Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Disentangling small-island multilayer networks: Underlying ecological and evolutionary patterns","authors":"Manuel Nogales,&nbsp;Anna Traveset,&nbsp;Heriberto López,&nbsp;Ruben Heleno,&nbsp;Susana Rodríguez-Echeverría,&nbsp;Rafael García,&nbsp;Sandra Hervías-Parejo","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70058","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study provides a pioneering analysis of the structural and topological characteristics of one of nature's simplest food webs, using the Montaña Clara islet (Canary Islands) as a case study. Applying a multilayer network approach, which assesses multiple interaction types, we examined plant–animal and plant-fungi interactions during two seasons (humid and dry), comparing this oceanic island food web to one from Na Redona, a small continental island in the Balearic Islands. Data were collected through field observations, flower visitation records, fecal analysis, and DNA metabarcoding of root-associated fungi. The study identified 63 animal species and 367 fungal amplicon sequence variants interacting with 13 plant species, five of which (38%) were structurally significant, as indicated by high multilayer versatility values (&gt;0.5). The network structure was modular, with 23 modules primarily representing single ecological functions, and most species were involved in only one interaction type. Notably, 73% of species shifted roles between interaction layers. Results reveal that Montaña Clara's food web is simpler but more modular and versatile than that of the continental island, aligning with island biogeography theory. The study suggests that the unique biodiversity composition of oceanic islands, particularly islets, influences their ecological network structures.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70058","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143741640","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":"Exploring climate-related gut microbiome variation in bumble bees: An experimental and observational perspective","authors":"Fabienne Maihoff,&nbsp;Lukas Bofinger,&nbsp;Kristof Brenzinger,&nbsp;Alexander Keller,&nbsp;Alice Classen","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70066","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70066","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Rising temperatures negatively affect bumble bee fitness directly through physiological impacts and indirectly by disrupting mutualistic interactions between bees and other organisms, which are crucial in determining species-specific responses to climate change. Gut microbial symbionts, key regulators of host nutrition and health, may be the Achilles' heel of thermal responses in insects. They not only modulate biotic interactions with plants and pathogens but also exhibit varying thermal sensitivity themselves. Understanding how environmental changes disrupt microbiome communities is a crucial first step to determine potential consequences for host population responses. We analyzed gut bacterial communities of six bumble bee species inhabiting different climatic niches along an elevational gradient in the German Alps using 16S ribosomal DNA amplicon sequencing. We first investigated whether inter- and intraspecific differences in gut bacterial communities can be linked to species' elevational niches, which differ in temperature, flower resource composition, and likely pathogen pressure. A reciprocal translocation experiment between distinct climatic regions tested how the gut bacterial communities of <i>Bombus terrestris</i> and <i>Bombus lucorum</i> change short-term when exposed to new environments. Finally, we exposed these species to heat and cold wave scenarios within climate chambers to disentangle pure temperature-driven effects on the microbiome from other environmental effects. Interspecific variation in microbiome composition exceeded intraspecific variation. Species exhibit varying levels of gut microbiome stability, where stability is defined as the within-group variance: lower stability, indicated by greater within-group variance, is predominantly observed in species inhabiting higher elevations. Transplanted species showed subtle short-term gut microbiome adjustments, marked by an increase in Lactobacillaceae upon exposure to warmer regions; however, the gut microbiomes of these bumble bees did not change under laboratory temperature scenarios. We conclude that marked differences in the gut microbiomes of bumble bees could lead to species-specific responses to environmental change. For example, less stable microbiomes in bumble bees inhabiting higher elevations might indicate an increased sensitivity to pathogens. Short-term microbiome changes following translocation indicate that species with relatively stable microbiomes, such as <i>B. lucorum</i> and <i>B. terrestris</i>, can rapidly integrate new bacteria, which could increase their capacity to cope with new environments under climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70066","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143689279","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 seascape dichotomy in the role of small consumers for coral reef energy fluxes","authors":"Simon J. Brandl,&nbsp;Helen F. Yan,&nbsp;Jordan M. Casey,&nbsp;Nina M. D. Schiettekatte,&nbsp;Julianna J. Renzi,&nbsp;Alexandre Mercière,&nbsp;Fabien Morat,&nbsp;Isabelle M. Côté,&nbsp;Valeriano Parravicini","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70065","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Biogeochemical fluxes through ecological communities underpin the functioning of ecosystems worldwide. These fluxes are often heavily influenced by small-bodied consumers, such as insects, worms, mollusks, or small vertebrates, which transfer energy and nutrients from autotrophic