Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Long-term decline in montane insects under warming summers","authors":"Keith W. Sockman","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70187","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70187","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Widespread declines in the abundance of insects portend ill-fated futures for their host ecosystems, all of which require their services to function. For many such reports, human activities have directly altered the land or water of these ecosystems, raising questions about how insects in less impacted environments are faring. I quantified the abundance of flying insects during 15 seasons spanning 2004–2024 on a relatively unscathed, subalpine meadow in Colorado, where weather data have been recorded for 38 years. I discovered that insect abundance declined an average of 6.6% annually, yielding a 72.4% decline over this 20-year period. According to model selection following information theoretic analysis of 59 combinations of weather-related factors, a seasonal increase in insect abundance changed to a seasonal decline as the previous summer's temperatures increased. This resulted in a long-term decline associated with increasing summer temperatures, particularly daily lows, which have increased 0.8°C per decade. However, other factors, such as ecological succession and atmospheric elevation in nitrogen and carbon, are also plausible drivers. In a relatively pristine ecosystem, insects are declining precipitously, auguring poorly for this and other such ecosystems that depend on insects in food webs and for pollination, pest control, and nutrient cycling.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70187","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144995725","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":"Is individual heterogeneity in growth rates relevant to population dynamics of long-lived reptiles?","authors":"Doug P. Armstrong,&nbsp;Matthew G. Keevil,&nbsp;Patrick D. Moldowan,&nbsp;Njal Rollinson,&nbsp;Jacqueline D. Litzgus,&nbsp;Ronald J. Brooks","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70185","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70185","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Many populations show pronounced individual heterogeneity in traits such as somatic growth rates, but the relevance of this heterogeneity to population dynamics remains unclear. Individual heterogeneity may be particularly relevant to long-lived organisms for which vital rates (survival and reproduction) increase with adult growth, as subtle differences in growth rates can have major fitness consequences. Previous analysis of data for snapping turtles (<i>Chelydra serpentina</i>) in Algonquin Park, Canada, from 1972 to 2012 showed that individual heterogeneity in growth rates and size-specific reproductive rates of adult females led to eightfold variation in lifetime reproductive output. Here, we test whether this individual heterogeneity affects population dynamics by comparing projections from alternative integrated population models (IPMs) where: (1) vital rates of adult females increase with size and there is individual heterogeneity in their adult growth and reproduction parameters as well as their ages at maturity; (2) vital rates increase with size but there is no individual heterogeneity; or (3) vital rates are assumed equal among adult females. The three IPMs all integrated component models for growth, reproduction, and survival, incorporated random annual variation in rates, and used data augmentation to model unobserved individuals including future recruits. The data augmentation approach allowed the individual heterogeneity in parameters to be extrapolated from observed to unobserved individuals under Model 1. Models 1 and 2 produced similar annual estimates of recruitment, mortality, and abundance from 1972 to 2012 and similar projections for the next 10 years. Those projections had wide prediction intervals (5% increase to 73% decline) due to annual variation in rates but were consistent with the 59% decline estimated based on new data collected from 2012 to 2022. The projected decline reflected predicted decreases in survival and recruitment due to a decrease in the average body size of adult females. Consequently, Model 3 gave more optimistic projections that were inconsistent with the observed decline. The results therefore showed that the size composition of adult females, and therefore their overall somatic growth rate, was important to the dynamics of the population. However, the results also indicated that the pronounced individual heterogeneity in growth rates observed was irrelevant to population dynamics.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70185","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144995727","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":"Ants and extrafloral nectary-bearing plants: A dataset of interactions and outcomes","authors":"Samuel Novais,&nbsp;Noemí Matías-Ferrer,&nbsp;Betsabé Ruíz-Guerra,&nbsp;Cássio Cardoso Pereira,&nbsp;Daniel Negreiros,&nbsp;Armando Aguirre-Jaimes","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70186","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70186","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;Extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) are specialized plant glands that secrete nectar but are not related to pollination. Several ants feed on EFNs and, in exchange, they often attack herbivores, reducing the consumption of leaf tissue and floral parts, and enhancing plant performance. Although most empirical studies and reviews have demonstrated that ant visitation benefits EFN-bearing plants, many others have failed to show ants as protective partners. Despite the increasing number of papers dealing with plant defense mediated by EFNs in the last 30 years, there has been no comprehensive effort to synthesize knowledge on this topic. In fact, due to strict inclusion criteria, recent meta-analyses have considered only a small fraction of the published studies on ant–EFN-bearing plant interactions. Therefore, we set out to compile the available published information about ants feeding on EFNs, ranging from descriptive to experimental studies. This dataset includes 342 studies and 4766 records