Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Fungal pathogens and nitrogen addition alter community spatial variability via different mechanisms","authors":"Yimin Zhao,&nbsp;Xiang Liu,&nbsp;Yu Nie,&nbsp;Zhenhua Zhang,&nbsp;Shurong Zhou","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70215","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70215","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In plant communities, biomass varies considerably in both space and time. Both top down (e.g., pathogens) and bottom up (e.g., nutrients) can influence this variation, but their relative importance and the pathways in which they do so remain poorly understood. Here, we examined the separate and interactive influence of fungal pathogen exclusion and nitrogen addition on the spatial variability of plant community biomass and the underlying mechanisms in an alpine meadow. We found that fungal pathogen exclusion and nitrogen addition independently increased community spatial variability by increasing the variance of plant biomass more than the mean biomass, but there was no interaction between the treatments. Fungal pathogen exclusion increased spatial variation in community biomass by enhancing species covariation. In contrast, nitrogen addition increased community spatial variability mainly by enhancing species variability through increasing beta diversity among communities. Additionally, our observed increase in the spatial mean and variance of biomass in the pathogen exclusion treatment was mainly driven by dominant grasses, whereas all functional groups responded to nitrogen addition. Our results suggest that higher trophic groups and resources can regulate spatial variability of biomass distribution through distinct mechanisms. This enhances our knowledge regarding the roles of top-down and bottom-up forces in maintaining ecosystem functions across spatial scales.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145111023","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":"Small rainfall events increase belowground production in Chihuahuan Desert grassland","authors":"Scott L. Collins,&nbsp;Renée F. Brown","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70206","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70206","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Dryland productivity is highly sensitive to precipitation variability, and models predict that rainfall variability will increase in the future. Numerous studies have documented the relationship between productivity and precipitation, but most focus on aboveground production (ANPP), while the effects on belowground production (BNPP) remain poorly understood. Furthermore, previous research suggests that ANPP and BNPP are uncoupled within ecosystems, but the degree to which rainfall variability affects the interplay between aboveground and belowground production is unknown. We conducted a long-term rainfall manipulation experiment in Chihuahuan Desert grassland to investigate how the size and frequency of growing season rain events affected BNPP and its relationship to ANPP. Experimental plots received either 12 small-frequent rain events or 3 large-infrequent events during the monsoon season for a total of 60 mm of added rainfall per treatment per year. All plots, including three controls, received ambient rainfall throughout the year. Total BNPP ranged from a low of 94.7 ± 38.2 g m² year⁻¹ under ambient conditions to a high of 183.7 ± 44.6 g m² year⁻¹ under the small-frequent rainfall treatment. Total BNPP was highest under small-frequent rain events, and there was no difference in BNPP between 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil depths in either rainfall treatment. ANPP and BNPP were uncorrelated within rainfall treatments, but weakly positively correlated across all plots and years. Our results contribute to a growing body of research on the importance of small rain events in drylands and provide further evidence regarding the weak coupling between aboveground and belowground processes.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145084427","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":"Giant trevally (Caranx ignobilis) use novel breaching strategy to prey on seabirds in flight","authors":"Ryan Daly,&nbsp;Jake Letori,&nbsp;Aurelie Hector,&nbsp;William McNeely,&nbsp;Elena Levorato,&nbsp;Gregory Berke","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70211","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70211","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145084386","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":"Persistent kelp forests during a massive decline reveal the importance of land–sea connectivity","authors":"Aurora M. Ricart,&nbsp;Julieta B. Gómez,&nbsp;Rachael H. Karm,&nbsp;John L. Largier,&nbsp;Vinicius Bastos Correa De Souza,&nbsp;Abigail S. Dias,&nbsp;Maria G. Velázquez,&nbsp;Taylor Nelson,&nbsp;Kyle C. Cavanaugh,&nbsp;Katherine C. Cavanaugh,&nbsp;Brent