sources to larger animals. Although coral reefs are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, we know relatively little about how small consumers make energy available to larger predators and how their roles may vary across reefs. Here, we use community-scale collections of small, bottom-dwelling (“cryptobenthic”) reef fishes along with size spectrum analyses, stable isotopes, and demographic modeling to examine their role in harnessing and transferring carbon in two distinct coral reef habitats. Using a comprehensive dataset from Mo'orea (French Polynesia), we demonstrate that, despite only being separated by a narrow reef crest, forereef and backreef habitats harbor distinct communities of cryptobenthic fishes that play vastly divergent roles in carbon transfer. Forereef communities in Mo'orea are depauperate, largely consisting of predatory and planktivorous species that have comparatively high standing biomass (both individually and collectively). In these communities, the combination of size spectra and isotope values suggests important contributions of pelagic subsidies, but the rate of biomass production and turnover (i.e., the rate at which biomass is replenished) is relatively low. In contrast, cryptobenthic fish communities in the backreef are characterized by high abundances of the smallest bodied species, forming a traditional bottom-heavy trophic pyramid that is fueled by benthic autotrophs. In these communities, benthic productivity fuels rapid production and turnover of fish biomass, while pelagic energy channels are notably less productive. Our integrative approach demonstrates the utility of combining multiple methods (e.g., isotopically informed demographic models) to trace energy fluxes through small consumer communities in complex ecosystems. Furthermore, our results highlight that coral reef productivity dynamics are highly habitat-dependent and the role of the smallest coral reef consumers may be most pronounced in shallow systems with limited connectivity to the open ocean.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143689718","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":"Long-term ammonium nitrate addition strengthens soil microbial cross-trophic interactions in a Tibetan alpine steppe","authors":"Yang Liu,&nbsp;Yuanhe Yang,&nbsp;Ye Deng,&nbsp;Yunfeng Peng","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70057","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Global nitrogen (N) enrichment is modifying microbial interactions, which can be represented by network complexity. While a number of studies have explored how N addition influences the microbial intra-trophic network, its effects on the inter-trophic network have rarely been investigated. Here, we examined the effects of 8 years of multilevel N additions (i.e., 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 g N m⁻² year⁻¹) on inter-trophic interactions of soil microbial communities (i.e., protist–fungi, protist–prokaryote and fungi–prokaryote) in a Tibetan alpine steppe. Generally, there was a first increasing and then saturated trend of the complexity of inter-trophic networks along the N-addition gradient, which contrasts with the simplified or minimal response of intra-trophic network complexity reported previously. The intensified cross-trophic interactions were mainly explained by increased plant and litter biomass, which indicates that the N-induced increases in carbon supplies may have alleviated microbial energy limitations and thus resulted in more active metabolic processes, consequently stimulating various biotic interactions (e.g., predation, competition, and commensalism). Further, the enhanced inter-trophic network relationships were found to be associated with increased soil carbon and N mineralization processes. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of microbial cross-trophic interactions and indicate that they should be considered in predictions of ecosystem functioning under global N enrichment.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143689280","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":"Will a large complex model ecosystem be viable? The essential role of positive interactions","authors":"Rudolf P. Rohr,&nbsp;Louis-Félix Bersier,&nbsp;Roger Arditi","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70064","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ecologists have documented many characteristics of natural systems that foster ecosystem persistence, and it might be deduced that such strategies are essential for counteracting the negative effect of complexity on local stability that was suggested by R.M. May in his influential work of the 1970s. However, we show that the loss of local stability does not necessarily imply total ecosystem extinction. A more general criterion of ecosystem viability is the long-term persistence of any number of surviving species—not necessarily all of them. With this approach, we show that persistence increases with complexity, contrary to previous theoretical findings. In particular, positive interactions (mutualistic or prey-to-predator) play a crucial role in creating ecological niches, which sustain biodiversity with increasing complexity.