Ecology最新文献

{"title":"The stability of plant richness, composition, and cover responds nonlinearly to warming in a decade-long experiment","authors":"Ruonan Shen,&nbsp;Yangjian Zhang,&nbsp;Juntao Zhu,&nbsp;Yunlong He,&nbsp;Zhoutao Zheng,&nbsp;Guang Zhao,&nbsp;Nan Cong,&nbsp;Bo Zhao,&nbsp;Xianzhou Zhang,&nbsp;Lin Jiang,&nbsp;Yann Hautier","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70142","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70142","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Global warming is expected to change the diversity, composition, and functioning of plant communities. However, it remains unclear how warming alters the temporal stability of different aspects of plant communities and the extent to which these different aspects are interlinked or respond differently to warming. Here, using data from a 10-year, multi-level warming experiment in an alpine grassland, we quantified the temporal stability of three plant community aspects—species richness, composition, and cover—in response to warming scenarios that increase soil temperature by 0.4, 1.6, 2.1, and 2.5°C. We found a nonlinear concave stability response to warming for each of the three community aspects investigated. That is, moderate warming caused moderate increases in the stability of richness, composition, and cover, whereas severe warming caused strong decreases in stability. Additionally, we found that the processes contributing to stability differed among the three community aspects, with warming weakening the relationships between them. Severe warming reduced the stability of cover by reducing the stability of dominant species and species asynchrony. Compositional stability decreased due to declines in species richness, species asynchrony, and dominant species stability. Richness stability decreased due to a decline in species richness. Our results demonstrate that the stability of different community aspects responds nonlinearly to future warming scenarios, with moderate warming stabilizing but high-level warming destabilizing plant species richness, composition, and cover. Our findings emphasize the collective influence of species richness, species asynchrony, and dominant species stability as key factors modulating community stability in the context of global warming.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144568500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Live fast, die young? Day- and night-warming affect the growth, survivorship, and behavior of caterpillars in the field","authors":"Louie H. Yang,&nbsp;Elizabeth G. Postema,&nbsp;Heran Arefaine,&nbsp;Fernanda Y. Cohoon,&nbsp;Emma A. Deen,&nbsp;Yvonne L. Durand,&nbsp;Gwendolyn I. Erdosh,&nbsp;Hailey Ma,&nbsp;Courtney N. Mausling,&nbsp;Sarah Solís,&nbsp;Madeline R. Wilson","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70150","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70150","url":null,"abstract":"<p>While both daytime and nighttime temperatures are increasing with climate change, few studies have experimentally investigated their differential effects under field conditions. We conducted a factorial field experiment examining how day- and night-warming impact the growth, survivorship, and behavior of cabbage white caterpillars (<i>Pieris rapae</i>). In this experiment, the night-warming only treatment showed the highest rates of caterpillar growth, but also showed the highest mortality, the shortest maximum caterpillar lengths, the least accumulated herbivory, and reduced pupation. Caterpillars in the treatments that were not warmed during the day showed daytime-shifted growth, and caterpillars in the combined day- and night-warming treatment showed strongly night-shifted herbivory. Both biotic (e.g., predation risk) and abiotic (e.g., thermal) factors could have contributed to these results. Broadly, these results show the importance of temperature-mediated behavioral changes in diel activity for caterpillar development and survival. These results also support the emerging hypotheses that periods of reduced activity may be important for successful development, that warmer nighttime conditions could limit a temporal thermal refuge for caterpillars, and that increasing temperatures could increase the likelihood of metabolic meltdown. This experiment also illustrates the value of field studies to provide insights into how ectotherms might respond to ongoing climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70150","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144536924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influences of plant functional traits on soil organic carbon stocks: The roles of carbon input quality and diversity","authors":"Junsheng Huang,&nbsp;Yuxuan Gao,&nbsp;Yong Peng,&nbsp;Pengfei Chang,&nbsp;Yuntao Wu,&nbsp;Lulu Guo,&nbsp;Jie Luo,&nbsp;Lingli Liu","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70148","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70148","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Soil organic carbon (SOC) predominately originates from the decomposition of plant aboveground and belowground litter, which consists of diverse traits mixed in varying proportions. While numerous studies