B. Hughes","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70212","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70212","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A fundamental goal in ecology is to understand the drivers of stability in natural ecosystems in the face of disturbances. However, this is challenging when biotic and abiotic stressors operate simultaneously across multiple spatial scales. Such is the case for bull kelp forests (<i>Nereocystis luetkeana</i>) in northern California, where losses of predators combined with marine heatwaves have led to shifts from kelp forest to sea urchin barren states. However, despite the &gt;90% loss of bull kelp forests since 2014, some patches remain. Here, we investigate the bull kelp community assemblage in these remnant patches as well as the drivers of bull kelp forest resistance. We used a combination of in situ field surveys (years 2020–2022), remote sensing data (years 2016–2022), and a laboratory grazing experiment with urchins (<i>Strongylocentrotus purpuratus</i>). We found that, in addition to the two dominant states (kelp forest vs. urchin barren), there is a third community state dominated by understory canopy-forming macroalgae that stays subsurface. Moreover, bull kelp abundance and cover were positively associated with freshwater flow and proximity to freshwater sources, and bull kelp persistence was positively associated with sand cover, all of which seem to diminish sea urchin abundance and the negative effects of sea urchin herbivory on bull kelp. This was also shown in the laboratory experiment where sea urchin herbivory rates on bull kelp decreased with decreasing salinity. Overall, these results suggest that freshwater influence in shallow coastal environments could prevent loss of bull kelp and show that land–sea connections should be considered for species-specific management and conservation actions.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70212","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145084426","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":"Beyond visual sense: Multiple disguises of a bark-dwelling true bug","authors":"Yuri Fanchini Messas,&nbsp;Adriana Trevizoli Salomão,&nbsp;João Vasconcellos-Neto","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70209","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70209","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145076974","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":"Assessing how biofilms modulate stream periphyton metacommunity assemblage: A translocation experiment","authors":"Daniel Zamorano,&nbsp;Travis Ingram,&nbsp;Fabio A. Labra,&nbsp;Christoph D. Matthaei","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70207","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70207","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The role of three-dimensional structural complexity in shaping communities has been increasingly studied, and evidence indicates that vertical stratification favors coexistence through niche partitioning. Despite the clear relationship between three-dimensional structure and community assemblages, its role in shaping metacommunity processes is still unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we carried out a translocation experiment using stream periphyton (benthic microalgae) as a model community. Structural complexity in stream periphyton is observed when thicker biofilms develop, reducing hydraulic stress and improving nutrient uptake, particularly for understory taxa. In this experiment, we exposed ceramic tiles in a source river for 4, 11, or 21 days, creating a biofilm biomass and successional gradient. We then translocated these tiles to 10 receiving rivers in two phosphorus enrichment categories (low, high). After 25 days, we collected all tiles and evaluated biofilm biomass and the periphyton community. We determined community similarity post-translocation using the Bray–Curtis distance, comparing translocated tiles to pre-translocation communities and to control tiles from the receiving rivers. Translocated tiles remained more similar to their pre-translocation community when the source and receiving rivers were more similar to each other and when pre-colonization time was longer (11 or 21 days), whereas biofilm biomass was not a key predictor. Further, translocated tiles became more similar to their receiving river communities when pre-colonization time was shorter (4 days) and when receiving river biofilm biomass was higher, suggesting that neighborhood biofilm biomass could indicate local propagule pressure. Low-phosphorus sites exhibited lower biofilm biomass and high proportions of taxa from both receiving rivers and the source river on translocated tiles, which indicated a more important role of species sorting. By contrast, high-phosphorus sites displayed greater neighborhood biomass and translocated tiles less similar to receiving rivers or the source river due to a higher proportion of rare taxa, which suggested mass effects. This experiment expands our knowledge of the role of three-dimensional community structure in driving metacommunity processes by considering environmental contexts, biomass as a proxy of structural complexity, and successional time.