Category: Animal Functional Traits

Animal Functional Traits, Special Features

Does size matter? Risk of extinction does not increase in species with larger genomes

Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Lilly P. Harvey, Jack V. Johnson, Dave Hudson, Catherine Finn, Luke E. B. Goodyear, Jacinta Guirguis, Edel M. Hyland, Dave J. Hodgson This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. The DNA that carries the genetic code of species varies enormously across nature. While the genomes of some species are made of very few … Continue reading Does size matter? Risk of extinction does not increase in species with larger genomes

Functional EcologyLeave a comment
Animal Functional Traits

Predicted extinctions target the planet’s most unique bird species

Jarome R. Ali, Benjamin W. Blonder, Alex L. Pigot, Joseph A. Tobias This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Extinction rates are projected to increase worldwide, but it remains unclear how this loss of biodiversity might affect the way ecosystems function. Since ecological processes are hard to quantify at global scales, morphological traits can provide … Continue reading Predicted extinctions target the planet’s most unique bird species

Functional Ecology1 Comment
Animal Functional Traits

Plant-animal interactions: The search for general interaction rules brings energetic traits into focus

Alexander Neu, Huw Cooksley, Karen J. Esler, Anton Pauw, Francois Roets, Frank M. Schurr, Matthias Schleuning This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Plants and animals interact in different ways with each other. Interactions can be positive for both partners (e.g., mutualistic interactions between plants and their pollinators), or they can be positive for one … Continue reading Plant-animal interactions: The search for general interaction rules brings energetic traits into focus

Functional EcologyLeave a comment
Animal Functional Traits

Changes in forest structure favour wood-living beetle species with certain traits

Lukas Drag, Ryan C. Burner, Jörg G. Stephan, Tone Birkemoe, Inken Doerfler, Martin M. Gossner, Paul Magdon, Otso Ovaskainen, Mária Potterf, Peter Schall, Tord Snäll, Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, Wolfgang Weisser, Jörg Müller This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Global climate change is slowly affecting the structure of forests around the world. We know that these … Continue reading Changes in forest structure favour wood-living beetle species with certain traits

Functional EcologyLeave a comment
Animal Functional Traits

Rather than being flexible, it’s all about ant communities adapting to new conditions living in extreme environments

Javier Ibarra-Isassi, Ira Tanya Handa, Jean-Philippe Lessard This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Looking at how traits relate to environmental variables can improve our understanding of what processes are behind where certain organisms occur. We can obtain valuable insights into the influence these processes have from analyses that involve whole communities of organisms, specially … Continue reading Rather than being flexible, it’s all about ant communities adapting to new conditions living in extreme environments

Functional EcologyLeave a comment
Animal Functional Traits

Conserving the Ecological Diversity of Crocodylians

Phoebe Griffith, Jeffrey W. Lang, Samuel T. Turvey, Rikki Gumbs This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article that can be found here. Crocodylians have surprisingly diverse ecological roles, from the huge, highly aquatic and mostly fish-eating gharial to the tiny African dwarf crocodiles which can catch prey on land below the rainforest canopy. Sadly, over half of all crocodylians are … Continue reading Conserving the Ecological Diversity of Crocodylians

Functional EcologyLeave a comment
Animal Functional Traits

Family feud? Birds show no apparent cost to coexisting with close relatives

Nicholas M. A. Crouch, David Jablonski This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. It is a classic observation that biodiversity – defined as the number of species in a location – varies dramatically across the globe. Researchers have long thought that increasing species richness in a location must impact the ecology of those species to … Continue reading Family feud? Birds show no apparent cost to coexisting with close relatives

Functional EcologyLeave a comment
Animal Functional Traits, Pespectives, Uncategorized

Do ants and plants see the world the same way?

Heloise Gibb, Tom R. Bishop, Lily Leahy, Catherine L. Parr, Jean-Philippe Lessard, Nathan J. Sanders, Jonathan Z. Shik, Javier Ibarra-Isassi, Ajay Narendra, Robert R. Dunn, Ian J. Wright This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology perspective article that can be found here. An ecological strategy describes the way a species interacts with other species and its environment and determines its evolutionary fitness. … Continue reading Do ants and plants see the world the same way?

Functional EcologyLeave a comment
Animal Functional Traits, community ecology

Amazon dams erode bat functional diversity

Guthieri Teixeira Colombo, Raffaello Di Ponzio, Maíra Benchimol, Carlos A. Peres, Paulo Estefano D. Bobrowiec This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article that can be found here. The loss and fragmentation of tropical rainforests is occurring at alarming rates. One of the threats comes from the implementation of mega hydroelectric dams. The river damming floods large tracts of continuous lowland … Continue reading Amazon dams erode bat functional diversity

Functional EcologyLeave a comment
Animal Functional Traits

Variable relationships between trait diversity and avian ecological functions in agroecosystems

Rocío Peña, Matthias Schleuning, Marcos Miñarro M., Daniel García This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Overall, there is a general consensus that greater biotic richness and complexity guarantees better and different types of ecosystem processes (e.g., pollination or seed dispersal). That is, ecosystems with high biodiversity are generally associated with higher levels of ecological … Continue reading Variable relationships between trait diversity and avian ecological functions in agroecosystems

Functional EcologyLeave a comment