Shudong Zhang, Francina Dekker, Richard S. P. van Logtestijn, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen
{"title":"Do wood‐boring beetles influence the flammability of deadwood?","authors":"Shudong Zhang, Francina Dekker, Richard S. P. van Logtestijn, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen","doi":"10.1002/ecy.4508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4508","url":null,"abstract":"Global warming increases the risk of wildfire and insect outbreaks, potentially reducing the carbon storage function of coarse woody debris (CWD). There is an increasing focus on the interactive effects of wildfire and insect infestation on forest carbon, but the impact of wood‐boring beetle tunnels via their effect on the flammability of deadwood remains unexplored. We hypothesized that the presence of beetle holes, at natural densities, can affect its flammability positively through increased surface area and enhanced oxygen availability in the wood. To test this, wood‐boring beetle holes were mimicked experimentally in decaying logs of two coniferous species, and flammability variables of these treated logs were compared. We found that wood‐boring beetles partly increased the flammability of CWD of both species (via promoting deadwood smoldering combustion) when their holes were parallel with the airflow. Even when accounting for the influences of wood density and cracks, these radial holes continued to have a notable impact on deadwood flammability. While these holes did not make the wildfire more intense, they significantly increased carbon loss during combustion. This suggests that wood‐boring beetles will enhance carbon release from deadwood into the atmosphere during wildfire.","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142986274","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":"An experimental test of eco‐evolutionary dynamics on rocky shores","authors":"Emily K. Longman, Eric Sanford","doi":"10.1002/ecy.4505","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4505","url":null,"abstract":"A growing body of theoretical studies and laboratory experiments has focused attention on reciprocal feedbacks between ecological and evolutionary processes. However, uncertainty remains about whether such eco‐evolutionary feedbacks have an important or negligible influence on natural communities. Thus, recent discussions call for field experiments that explore whether selection on phenotypic variation within populations leads to contemporaneous effects on community dynamics. To help fill this gap, in this study, we test the hypothesis that selection on consumer traits in a population of predatory drilling snails can drive eco‐evolutionary dynamics in a rocky intertidal community in California, USA. We first conducted a laboratory selection experiment to raise newly hatched dogwhelks (<jats:italic>Nucella canaliculata</jats:italic>) on four diet treatments encompassing a range of prey species and shell thicknesses. Snails that survived to adulthood under these diet treatments differed in their capacity to drill thick‐shelled mussels. Dogwhelks from these treatment groups were then outplanted to intertidal field cages for 1 year to test whether groups experiencing selection differed in their effects on mussel bed succession. As expected, succession proceeded most rapidly in the reference treatment with dogwhelks excluded. However, successional patterns differed minimally among dogwhelks raised under the different diet treatments. Thus, although our laboratory results suggest that prey can impose selection that leads to rapid adaptation and divergent consumer traits, these feedbacks were not strong enough to result in clear community effects in the field. We propose that a limited range of variation in functional traits within populations, moderate strengths of selection, and a background of substantial abiotic and biotic variation may all act to dampen the potential for strong eco‐evolutionary dynamics in this and many other natural communities.","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142986276","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}
Alexander A. Mauro, Kyndall R. Zeller, Julián Torres‐Dowdall, Cameron K. Ghalambor
{"title":"Developmental plasticity does not improve performance during a species interaction: Implications for species turnover","authors":"Alexander A. Mauro, Kyndall R. Zeller, Julián Torres‐Dowdall, Cameron K. Ghalambor","doi":"10.1002/ecy.4503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4503","url":null,"abstract":"Species interactions can contribute to species turnover when the outcomes of the interactions are context dependent (e.g., change along environmental gradients). Plasticity may change this dynamic by altering the environmental tolerances of the species interacting. Here, we explored how the competitive interaction between two euryhaline fish, <jats:italic>Poecilia reticulata</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Poecilia picta</jats:italic>, is influenced by acute and developmental responses to salinity. In Trinidad, <jats:italic>P. reticulata</jats:italic> is confined to freshwater despite being tolerant of brackish water. <jats:italic>P. reticulata</jats:italic> may fail to occupy brackish water because of reduced tolerance to salinity or because <jats:italic>P. picta</jats:italic> competitively excludes them, and developing in brackish water could alter the dynamics of either scenario. To test this, we compared the salinity tolerances of both species in the absence of competition, reared <jats:italic>P. reticulata</jats:italic> individuals in freshwater or brackish water, and tested the consequences of developmental plasticity in experiments in which <jats:italic>P. reticulata</jats:italic> competed against conspecifics or <jats:italic>P. picta</jats:italic> during acute exposure to freshwater or brackish water. We found that (1) <jats:italic>P. reticulata</jats:italic> has a weaker salinity tolerance than <jats:italic>P. picta</jats:italic>; (2) <jats:italic>P. reticulata</jats:italic> that developed in freshwater perform best when competing against <jats:italic>P. picta</jats:italic> in freshwater but perform poorly when competing against <jats:italic>P. picta</jats:italic> in brackish water, suggesting the species interaction is context dependent; and (3) developing in brackish water did not benefit <jats:italic>P. reticulata</jats:italic> in brackish water. Our results suggest that <jats:italic>P. reticulata</jats:italic>'s freshwater range limit is in part a product of a lower salinity tolerance leading to a decrease in competitive performance in brackish water. Adaptive plasticity has been suggested to be a crucial part of the colonization process, yet nonadaptive plastic responses as found here can limit range expansion and reinforce range limits.","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142968188","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":"Mycorrhizal dominance influences tree species richness and richness–biomass relationship in China's forests","authors":"Suhui Ma, Guoping Chen, Qiong Cai, Chengjun Ji, Biao Zhu, Zhiyao Tang, Shuijin Hu, Jingyun Fang","doi":"10.1002/ecy.4501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4501","url":null,"abstract":"Mycorrhizal associations drive plant community diversity and ecosystem functions. Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) and ectomycorrhiza (EcM) are two widespread mycorrhizal types and are thought to differentially affect plant diversity and productivity by nutrient acquisition and plant–soil feedback. However, it remains unclear how the mixture of two mycorrhizal types influences tree diversity, forest biomass, and their relationship at large spatial scales. Here, we explored these issues using data from 1247 plots (600 m<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> for each) across China's natural forests located mostly in temperate and subtropical regions. Both AM‐dominated and EcM‐dominated forests show relatively lower tree species richness and stand biomass, whereas forests with the mixture of mycorrhizal strategies sustain more tree species and higher biomass. Interestingly, the positive effect of tree diversity on biomass is stronger in forests with low (≤50%) than high AM tree proportion (>50%), reflecting a shift from the complementarity effect to functional redundancy with increasing AM trees. Our findings suggest that mycorrhizal dominance influences tree diversity and richness–biomass relationship in forest ecosystems.","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"57 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142841505","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":"Internal seed dispersal of Rhynchotechum discolor (Gesneriaceae) by a freshwater crab","authors":"Kenji Suetsugu","doi":"10.1002/ecy.4506","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4506","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142825019","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}
Sarah Skikne, Blair McLaughlin, Mark Fisher, David Ackerly, Erika Zavaleta
{"title":"Contrasting demographic processes underlie uphill shifts in a desert ecosystem","authors":"Sarah Skikne, Blair McLaughlin, Mark Fisher, David Ackerly, Erika Zavaleta","doi":"10.1002/ecy.4494","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4494","url":null,"abstract":"Climate change is projected to cause extensive plant range shifts, and, in many cases such shifts already are underway. Most long‐term studies of range shifts measure emergent changes in species distributions but not the underlying demographic patterns that shape them. To better understand species' elevational range shifts and their underlying demographic processes, we use the powerful approach of rephotography, comparing historical (1978–1982) and modern (2015–2016) photographs taken along a 1000‐m elevational gradient in the Colorado Desert of Southern California. This approach allowed us to track demographic outcomes for 4263 individual plants of 11 long‐lived, perennial species over the past ~36 years. All species showed an upward shift in mean elevation (average = 45 m), consistent with observed increasing temperature and severe drought in the region. We found that varying demographic processes underlaid these elevational shifts, with some species showing higher recruitment and some showing higher survival with increasing elevation. Species with faster life‐history rates (higher background recruitment and mortality rates) underwent larger elevational shifts. Our findings emphasize the importance of demography and life history in shaping range shift responses and future community composition, as well as the sensitivity of desert systems to climate change despite the typical “slow motion” population dynamics of perennial desert plants.","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"119 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142825020","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}
Tyson R. Jones, Graham J. Edgar, Rowan Trebilco, Camille Mellin, Rick D. Stuart‐Smith, Lara Denis‐Roy, Olivia J. Johnson, Matthew Rose, Scott D. Ling
{"title":"Fish and invertebrate communities show greater day–night partitioning on tropical than temperate reefs","authors":"Tyson R. Jones, Graham J. Edgar, Rowan Trebilco, Camille Mellin, Rick D. Stuart‐Smith, Lara Denis‐Roy, Olivia J. Johnson, Matthew Rose, Scott D. Ling","doi":"10.1002/ecy.4477","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4477","url":null,"abstract":"Diel partitioning of animals within ecological communities is widely acknowledged, yet rarely quantified. Investigation of most ecological patterns and processes involves convenient daylight sampling, with little consideration of the contributions of nocturnal taxa, particularly in marine environments. Here we assess diel partitioning of reef faunal assemblages at a continental scale utilizing paired day and night visual census across 54 shallow tropical and temperate reefs around Australia. Day–night differences were most pronounced in the tropics, with fishes and invertebrates displaying distinct and opposing diel occupancy on coral reefs. Tropical reefs in daytime were occupied primarily by fishes not observed at night (64% of all species sighted across day and night, and 71% of all individuals). By night, substantial emergence of invertebrates not otherwise detected during