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70207","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145071746","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":"Mammae numbers and litter sizes in an arboreal rodent fit the one-half rule","authors":"Anežka Holcová Gazárková,&nbsp;Peter Adamík","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70195","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70195","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;Lactation is a defining mammal trait. Mammae numbers vary across orders, from 2 in humans to 29 in tenrecs (Hayssen et al., &lt;span&gt;1992&lt;/span&gt;). Why is there such a great variation of mammae counts across different taxa? This question attracted the attention of many scholars since Aristotle, who stated, “The animals that have large litters have their mammae upon the abdomen. Why is this? They have numerous young to feed, and so they need numerous mammae” (Aristotle, &lt;span&gt;1902&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Comparative studies have shown that mammae numbers coevolve with litter size. In general, litter size positively covaries with mammae count, that is, species with large litters nourish their sucklings from more nipples (Pearl, &lt;span&gt;1913a&lt;/span&gt;). Gilbert (&lt;span&gt;1986&lt;/span&gt;) coined this relationship as a “one-half rule”: the average litter size in a given species is usually one-half of the available mammae. Thus, there are typically two nipples or teats per one pup. Across taxa, the mammae number explains more of the variation in litter size than any other species-level traits like body mass, diet, gestation length, or geography (Stewart et al., &lt;span&gt;2020&lt;/span&gt;). This indicates that mammae numbers might represent a constraint on fecundity across mammals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Surprisingly, almost no attempts have been made to assess whether the one-half rule also applies within a species. Earlier researchers even directly excluded such possibility, claiming, “There seems no reason whatever to suppose that natural selection would tend to produce a correlation between the number of mammae in the mother and the size of her litters within a race” (Harris, &lt;span&gt;1916&lt;/span&gt;). More recently, Diamond (&lt;span&gt;1987&lt;/span&gt;) considered it a “constant species characteristic,” and Gilbert (&lt;span&gt;1986&lt;/span&gt;) claimed that “with few exceptions, mammary number in rodents is a species-typical invariant trait.” Even if some species were found with variable mammae counts, Gilbert excluded those species from his seminal study. Traditionally, only studies on domesticated animals paid attention to the issue of intraspecific variability in mammae numbers and litter size, with often inconclusive results (Bell, &lt;span&gt;1912&lt;/span&gt;; Kim et al., &lt;span&gt;2005&lt;/span&gt;; Korhonen, &lt;span&gt;1992&lt;/span&gt;; Parker &amp; Bullard, &lt;span&gt;1913&lt;/span&gt;; Pearl, &lt;span&gt;1913b&lt;/span&gt;). Only one study on a wild mammal, the Naked-mole Rat (&lt;i&gt;Heterocephalus glaber&lt;/i&gt;), assessed whether the one-half rule holds within a species but did not find support for it (Sherman et al., &lt;span&gt;1999&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Edible Dormouse (&lt;i&gt;Glis glis&lt;/i&gt;, Gliridae) is a small, nocturnal, arboreal rodent that inhabits deciduous woodlands across Europe. Earlier studies found variable numbers (8 to 14) of mammae within and between populations (Kryštufek, &lt;span&gt;2004&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span&gt;2010&lt;/span&gt;; Naderi et al., &lt;span&gt;2014&lt;/span&gt;; Figure 1a). It is a typical tree cavity-dwelling species that readily accepts nest boxes as surrogates of natural tree hollo","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12441658/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145077047","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":"Lianas exhibit stronger conspecific negative density dependence than trees on tropical seedling survival","authors":"Zhenhua Sun,&nbsp;Nujaree Prachanun,&nbsp;Arunkamon Sonsuthi,&nbsp;Anuttara Nathalang,&nbsp;Wirong Chanthorn,&nbsp;Warren Y. Brockelman,&nbsp;Rong Gu,&nbsp;Nathan G. Swenson,&nbsp;Luxiang Lin","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70210","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70210","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) strongly influences plant demography, especially in highly diverse tropical forests, but its relative importance may vary between growth forms. We used hierarchical Bayesian models to assess how neighbor densities affected the survival of more than 30,000 seedlings from 87 tree and 56 liana species in a tropical forest across two 1-year census intervals. Although standardized CNDD coefficients