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70064","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143645728","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":"Bird diversity in historical paintings of the Song dynasty (960–1279)","authors":"Qianyu Chen,&nbsp;Shuihua Chen,&nbsp;Shilu Zheng,&nbsp;Rachakonda Sreekar,&nbsp;Zhijun Ma,&nbsp;Jiajia Liu","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70070","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143646290","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":"Tree diversity shapes the spectral signature of light transmittance in developing forests","authors":"Laura J. Williams,&nbsp;Kyle R. Kovach,&nbsp;J. Antonio Guzmán Q.,&nbsp;Artur Stefanski,&nbsp;Raimundo Bermudez,&nbsp;Ethan E. Butler,&nbsp;Domitille Coq--Etchegaray,&nbsp;Catherine Glenn-Stone,&nbsp;Peter Hajek,&nbsp;Johanna Klama,&nbsp;Belinda E. Medlyn,&nbsp;Christian Messier,&nbsp;Aboubakr Moradi,&nbsp;Alain Paquette,&nbsp;Maria H. Park,&nbsp;Michael Scherer-Lorenzen,&nbsp;Philip A. Townsend,&nbsp;Peter B. Reich,&nbsp;Jeannine Cavender-Bares,&nbsp;Meredith C. Schuman","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70032","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Greater tree diversity often increases forest productivity by increasing the fraction of light captured and the effectiveness of light use at the community scale. However, light may shape forest function not only as a source of energy or a cause of stress but also as a context cue: Plant photoreceptors can detect specific wavelengths of light, and plants use this information to assess their neighborhoods and adjust their patterns of growth and allocation. These cues have been well documented in laboratory studies, but little studied in diverse forests. Here, we examined how the spectral profile of light (350–2200 nm) transmitted through canopies differs among tree communities within three diversity experiments on two continents (200 plots each planted with one to 12 tree species, amounting to roughly 10,000 trees in total), laying the groundwork for expectations about how diversity in forests may shape light quality with consequences for forest function. We hypothesized—and found—that the species composition and diversity of tree canopies influenced transmittance in predictable ways. Canopy transmittance—in total and in spectral regions with known biological importance—principally declined with increasing leaf area per ground area (LAI) and, in turn, LAI was influenced by the species composition and diversity of communities. For a given LAI, broadleaved angiosperm canopies tended to transmit less light with lower red-to-far-red ratios than canopies of needle-leaved gymnosperms or angiosperm-gymnosperm mixtures. Variation among communities in the transmittance of individual leaves had a minor effect on canopy transmittance in the visible portion of the spectrum but contributed beyond this range along with differences in foliage arrangement. Transmittance through mixed species canopies often deviated from expectations based on monocultures, and this was only partly explained by diversity effects on LAI, suggesting that diversity effects on transmittance also arose through shifts in the arrangement and optical properties of foliage. We posit that differences in the spectral profile of light transmitted through diverse canopies serve as a pathway by which tree diversity affects some forest ecosystem functions.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70032","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143646291","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":"Imaging spectroscopy reveals topographic variability effects on grassland functional traits and drought responses","authors":"Phuong D. Dao,&nbsp;Yuhong He,&nbsp;Bing Lu,&nbsp;Alexander Axiotis","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70006","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Functional traits and their variations are essential indicators of plant metabolism, growth, distribution, and survival and determine how a plant and an ecosystem function. Under the same climatic condition, traits can vary significantly between species and within the same species growing in different topographic conditions. When drought stress occurs, plants growing in these conditions may respond in various ways as their tolerance and adaptability are influenced by differences in topography. Insights into topographic variability-driven trait variation and drought response can improve our prediction of ecosystem functioning and ecological impacts. Imaging spectroscopy enables accurate identification of plant species, extraction of functional traits, and characterization of topography-driven and drought-related impacts on trait variation across spatial scales. However, applying these data in a heterogeneous grassland ecosystem is challenging as species are small, highly mixed, spectrally and texturally similar, and highly varied with small-scale variation in topography. This paper presents the first study to explore the use of high-resolution airborne imaging spectroscopy for characterizing the variation of key traits—such as chlorophylls (Chl), carotenoids (Car), Chl/Car ratio, water content (WC), and leaf area index (LAI)—across topographic gradients and under drought stress at the species level in a heterogeneous grassland. The results demonstrate significant relationships between functional traits and topographic variability, with the strength of these relationships varying among species and across different environmental conditions. Additionally, drought-induced trait responses differed notably both within and between species, particularly between drought-tolerant invasive species and drought-sensitive native species, as well as between lower and upper slope positions. The study makes a significant contribution to advancing our understanding of biological and ecological processes, enhancing the ability to predict plant invasion mechanism and ecosystem functioning under stressed environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143638709","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":"GLOSSAQUA: A global dataset of size spectra across aquatic ecosystems","authors":"Zeynep Ersoy,&nbsp;Charlotte Evangelista,&nbsp;Aitor Larrañaga,&nbsp;Daniel M. Perkins,&nbsp;Javier Sánchez-Hernández,&nbsp;Teofana Chonova,&nbsp;David Cunillera-Montcusí,&nbsp;Carmen García-Comas,&nbsp;Jorge García-Girón,&nbsp;Ioar de Guzman,&nbsp;Justin Pomeranz,&nbsp;Victor Saito,&nbsp;Matías