xiaoli Cheng To meet the demands of the increasing food by rapid increasing population, large amounts of natural ecosystems have been converted to croplands. Soil ecosystem functions and service could be threatened by land use change due to losses of soil microbe diversity. Thus, it is critical to determine the relationship between soil ecosystem functions … Continue reading Keystone species affect the relationship between soil microbial diversity and ecosystem function under land use change in subtropical China

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