were similar between lianas and trees, lianas showed a four- to sixfold stronger per capita CNDD on seedling survival compared to trees. Specifically, adding a single conspecific neighbor (2 cm dbh at 1 m distance) reduced liana survival by −1.2% to −1.8%, whereas it only reduced tree survival by 0.3%. Nevertheless, trees exhibited greater inter-annual variation in CNDD prevalence (47%–11% of species with significant CNDD) compared to lianas (13%–23%). These contrasting patterns likely reflect growth form-specific ecological strategies in density-dependent responses to inter-annual environmental fluctuations. Our findings highlight the importance of examining per capita neighborhood effects when assessing CNDD strength and suggest that lianas and trees may utilize different mechanisms driving CNDD and exhibit varying stability in their contribution to diversity maintenance in tropical forests.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70210","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145076992","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":"Multivariate signals of population collapse in a high-throughput ecological experiment","authors":"Francesco Cerini,&nbsp;John Jackson,&nbsp;Duncan O'Brien,&nbsp;Dylan Z. Childs,&nbsp;Christopher F. Clements","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70197","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70197","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Anticipating population declines is a crucial goal of conservation ecology. Recent conceptual work suggests that populations facing growing stressors should exhibit sequential shifts in behavior, morphology, and abundance before declining to extinction. However, the lack of high-resolution, multidimensional data has hindered empirical validation of this conceptual work. Using an autonomously monitored, high-throughput experimental system, we generated individual-based data on populations of the ciliate <i>Paramecium caudatum</i> forced to collapse due to increasingly stressful conditions. The gradual introduction of a pollutant elicited the predictable sequence of responses—declines in movement speed, followed by declines in body length, emergence of early warning signals of collapse, and finally, abundance declines. Conversely, a press disturbance generated by the introduction of predators did not induce this sequence. The time between the first detectable trait changes and population collapse depended on the statistical approach used, but the sequence remained consistent. Using general additive models, detectable behavioral signals in the polluted populations occurred one generation before abundance-based early warning signals were detectable, and two generations before abundance decline. We highlight that multivariate monitoring, particularly individual-based metrics, is crucial for forecasting population declines.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70197","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145068224","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":"Hidden decay of live trees in a tropical rain forest","authors":"Gregory S. Gilbert,&nbsp;Brant C. Faircloth,&nbsp;Travis C. Glenn,&nbsp;Javier O. Ballesteros,&nbsp;César A. Barrios-Rodríguez,&nbsp;Ernesto Bonadies,&nbsp;Marjorie L. Cedeño-Sánchez,&nbsp;Nohely J. Fossatti-Caballero,&nbsp;José Moisés Pérez-Suñiga,&nbsp;Mariam M. Trejos-Rodríguez,&nbsp;Stephen P. Hubbell","doi":"10.1002/ecy.70208","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecy.70208","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The trunks of forest trees store massive amounts of carbon, but fungi actively and invisibly decay wood inside even seemingly healthy trees. Wood-decay fungi are responsible for the loss of stored carbon in living trees, and they make trees susceptible to snapping and uprooting in storms. We used sonic tomography to measure the prevalence and severity of decay in 1744 live trees (≥20 cm diameter) of 171 species on the 50-ha Forest Dynamics Plot on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. A median of &lt;2% of the cross-sectional trunk area showed decay, but 15% of trees had &gt;20% decay. Twenty percent of the combined basal area showed decay, representing a loss of approximately 1% of aboveground biomass. Larger trees more often showed internal decay, with one quarter of trees showing decay before reaching canopy height. Decay severity varied by species; 23% of species showed &lt;2% decay while 9% of species lost over half their basal area. Rare species were more affected than locally abundant species, and species with traits associated with a fast life history were more susceptible to decay. These results suggest that hidden wood decay affects a large proportion of living tropical forest trees.</p>","PeriodicalId":11484,"journal":{"name":"Ecology","volume":"106 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecy.70208","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145057936","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}