of litter decomposition have been conducted, the majority have primarily focused on litter mass loss rates. Our comprehension of how the quality and diversity of plant C inputs impact SOC formation remains significantly constrained largely due to the difficulty in their direct measurement at the ecosystem scale. Here, we compiled a global dataset including community-weighted means and variances of plant aboveground structural and chemical traits, which serve as effective indicators of the quality and diversity of C inputs, respectively. We found that smaller community-weighted means of specific leaf area, signifying a lower quality of plant C inputs, could actually enhance SOC accumulation. This finding challenges the common notion that the high microbial carbon use efficiency of labile C inputs would ultimately benefit SOC sequestration. Our findings also showed that greater community-weighted variances of specific leaf area, reflecting more diverse plant C inputs, were positively associated with SOC stocks likely due to the fact that higher C diversity can increase SOC persistence by increasing metabolic costs and diversifying organo-mineral bonds. On the contrary, community-weighted variances of leaf nitrogen content were negatively correlated with SOC stocks. This indicates that litter mixtures with diverse nutrient contents are prone to decomposition possibly due to the complementary effects of nutrients. Notably, the contributions of C input quality and diversity to SOC stocks were more pronounced in colder or drier ecosystems, where the recalcitrance and diversity of C inputs exert a more substantial influence in limiting the microbial decay of SOC. Our results point to the climate-dependent yet important effects of plant C input quality and diversity on SOC stocks across the globe.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144547883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Decoupling of temperature and growth of white spruce at western treeline, Alaska, is unrelated to intrinsic water stress","authors":"Amy E. Miller,&nbsp;Adam Z. Csank,&nbsp;Michael P. Hannam,&nbsp;Rosemary L. Sherriff,&nbsp;Steven W. Leavitt","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70147","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70147","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Late 20th century warming has weakened the relationship between temperature and growth in northern forests. This loss of sensitivity to temperature, often attributed to drought stress in warmer regions of the boreal forest, has also been observed in cool, mesic environments, where warming-related growth declines are poorly understood. We used annually resolved ring-width and carbon stable isotope (δ¹³C) chronologies from white spruce forest and woodland stands in southwest Alaska to examine tree responses to climate during a recent warming period (1970–2011). Trends in ring-width index (RWI) varied by stand type: RWI increased in forests and woodlands in the first half of the record (1970–1990), but only woodlands continued that trend in the latter half (1991–2011). Warmer spring temperatures predicted increased RWI in both stand types, and warmer summer temperatures predicted decreased RWI in forests, but these relationships weakened through time. Carbon isotope discrimination (Δ¹³C), a frequent indicator of stomatal regulation of water loss, showed no coherent trend in either stand type but was positively associated with summer precipitation in forests, suggesting the potential for intermittent water limitation. Our results indicate that RWI and Δ¹³C have responded differently to climate through time and that these responses have been mediated by stand type.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70147","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144536921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Decades of historical outbreak cycles in a multivoltine insect reveal a plastic phenological response to climate change","authors":"Richard A. Smith,&nbsp;William A. Nelson,&nbsp;Takehiko Yamanaka,&nbsp;Yasushi Sato,&nbsp;Takeshi Kamimuro,&nbsp;Ryosuke Omata,&nbsp;Ottar N. Bjørnstad","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70149","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Many organisms overwinter in a specific life stage, which means their phenology must be well-timed with seasonal changes in the environment. As environments warm, we expect a delay in the onset of winter. For organisms where temperature is the primary driver of development rate, warming environments also mean faster development. If temperature dependence in the development rate of individuals does not also change, this will cause a mismatch between the seasonal timing of the critical overwintering stage and the onset of winter. There are two biological mechanisms by which ectotherms can adjust their phenology in the face of climate change to maintain correct timing: (1) organisms undergo evolution of the development thermal reaction norm and (2) organisms have a plastic response in their development to multiple environmental cues. Here, we use high-resolution records of densities of the smaller tea tortrix (<i>Adoxophyes honmai</i>) over