of ants feeding directly on EFNs. When available, we also extracted the outcomes of the interactions from each study. In addition, the effects of ants on herbivory, herbivore abundance, fruit set, and seed set (the response variables with most data) were summarized. The data were gathered from studies published between 1941 and February 2024, across 40 countries and several ecosystems in temperate and tropical zones. Brazil and Mexico were by far the countries with the most records. Ants visiting EFNs were recorded on plants from 30 orders, 65 families, 246 genera, and 441 species. Fabaceae was the family with the greatest number of records (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 1208, 25.3%), followed by Passifloraceae (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 430, 9%) and Bignoniaceae (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 269, 5.6%). &lt;i&gt;Passiflora&lt;/i&gt; was the genus with the greatest number of records (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 254, 5.3%), followed by &lt;i&gt;Chamaecrista&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 241, 5.1%) and &lt;i&gt;Turnera&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 176, 3.4%). A total of 7 subfamilies, 82 genera, and 519 ant species were found associated with EFNs. Formicinae was the subfamily with the greatest number of records (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 1771, 37.2%), followed by Myrmicinae (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 1609, 33.8%). &lt;i&gt;Camponotus&lt;/i&gt; was the genus with the greatest number of records (1173, 24.6%), followed by &lt;i&gt;Crematogaster&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 518, 10.9%) and &lt;i&gt;Pseudomyrmex&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 437, 9.2%). The effects of ants on herbivory, herbivore abundance, fruit set, and seed set were explored separately for community- and species-level studies. Ants led to a decrease in herbivory in 67.4% (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 58) of the community-level studies and in 54.2% (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 26) of the species-level studies. Similarly, 75.9% (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 44) and 72.4% (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 21) of the studies showed a decrease in herbivore abundance caused by ants in community- and species-level studies, respectively. Regarding plant fitness, ants led to an increase in fruit set in 42.9% (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 21) of the community-level studies and in 52% (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 13)","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70186","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144995730","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":"Transgenerational pathogen effects: Maternal pathogen exposure reduces offspring fitness","authors":"Kristina M. McIntire,&nbsp;Marcin K. Dziuba,&nbsp;Elizabeth B. Haywood,&nbsp;Miles L. Robertson,&nbsp;Megan Vaandrager,&nbsp;Emma Baird,&nbsp;Fiona E. Corcoran,&nbsp;Taleah Nelson,&nbsp;Michael H. Cortez,&nbsp;Meghan A. Duffy","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70165","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70165","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Pathogens can alter the phenotype not only of exposed hosts, but also of future generations. Transgenerational immune priming, where parental infection drives reduced susceptibility of offspring, has been particularly well explored, but pathogens can also alter life history traits of offspring. Here, we examined the potential for transgenerational impacts of a microsporidian pathogen, <i>Ordospora pajunii</i>, by experimentally measuring the impact of maternal exposure on offspring fitness in the presence and absence of parasites, and then developing mathematical models that explored the population-level impacts of these transgenerational effects. We did not find evidence of transgenerational immune priming: offspring of exposed mothers became infected at high rates, similar to offspring of unexposed mothers, and the infection burden did not differ between these two groups. We also did not find any evidence of transgenerational tolerance, where daughters of exposed mothers have higher fitness after infection. Instead, we found evidence for negative transgenerational impacts of infection: uninfected offspring of exposed mothers had substantially greater early life mortality than uninfected offspring of unexposed mothers. Offspring of exposed mothers also had reduced growth rates, fewer clutches, and fewer offspring. We propose that these observations should be considered transgenerational virulence, where a pathogen reduces the fitness of the offspring of infected hosts. Our parameterized mathematical model allowed us to explore the impacts of transgenerational virulence at the population level. If transgenerational virulence manifests as decreased reproduction or increased mortality in offspring, as we saw in the empirical portion of our study, this reduces total host density, infection prevalence, and infected host density, which could have implications for both host conservation and spillover risk. We propose that transgenerational virulence might be common and is a concept worthy of further empirical and theoretical exploration.