sunlit hours occurred (56% of all species, and 45% of individuals). Nocturnal emergence of tropical invertebrates corresponded with significant declines in the richness and biomass of predatory and herbivorous diurnal fishes. In contrast, relatively small diel changes in fishes active on temperate reefs corresponded to limited nocturnal emergence of temperate invertebrates. This reduced partitioning may, at least in part, be a result of strong top‐down pressures from fishes on invertebrate communities, either by predation or competitive interference. For shallow reefs, the diel cycle triggers distinct emergence and retreat of faunal assemblages and associated trophic patterns and processes, which otherwise go unnoticed during hours of regular scientific monitoring. Improved understanding of reef ecology, and management of reef ecosystems, requires greater consideration of nocturnal interactions. Without explicit sampling of nocturnal patterns and processes, we may be missing up to half of the story when assessing ecological interactions.","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142763492","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}
María Natalia Umaña, Jessica Needham, Claire Fortunel
{"title":"From seedlings to adults: Linking survival and leaf functional traits over ontogeny","authors":"María Natalia Umaña, Jessica Needham, Claire Fortunel","doi":"10.1002/ecy.4469","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4469","url":null,"abstract":"As long‐lived tropical trees grow into the multi‐layered canopy and face different environmental conditions, the relationships between leaf traits and whole‐plant survival can vary over ontogeny. We tested the strength and direction of the relationships between leaf traits and long‐term survival data across life stages for woody species from a subtropical forest in Puerto Rico. Trait–survival relationships were largely consistent across ontogeny with conservative traits leading to higher survival rates. The stage‐specific relationship <jats:italic>R</jats:italic><jats:sup>2</jats:sup> increased by up to one order of magnitude compared to studies not considering ontogenetic trait variations. Stage‐specific traits were significant predictors of their corresponding stage‐specific survival: Seedlings traits were better predictors of seedling survival than adult traits, and adult traits were better predictors of maximum adult survival than seedling traits. Our results suggest that stage‐specific leaf traits reflect different strategies over ontogeny and can substantially improve predictability of survival models in tropical forests.","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142760178","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}
Michael W. Belitz, Asia Sawyer, Lillian Hendrick, Robert P. Guralnick
{"title":"Temperature niche and body size condition phenological responses of moths to urbanization in a subtropical city","authors":"Michael W. Belitz, Asia Sawyer, Lillian Hendrick, Robert P. Guralnick","doi":"10.1002/ecy.4489","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4489","url":null,"abstract":"Urbanization in temperate climates often advances the beginning and peak of biological events due to multiple factors, especially urban heat islands. However, the effect of urbanization on insect phenology remains understudied in more tropical areas, where temperature may be a weaker phenological cue. We surveyed moths across an urban gradient in a subtropical city weekly for a year to test how impervious surface and canopy cover impact phenology at the caterpillar and adult life stages. For macro‐moths, we also examine how these effects vary with life history traits. When pooling all individuals, we found no effect of urbanization proxy variables on timing of caterpillar or adult phenology. At the species‐specific level, we found timing of peak adult macro‐moths is influenced by canopy cover, which also interacts with two traits: temperature niche and body size. Cold‐adapted species delay timing of peak abundance in more shaded sites, while warm‐adapted species were not affected. Smaller species, associated with lower dispersal ability, were more phenologically sensitive to canopy cover than larger bodied species. These results highlight the importance of canopy cover within cities and its interaction with species' traits in mediating impact of urbanization on moth phenology in subtropical systems.","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142760179","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":"Eco‐phenotypic feedback loops differ in multistressor environments","authors":"Lynn Govaert, Toni Klauschies","doi":"10.1002/ecy.4480","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4480","url":null,"abstract":"Natural communities are exposed to multiple environmental stressors, which simultaneously impact the population and trait dynamics of the species embedded within these communities. Given that certain traits, such as body size, are known to rapidly respond to environmental change, and given that they can strongly influence the density of populations, this raises the question of whether the strength of the eco‐phenotypic feedback loop depends on the environment, and whether stressful environments would enhance or disrupt this feedback or causal linkage. We use two competing freshwater ciliates—<jats:italic>Colpidium striatum</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Paramecium aurelia</jats:italic>—and expose their populations to a full‐factorial design of increasing salinity and temperature conditions as well as interspecific competition. We found that salinity, temperature, and competition significantly affected the density and cell size dynamics of both species. Cell size dynamics strongly influenced density dynamics; however, the strength of this eco‐phenotypic feedback loop weakened in stressful conditions and with interspecific competition. Our study highlights the importance of studying eco‐phenotypic dynamics in different environments comprising stressful abiotic conditions and species interactions.","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142718173","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}