multiple decades across nine locations in Japan to infer temperature-dependent changes in development rates over both time and space. The pest insect displays regular single-generation limit cycles, which provides a unique opportunity to infer changes in developmental rates directly from historical records of natural populations. The last half century has seen a temperature increase of about 1°C across Japan, and our analyses show that populations slowed development on average by 16% to maintain the correct timing of the overwintering stage. Development rates measured from common garden experiments reveal that the change is not due to evolution. Our results build on recent laboratory studies to suggest that there is substantial plasticity in developmental thermal reaction norms that may explain how the phenology of ectotherms could respond to climate warming in natural systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70149","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144550893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An apparent association between North American moose and a native earthworm","authors":"Donald F. McAlpine,&nbsp;Mary C. Sollows,&nbsp;Gayathri Sreedharan,&nbsp;Gregory F. M. Jongsma,&nbsp;John Warren Reynolds","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70146","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;In once-glaciated eastern North America, nearly all earthworm species present are lumbricids, introduced since European settlement, or more recent pheretimoid introductions of Asian origin (McAlpine et al., &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;; Reynolds, &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;). Among the 29 earthworm species recorded to date from eastern Canada (McAlpine et al., &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;; Reynolds, &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;), only two are deemed to be native; &lt;i&gt;Sparganophilus tamesis&lt;/i&gt; is a limicolus species (Sparganophilidae) with a limited distribution in eastern Canada (Reynolds, &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;), and &lt;i&gt;Bimastos&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Dendrodrilus&lt;/i&gt;) &lt;i&gt;rubidus&lt;/i&gt; (Lumbricidae; Figure 1), as a result of recent taxonomic and nomenclatural revision (Csuzdi et al., &lt;span&gt;2017&lt;/span&gt;), is now recognized to be native to North America. The latter species is a corticole (living under the bark of downed trees) and epigeic (litter inhabiting) and most abundant in hardwood stands. &lt;i&gt;B. rubidus&lt;/i&gt; has been recorded in a variety of disturbed soils in both the northern and southern hemispheres and as a non-native is now cosmopolitan in distribution (Reynolds, &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The moose (&lt;i&gt;Alces alces&lt;/i&gt;) has a wide distribution across forested boreal habitats in North America (Karns, &lt;span&gt;1998&lt;/span&gt;) and has apparently been present in New Brunswick (Canada) for some 2500 years (Boer, &lt;span&gt;1992&lt;/span&gt;). During the fall and winter, moose eat woody browse low in moisture, and fecal pellets are produced. However, in spring and summer, foods eaten are high in nutrients and water, and scat produced during spring and summer is soft and resembles that of domestic cattle (Schwartz &amp; Renecker, &lt;span&gt;1998&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In pastureland, earthworms are known to aggregate under the dung pats of cattle (Holter, &lt;span&gt;1983&lt;/span&gt;). Bacher et al. (&lt;span&gt;2018&lt;/span&gt;) found that four times as many earthworms were present under cattle dung pats than in surrounding soil, and that recruitment occurred from an area of about 3.8 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; surrounding each dung pat. Epigeic earthworm species in particular were attracted to dung pats. This is largely because earthworm populations are often food-limited (Curry, &lt;span&gt;1998&lt;/span&gt;) and dung pats provide a concentrated, if ephemeral, food source. Although there exists a substantial literature dealing with cattle dung pats and earthworms (e.g., Bacher et al., &lt;span&gt;2018&lt;/span&gt;; Holter, &lt;span&gt;1983&lt;/span&gt;), studies of the relationships between native ungulates and earthworms in northern temperate forests are recent (Cope &amp; Burns, &lt;span&gt;2019&lt;/span&gt;; Dávalos, Nuzzo, et al., &lt;span&gt;2015a&lt;/span&gt;; Dávalos, Nuzzo, et al., &lt;span&gt;2015b&lt;/span&gt;; Dávalos, Simpson, et al., &lt;span&gt;2015&lt;/span&gt;; Dobson et al., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;; Reed et al., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;) Furthermore, all of these previous studies have focused on white-tailed deer (&lt;i&gt;Odocoileus virginianus&lt;/i&gt;) and non-native earthworms deemed invasive. Here we document an apparent association ","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70146","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144536780","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Environmental DNA reveals the Salamander Mussel Simpsonaias ambigua alive