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70165","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144998987","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":"Invasive predatory fish occupies highest trophic position leading to expansion of isotopic niches in a riverine food web","authors":"Olivia C. Hodgson,&nbsp;Sydney Stark,&nbsp;Megan K. Schall,&nbsp;Geoffrey D. Smith,&nbsp;Kelly L. Smalling,&nbsp;Tyler Wagner","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70180","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70180","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Invasive species are drivers of ecological change with the potential to reshape the structure and function of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The invasive flathead catfish (<i>Pylodictis olivaris</i>) is an opportunistic predator that has established a rapidly growing population in the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, USA, since they were first detected in 2002. Although the predatory effects of invasive catfishes on native fish communities have been documented, the effects of invasion on riverine food webs are poorly understood. This study quantified the effects of invasive flathead catfish on the trophic position (TP) and isotopic niche of the river's food web by comparing invaded and non-invaded sites. In addition to flathead catfish, the food web components examined included crayfish, minnows, and two ecologically and socioeconomically important fish species: the smallmouth bass (<i>Micropterus dolomieu</i>) and channel catfish (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>). We found that flathead catfish occupied the highest TP, with a posterior mean TP of 3.08 (95% credible interval = [2.71, 3.42]), exceeding that of the two resident fish predators, the smallmouth bass and channel catfish. The TP of the resident channel catfish, which occupies a similar ecological niche, declined after flathead catfish invasion. In fact, there was a 0.92 posterior probability that channel catfish TP was lower in invaded sites than at non-invaded sites. Using a Bayesian bivariate ellipses analysis, we found overwhelming evidence of isotopic niche expansion and overlap for all components of the food web in the presence of flathead catfish. These findings support the “trophic disruption hypothesis,” where an introduced species prompts resident species to change diets in an attempt to avoid competition and predation following invasion. Our results indicate that flathead catfish invasion is altering food web structure and energy flow in a large riverine ecosystem and contributes to the breadth of knowledge regarding how ecosystems may respond to the introduction of a large predatory fish species.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70180","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144995722","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":"Thermal responses of feeding rates differ across co-occurring predator species","authors":"Zoey R. Neale,&nbsp;Volker H. W. Rudolf","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70184","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70184","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Changes in global temperature regimes are expected to transform species interactions in natural communities. However, predicting the consequences of warming on populations and communities is challenging because species interact with a range of community members. In theory, species should be adapted to their local temperature regimes, which might suggest a parallel shift across species interactions. But this may not hold if differences in traits (e.g., physiology or ecology) between sympatric species lead to concurrent differences in thermal responses. Here, we compare the thermal responses of feeding rates of six aquatic predator species from the same community feeding on the same prey species. Individual predators were experimentally exposed to temperatures ranging from 5 to 35°C spanning the temperature range of their native habitat. We found qualitative and quantitative differences in thermal response curves of per capita feeding rates across species that led to a shift in the rankings of species' per capita predation rates along the temperature gradient. Of the six species tested, two species demonstrated maximum feeding rates at intermediate temperatures, while feeding rates of the other four species increased monotonically. Additional experiments indicated the lethal temperatures for each predator were greater than the maximum temperature at which prey could survive, though for some, it was only greater by 2–3°C. Interestingly, this suggests that the decline in predation rates at higher temperatures predicted by past studies may not always be biologically relevant in natural systems. Furthermore, we found that the feeding rates of consumers differed in thermal optimum and sensitivity to changes in temperature. Consequently, increasing feeding rates with rising temperatures in one species could be offset by decreasing feeding rates in another. These results indicate the need to account for differences in the thermal per capita responses among predator species within communities to predict how temperature changes across seasons and years influence the interactions and dynamics of natural communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144995724","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":"Anything you can eat, I can eat better: Evidence of generalism from species to individual level in an insect herbivore","authors":"Mattheau S. Comerford,&nbsp;William Maguire,&nbsp;Leah Murphy,&nbsp;Emma Schneider,&nbsp;Mayra C. Vidal","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70181","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70181","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Most insect herbivores specialize on a few host plants; however, there are a minority of highly generalized species capable of feeding on hundreds of hosts. Generalism could emerge as a property of the species as a whole, while individuals would still exhibit greater specialization at more specific organizational levels. Yet, we lack studies with generalist insect herbivores directly testing this prediction. Here, we test if the highly generalized fall webworm (<i>Hyphantria cunea</i>) maintains its broad diet through specialization at the population, maternal genotype, or individual level. We reared two populations and multiple matrilines on either a static or rotating diet of four host plants. We found that both populations survived and pupated on all hosts, suggesting population-level generalization. We found evidence for generalization at the genotype level, as maternal genotypes did not vary in performance rankings across host plants. Finally, we found generalism at the individual level, as individuals reared on a rotating diet had no difference or showed intermediate performance to those reared on static diets. Overall, we found support for the maintenance of generalism across all levels, suggesting that generalist species need not be locally specialized to maintain their extremely broad diet.