Tag: community

community ecology

Drought leads to more similar plant traits between- but not within-species

Slendy Rodríguez-Alarcón, Riin Tamme, Carlos P. Carmona This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which is published here. Plants are more intelligent than we imagine. They can modify their morphology, for example, their leaves, roots, and height to survive in environments with limited resources. In our greenhouse experiment, we measured these morphological features of plants (called functional traits) under drought … Continue reading Drought leads to more similar plant traits between- but not within-species

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Animal Functional Traits

Are the traits of animal communities similar everywhere?

Diane S. Srivastava, A. Andrew M. MacDonald, Valério D. Pillar, Pavel Kratina, Vanderlei J. Debastiani, Laura Melissa Guzman, M. Kurtis Trzcinski, Olivier Dézerald, Ignacio M. Barberis, Paula M. de Omena, Gustavo Q. Romero, Fabiola Ospina Bautista, Nicholas A. C. Marino, Céline Leroy, Vinicius F. Farjalla, Barbara A. Richardson, Ana Z. Gonçalves, Bruno Corbara, Jana S. Petermann, Michael J. Richardson, Michael C. Melnychuk, Merlijn Jocqué, Jacqueline … Continue reading Are the traits of animal communities similar everywhere?

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community ecology

Food web thermal responses is influenced by differences in temperature response – or thermal asymmetries – between predators and prey

Jean P. Gibert, John M. Grady, Anthony I. Dell This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which is published here. Understanding how networks of species and their feeding interactions – or food webs – may respond to increasing temperature associated with global climate change is a pressing goal of ecology. These complex networks are composed of a multitude of organisms, … Continue reading Food web thermal responses is influenced by differences in temperature response – or thermal asymmetries – between predators and prey

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community ecology

Understanding how and why competence varies across an assemblage of hosts and parasites

Tara E. Stewart Merrill, Dana M. Calhoun, Pieter T. J. Johnson This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which is published here. Parasites are members of complex ecological communities. Because of this, parasites may contact one of many host species in their attempts to infect and transmit. The host species a parasite contacts is critical for the parasite’s spread. If … Continue reading Understanding how and why competence varies across an assemblage of hosts and parasites

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community ecology

Biodiversity is an insurance against the effects of precipitation change on ecosystems

Régis Céréghino, M. Kurtis Trzcinski, A. Andrew M. MacDonald, Nicholas A.C. Marino, Dimaris Acosta Mercado, Céline Leroy, Bruno Corbara, Gustavo Q. Romero, Vinicius F. Farjalla, Ignacio M. Barberis, Olivier Dézerald, Edd Hammill, Trisha B. Atwood, Gustavo C.O. Piccoli, Fabiola Ospina Bautista, Jean-François Carrias, Juliana S. Leal, Guillermo Montero, Pablo A.P. Antiqueira, Rodrigo Freire, Emilio Realpe, Sarah L. Amundrud, Paula M. de Omena, Alice B.A. Campos, … Continue reading Biodiversity is an insurance against the effects of precipitation change on ecosystems

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Six plant species (Phleum phleoides, Prunella grandiflora, Filipendula vulgaris, Plantago media, Festuca rubra, and Centaurea jacea) growing together in each experimental microcosm. Photo is taken at the end of the experiment (after 4 months).
community ecology, plant physiological ecology

Old meadow microbial community supports sensitive plants

Masoud M. Ardestani, Ondřej Mudrák, Jakub Vicena, Daquan Sun, Hana Veselá, Jan Frouz This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which is published here. Meadows are one of the most species rich ecosystem on the world, but despite this, their large area was ploughed in the past, converted to arable land or destroyed in other way. Current activities of their … Continue reading Old meadow microbial community supports sensitive plants

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Tibetan alpine meadow in Gansu Province, China Photo taken by Xiaoyi Wang
community ecology

Plant community functional composition shifts under global change

Xiaoyi Wang, Xuebin Yan, Kailing Huang, Xi Luo, Yuanyuan Zhang, Luyao Zhou, Fei Yang, Xiaohong Xu, Xianhui Zhou, Kechang Niu, Hui Guo This is a Plan Language Summary of a Research Article. Read the Research in full here. Global change, including warming and nitrogen enrichment, can affect plant functional traits, such as height and leaf size, and also alter community functional composition. This will affect … Continue reading Plant community functional composition shifts under global change

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The study was conducted across multiple sites in the Sipsey River, USA (A) which hosts a diverse community of freshwater mussels that vary in shell morphology and other attributes such as nutrient excretion rates (B). Freshwater mussels filter-feed, excrete, and egest as they are buried in the stream substrate (C). (Photos: Carla Atkinson (A), Clay Magnum (B), Carla Atkinson (C))
community ecology

Animal community composition directly and indirectly influences stream nutrient cycling

Carla L. Atkinson and Kenneth Forshay This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article. Read the research in full here. Animals play a vital role in the cycling of nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus across ecosystems both directly and indirectly. Animals directly influence nutrient cycling as they consume food and then release excess nutrients as dissolved and particulate C, … Continue reading Animal community composition directly and indirectly influences stream nutrient cycling

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