in Illinois, USA, after a century in obscurity","authors":"Sarah A. Douglass,&nbsp;Savanna Palmer,&nbsp;Ashleigh R. McCallum,&nbsp;Olivia P. Reves,&nbsp;Hayley A. Robinson,&nbsp;Allison J. Rutledge,&nbsp;Jordan H. Hartman,&nbsp;Eric R. Larson,&nbsp;Mark A. Davis","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70145","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;Anthropogenic stressors are driving global biodiversity losses (Tulloch et al., &lt;span&gt;2020&lt;/span&gt;), and have fallen particularly hard on freshwater mussels, rendering them among the most imperiled faunal groups (Aldridge et al., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;; Brian &amp; Aldridge, &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;; Gallardo et al., &lt;span&gt;2018&lt;/span&gt;). Freshwater mussel loss has been caused by numerous factors including increased nutrient loading, pollution, invasive species introductions, habitat loss (both instream and adjacent riparian zones), and degradation, all often acting synergistically (Aldridge et al., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;; Ferreira-Rodriguez et al., &lt;span&gt;2019&lt;/span&gt;; Nakamura et al., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;). Consequently, imperiled freshwater mussels are increasingly granted formal protection (Haag &amp; Williams, &lt;span&gt;2014&lt;/span&gt;). For example, of the approximately 300 native freshwater mussel species of North America, over 70% are considered endangered, threatened, or of special concern in many states (Williams et al., &lt;span&gt;1992&lt;/span&gt;). There are 96 mussel species (excluding experimental populations) formally protected under the United States Endangered Species Act (50 CFR 17.11) as listed by the environmental conservation online system (ECOS) website (https://ecos.fws.gov/), and 18 species protected under Canada Species at Risk Act (S.C. 2002, c. 29) as listed in the species at risk public registry (https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry.html).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Salamander Mussel &lt;i&gt;Simpsonaias ambigua&lt;/i&gt; (Say 1825) is one such freshwater mussel. A diminutive, nondescript bivalve in the family Unionidae, the Salamander Mussel is unusual, given that the only known host for its larvae is the Mudpuppy &lt;i&gt;Necturus maculosus&lt;/i&gt; (Rafinesque 1818), a fully aquatic salamander species. Salamander Mussels are found in lentic and lotic habitats, with their microhabitat typically consisting of large, flat stones where the mussel may be more likely to co-occur with its salamander host (Parmalee &amp; Bogan, &lt;span&gt;1998&lt;/span&gt;). The historical range of the Salamander Mussel extended across the United States in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin and in Canada in the province of Ontario (NatureServe, &lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt;). Considered Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List (Bogan et al., &lt;span&gt;2017&lt;/span&gt;) and Critically Imperiled (G1G2) by NatureServe (NatureServe, &lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt;), the Salamander Mussel has been granted state-level protections in several states, endangered status under Canada's Species at Risk Act (Morris &amp; Burridge, &lt;span&gt;2006&lt;/span&gt;), and is currently proposed for federal listing as endangered under the United States Endangered Species Act (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In Illinois, no live Salamander Mussels have been documented for well over a century, since Baker (&lt;span&gt;1906&lt;/span&gt;)","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70145","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144536833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantifying the effects of extreme flooding on coastal reef fishes","authors":"Matthew J. Rees,&nbsp;Nathan A. Knott,&nbsp;David Harasti,&nbsp;Timothy C. Ingleton,&nbsp;Hamish A. Malcolm,&nbsp;Rachel Przeslawski","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70143","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The ecological impacts of extreme floods to benthic ecosystems in oceanic environments remain unclear, as events are difficult to observe and quantify. Between 2020 and 2022, an unusually long La Niña resulted in substantial flooding across southeastern Australia. Major floods in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River led to an unprecedented flood plume extending ~70 km offshore to depths of ~50 m, exposing coastal biodiversity to rare environmental conditions. Here, we use long-term monitoring data to quantify the impacts of large-scale flooding to coastal rocky reef fishes. Flooding reduced the total abundance and species richness of reef fishes by 50% and 13%, respectively. Declines were primarily due to reductions in the abundance of planktivores (−75%) and benthic invertivores (−40%). Assemblages at reference locations isolated from large rivers were stable across the study period, indicating observed patterns were in response to floods. Surveys 1-year post flooding signaled that benthic invertivores were beginning to recover but not planktivores. Our results demonstrate the detrimental impacts of extreme flooding to some coastal rocky reef fishes. Given projected increases in the severity and frequency of rainfall due to climate change, our findings suggest that extreme flooding may compromise ecosystem functions and services provided by rocky reef fish in a future climate.