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70181","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144995760","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":"Aridity-dependent response bias of grassland productivity to precipitation in experiments compared to observations","authors":"Yumiao Xiao,&nbsp;Yun Jiang,&nbsp;Jiawei Li,&nbsp;Haibo Lu,&nbsp;Xiuchen Wu,&nbsp;Yuan Jiang,&nbsp;Bingwei Zhang","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70189","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70189","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Precipitation manipulation experiments and long-term observations have been widely employed to examine the response of ecosystem productivity to changing precipitation. However, whether experiments accurately reflect natural responses remains questionable. Here, we conducted a global reality check analysis using paired datasets from 22 grassland sites that included both experimental and observational measurements. The results revealed that the sensitivity of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) to changing precipitation was lower in the experiments than in the observations in xeric grasslands. One potential reason is that the experiments fail to simulate the concurrent changes in air humidity that typically accompany natural precipitation events, thereby leading to the underestimation of the changing precipitation effect on ANPP. Conversely, in mesic grasslands, the ANPP sensitivity to experimental changing precipitation was greater than that in the observations likely because low radiation and temperature during the natural raining days have negative effects on ANPP when water is not limited. This study highlights the aridity-dependent bias of changing precipitation effects on ANPP in precipitation manipulation experiments in grasslands, which should be fully considered when conclusions from experiments are incorporated in model simulations.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70189","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144995723","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":"Phenotypic plasticity underlies seasonal and latitudinal variation in thermal tolerance in a native bee","authors":"Matt C. Elmer,&nbsp;Keyne Monro,&nbsp;Harley Thompson,&nbsp;Aidan Stuckey,&nbsp;Vanessa Kellermann","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70183","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70183","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Climate change threatens biodiversity and ecosystem services around the globe. Despite the importance of native bees as pollinators, there is evidence of global declines, and we know very little about how climate shapes their distributions now and into the future. In the current study, we combined large-scale seasonal field sampling and experimental acclimation to examine whether populations of an Australian bee, <i>Exoneura robusta</i>, vary in their capacity to adapt to different climates. Collecting female bees across a latitudinal cline and examining heat and cold tolerance, we found populations did not vary in their heat tolerance along a latitudinal gradient. In contrast, bees from higher latitudes tended to be more cold-tolerant than bees from lower latitudes, but the relationship between cold tolerance and latitude differed between summer and spring (post-winter). Such seasonal variation suggests that phenotypic plasticity plays a role in shaping cold tolerance, as bees are likely to belong to the same generation from summer to spring. To untangle the roles of plasticity and genetic variation in shaping variation in thermal tolerance across seasons, we acclimated adult females from three populations spanning the species' distributional range to either 21 or 26°C in glasshouses (approximating summer and spring/autumn temperatures experienced throughout their range). We then estimated heat and cold tolerance. Contrasting acclimation responses observed in the glasshouses to those observed in the field point to phenotypic plasticity in cold tolerance rather than genetic variation underpinning population variation. In contrast, heat tolerance varied little in the field and in our glasshouse experiments. These results suggest bees may have little capacity to increase their heat tolerance, which is high at ~47°C, via genetic or plastic responses as climate changes.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70183","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144995728","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":"Is Poa annua a skin-changer? Annual–perennial life history shift enables the species to conquer Antarctica","authors":"Agnieszka Rudak,&nbsp;Halina Galera,&nbsp;Maciej Wódkiewicz","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70162","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70162","url":null,"abstract":"<p>An extended lifespan of <i>Poa annua</i> may be of adaptive value during the invasion of harsh environments. Our aim was to investigate whether this trait is population-specific or general for the species. Individuals representing eight populations were cultivated under experimental conditions for two Antarctic growing seasons separated by polar winter conditions. Our experiment indicated that the species is capable of extending its life history toward perenniality regardless of population origin. Adventitious roots at the lower nodes were observed in overwintering plants from all the studied populations. We observed a similar response regardless of the source population. Plants exposed to stress from both climatic and edaphic conditions did not survive the simulated Antarctic winter. Plants grown in optimal gardening soil expressed a life history with vegetative growth during the first vegetation season and flowered and produced seeds only during their second growing season. <i>P. annua</i> may exhibit at least a two-year life cycle under harsh Antarctic conditions. This trait is general for the species and determines high survival potential, which may initiate an invasion breakout under climate change. Shifts in species life history traits should be considered in the management of alien species invasions occurring under harsh environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70162","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144995729","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}