Arim,&nbsp;Dirceu Baumgartner,&nbsp;Gilmar Baumgartner,&nbsp;Mauro Berazategui,&nbsp;Dani Boix,&nbsp;Giovanna Collyer,&nbsp;Jordi Compte,&nbsp;Almir Manoel Cunico,&nbsp;Renee M. van Dorst,&nbsp;Jon Harding,&nbsp;Ursula Gaedke,&nbsp;Stéphanie Gascón,&nbsp;Éder André Gubiani,&nbsp;Daniel Hernández,&nbsp;James R. Junker,&nbsp;Mercedes López-Vázquez,&nbsp;Anderson Luís Maciel,&nbsp;Thomas Mehner,&nbsp;Roger Paulo Mormul,&nbsp;Ramiro Pereira-Garbero,&nbsp;Danielle Petsch,&nbsp;Pitágoras Augusto Piana,&nbsp;Xavier D. Quintana,&nbsp;Julia Reiss,&nbsp;Lucía Rodríguez-Tricot,&nbsp;Jordi Sala,&nbsp;Wilson Sebastián Serra,&nbsp;Tadeu Siqueira,&nbsp;Helen J. Warburton,&nbsp;Matías Zarucki,&nbsp;Ignasi Arranz","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70050","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Body size is a key trait in ecology due to its influence on metabolism and many other life-history traits that affect population and community responses to environmental variation as well as ecosystem properties. The size spectrum represents the relationship between abundance (or biomass) and body size, independent of species identity. Size spectrum parameters, such as the slope or intercept, have been applied extensively as indicators of ecological status across multiple ecosystem types. The GLOSSAQUA dataset includes data from mainly heterotrophic communities composed of single (e.g., zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, or fish) to multiple taxonomic groups (e.g., from primary consumers to apex predators, and phytoplankton to large zooplankton), across diverse spatial and temporal scales, from surveys in freshwater (43% studies), marine (52% studies) and brackish (5% studies) ecosystems. In total, we compiled a unique global dataset of 8459 size spectrum slopes or exponents, 5237 intercepts, and 4,497 linearity coefficients (i.e., defined by the <i>R</i>² of the linear fit of the size spectrum) from 127 articles and gray literature (i.e., unpublished datasets). The current dataset aims to help identify the main drivers shaping aquatic size spectrum parameters at a global scale and contribute to cross-ecosystem comparisons. GLOSSAQUA can serve to explore questions such as factors influencing spatial and temporal dynamics of community size structure, comparing the response of community size structure between natural versus human-impacted sites, and comparing global patterns in different aquatic ecosystems. We encourage researchers, especially those from underrepresented geographical areas (e.g., South Hemisphere and Asia) to fuel this dataset in the future. The dataset is provided under a CC-BY-NC-S4 4.0 license, and users are encouraged to cite this data paper when using the data.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70050","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143639315","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":"Phenological sensitivity of Bromus tectorum genotypes depends on current and source environments","authors":"Megan L. Vahsen,&nbsp;Toby M. Maxwell,&nbsp;Dana M. Blumenthal,&nbsp;Diana Gamba,&nbsp;Matthew J. Germino,&nbsp;Mevin B. Hooten,&nbsp;Jesse R. Lasky,&nbsp;Elizabeth A. Leger,&nbsp;Nikki Pirtel,&nbsp;Lauren M. Porensky,&nbsp;Seth Romero,&nbsp;Justin J. Van Ee,&nbsp;Stella M. Copeland,&nbsp;David J. Ensing,&nbsp;Peter B. Adler","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70025","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Plants respond to their environment with both short-term, within-generation trait plasticity, and long-term, between-generation evolutionary changes. However, the relative magnitude of plant responses to short- and long-term changes in the environment remains poorly understood. Shifts in phenological traits can serve as harbingers for responses to environmental change, and both a plant's current and source (i.e., genotype origin) environment can affect plant phenology via plasticity and local adaptation, respectively. To assess the role of current and source environments in explaining variation in flowering phenology of <i>Bromus tectorum</i>, an invasive annual grass, we conducted a replicated common garden experiment using 92 genotypes collected across western North America. Replicates of each genotype were planted in two densities (low = 100 seeds/1 m², high = 100 seeds/0.04 m²) under two different temperature treatments (low = white gravel; high = black gravel; 2.1°C average difference) in a factorial design, replicated across four common garden locations in Idaho and Wyoming, USA. We tested for the effect of current environment (i.e., density treatment, temperature treatment, and common garden location), source environment (i.e., genotype source climate), and their interaction on each plant's flowering phenology. Flowering timing was strongly influenced by a plant's current environment, with plants that experienced warmer current climates and higher densities flowering earlier than those that experienced cooler current climates and lower densities. Genotypes from hot and dry source climates flowered consistently earlier than those from cool and wet source climates, even after accounting for genotype relatedness, suggesting that this genetically based climate cline is a product of natural selection. We found minimal evidence of interactions between current and source environments or genotype-by-environment interactions. Phenology was more sensitive to variation in the current climate than to variation in source climate. These results indicate that cheatgrass phenology reflects high levels of plasticity as well as rapid local adaptation. Both processes likely contribute to its current success as a biological invader and its capacity to respond to future environmental change.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143632976","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}