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70143","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144482166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"First evidence of yearly allochrony in a terrestrial vertebrate: A case study of an annual chameleon","authors":"Liran Sagi,&nbsp;Amos Bouskila","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70144","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Isolation through differences in reproductive timing, known as allochrony, is a unique life history trait that can lead to the separation of a population into two distinct populations. Yearly allochrony, where reproductive events are separated between years, is extremely rare and has been documented &lt;10 times. It requires a single reproductive event at a fixed age and a life cycle of 2 years or more. Among terrestrial vertebrates, documented examples of yearly allochrony are nonexistent. Our study reveals that <i>Chamaeleo chamaeleon musae</i> possesses the potential for allochronic separation. These chameleons reproduce 1 year after hatching, with only 0.2% of the population surviving to a second reproductive season. Their eggs require 11 months to hatch. This combination of factors results in two distinct subpopulations: one that incubates eggs during even years while adults reproduce in odd years and another that follows the reverse pattern. This separation prevents intermixing between the two subpopulations. <i>C. c. musae</i> is currently the only known terrestrial vertebrate exhibiting yearly allochrony. Population and evolutionary ecologists must consider yearly allochrony when studying animal life cycles, given its significant implications for speciation, species conservation, and monitoring programs.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70144","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144472887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A sensory ecology of fear: Eye size predicts moonlight avoidance responses in Neotropical electric fishes","authors":"Lok Poon,&nbsp;Michael A. Haag,&nbsp;Jorge Molina,&nbsp;William G. R. Crampton","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70133","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70133","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Animals continually balance the rewards of activity against the risk of predation. The mere perception of predation risk can trigger cascading effects across “landscapes of fear,” from shifts in individual activity to altered community composition. Despite the established role of sensory systems in predator detection, their role in shaping trade-offs between activity and predator avoidance remains underexplored. For many nocturnal species, moonlight—a key driver of predation risk—varies cyclically, offering a unique opportunity to study how sensory capacity influences activity patterns. We studied four species of Neotropical electric fish inhabiting open areas of a shallow, clearwater Amazon stream, where visually oriented nocturnal predators are abundant. These species were similar in size and diet but differed in body mass-adjusted eye size, a commonly used proxy for visual acuity. Using custom-designed loggers to detect and record the continuously emitted, species-specific electrolocation signals of these fish, we monitored each species' foraging activity across a full lunar cycle while simultaneously measuring moonlight illuminance with a low-light radiometer. The two species with the smallest eyes exhibited strong lunar phobia, hiding during moonlit periods and, as a result, sacrificing ~25% of their nocturnal foraging time. They foraged instead during moonless periods, which follow a complex temporal pattern throughout the lunar cycle. In contrast, the species with the largest eyes foraged continuously, likely using vision to detect and evade predators. A species with intermediate-sized eyes showed a canopy-dependent response: foraging normally under semi-open canopy but exhibiting lunar phobia under closed canopy. Active electroreception, the primary sensory modality of electric fish, enables foraging in complete darkness, but its limited range (&lt;10 cm) makes it ineffective for predator detection. Our findings suggest that large-eyed species can detect approaching predators and adopt a “vigilance” strategy, while the poor low-light vision of small-eyed species promotes a “hiding” strategy. These alternative strategies impose distinct metabolic challenges: the opportunity costs of lost foraging time versus the energetic demands of maintaining larger eyes. Overall, our results highlight how sensory adaptations influence critical trade-offs between foraging and predation risk across both spatial and temporal landscapes of fear.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144367509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}