Ecological Monographs最新文献

{"title":"A global analysis of land snail diversity on islands","authors":"Konstantinos Proios, Albert B. Phillimore, François Rigal, Thomas J. Matthews, Dimitris Poursanidis, Robert A. D. Cameron, Kostas A. Triantis, Robert J. Whittaker","doi":"10.1002/ecm.70078","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.70078","url":null,"abstract":"Explaining spatiotemporal disparities in island species‐richness (ISR) is a fundamental pursuit in (macro)ecology and biogeography. While most research has focused on vertebrates and vascular plants, invertebrates—representing ~70% of global species—remain understudied. Using data from 727 islands worldwide, we evaluate the impact of 14 key biogeographic variables, including island area, isolation, climate, energy, environmental heterogeneity, and human presence, on different insular land snail chorotypes: total indigenous richness, archipelagic endemics, including multiple‐ and single‐island endemics, and native non‐endemics. We find that these variables jointly explain 80%–84% of inter‐island variation in endemic ISR, substantially enhancing explanatory power beyond what can be attributed to traditional species–area and species–energy relationships. In contrast, native non‐endemic ISR, although partially explained by area or energy alone, is predominantly influenced by other unaccounted factors including source‐pool effects. Driver significance varies among chorotypes, illustrating the capture of distinct biogeographic processes (speciation vs. colonization) per chorotype. Our findings show that factors influencing land snail ISR broadly align with those for vertebrates and plants while revealing significant variation in community assembly processes across chorotypes. Thus, our study provides a step towards a unified theory of diversity, encompassing chorotypes as fundamental ISR components, and invertebrates, which comprise most island animal diversity.","PeriodicalId":11505,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Monographs","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149218341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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":"Revisiting the functional strategy of herbaceous metallophytes helps understanding leaf metal accumulation","authors":"Florian Delerue,&nbsp;Maxime Pauwels,&nbsp;Hélène Frérot,&nbsp;Sandra Díaz,&nbsp;Hugo Randé,&nbsp;Valentin Mauro,&nbsp;Federico Selvi,&nbsp;Ilaria Colzi,&nbsp;Eyal Grossman,&nbsp;Marion Sarah Deville-Cavellin,&nbsp;Kohmei Kadowaki,&nbsp;Alexandra Coynel,&nbsp;Marie De Boisvilliers,&nbsp;Thomas Dewez,&nbsp;Johanne Gresse,&nbsp;Valérie Sappin-Didier,&nbsp;Christophe Nguyen,&nbsp;Richard Michalet","doi":"10.1002/ecm.70080","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecm.70080","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Plant physiological adaptations to metal-rich soils consist either in metal exclusion or in metal (hyper)accumulation in leaves and aboveground tissues. However, the relationship between these adaptations and the functional strategies developed by metallophytes to sustain their development is unknown. Here, given the soil instability often occurring in metalliferous ecosystems, we assumed that many metallophyte species should present ruderal-like syndromes. Additionally, because leaf metal accumulation requires resources and energy, we assumed that metal-accumulating species should be found among fast-growing acquisitive species. We studied functional traits related to the two major plant functional dimensions (size and leaf resource economics) for 107 herbaceous species in eight metalliferous sites (four calamine, three serpentine, and one copper-rich ecosystem) in Europe, Central Africa, and Japan. Zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), or copper (Cu) accumulation ability was determined for all species. Soil instability was evaluated in one site in the Pyrenees through rockiness characterization and slope steepness calculated from a high-resolution digital elevation model. Results showed that soil-metal availability and slope steepness impacted vegetation development in the Pyrenees. Consistently, plant size was reduced in the most polluted areas, and many species were acquisitive, exhibiting the expected ruderal-like syndromes. This pattern was confirmed along a soil-Cu gradient in Central Africa. At the global scale, plant size reduction was confirmed for calamine and Cu-rich environments, and was more variable in serpentine ones. In all sites, a mix of acquisitive and conservative species was observed. This variability was correlated with leaf metal accumulation, acquisitive species showing high accumulation, and conservative species showing high metal exclusion. Notably, hyperaccumulating species were always found among acquisitive species. These findings offer new perspectives regarding the evolution of metal hyperaccumulation, suggesting that high photosynthetic activity is a prerequisite to handle the cost of metal hyperaccumulation. They also complete the main hypotheses explaining the ecological advantage of hyperaccumulation, that is, the defense against herbivores and allelopathic interference with neighbors through litter decomposition. Acquisitive species are indeed preferentially chosen by herbivores and produce a fast-decomposing litter. Further studies should test the generality of these results for other accumulated elements, and for woody Ni hyperaccumulators in tropical serpentine areas.</p>","PeriodicalId":11505,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Monographs","volume":"96 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecm.70080","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149199031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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":"Probabilistic forecasting of coastal wetland elevation and soil carbon response to sea-level rise","authors":"James R. Holmquist,&nbsp;E. Fay Belshe,&nbsp;Brandon Boyd,&nbsp;Lauren N. Brown,&nbsp;Samantha Chapman,&nbsp;Ron Corstanje,&nbsp;Meagan Eagle,&nbsp;Christopher N. Janousek,&nbsp;Minjee Jung,&nbsp;David Klinges,&nbsp;Michael Lonneman,&nbsp;James T. Morris,&nbsp;Gregory Noe,&nbsp;André Rovai,&nbsp;Jonathan Sanderman,&nbsp;Amanda Spivak,&nbsp;Katherine Todd-Brown,&nbsp;Megan Vahsen,&nbsp;Nicholas Ward,&nbsp;Lisamarie Windham-Myers,&nbsp;J. Patrick Megonigal","doi":"10.1002/ecm.70079","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecm.70079","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Tidal wetlands build soil as a dynamic response to inundation, resulting in carbon sequestration and resilience to sea-level rise. Process models can be used to make site-specific forecasts, anticipate future changes, and plan management responses. But to be actionable, forecasts from these models need to be accompanied by descriptions of their confidence. In this study, we demonstrate the application of ecological forecasting principles to the unique case of tidal wetland vulnerability and carbon storage, given accelerating and uncertain sea-level rise. We present a case study using the Cohort Marsh Equilibrium Model at the Global Change Research Wetland in Maryland, USA. We used meta-analyses to quantify lab- and sample-level measurement uncertainties for common soil measurements and to develop Bayesian model priors. Reanalysis of previous literature supported predictive relationships between belowground turnover and mean annual temperature, as well as between soil erodibility and suspended sediment concentration that could be transferable to other locations. The model forecasted a likely conversion of low-elevation marsh to open water by the 2060s, accompanied by a decrease in marsh carbon storage capacity. Forecasted uncertainty in elevation was dominated by structural uncertainty in the model, while carbon accumulation rates were more influenced by parameter uncertainty. After 2050, and increasingly as the forecast approached 2100, uncertainty in sea-level rise projections contributed to uncertainty in both forecasts. Forecasts were most sensitive to processes related to organic matter preservation, plant productivity (maximum aboveground biomass and belowground turnover), and organic soil packing density. The soil formed was an organic-rich peat (&gt;70% organic matter according to the data), and model predictions were insensitive to parameters associated with mineral sedimentation. We identify additional field data collection, such as on decomposition trajectories and plant productivity, and data-model coupling of near-term elevation records as the most impactful strategies for reducing uncertainties in future forecasting efforts. Future work can build on this forecasting framework in other locations, using it for adaptive management, identifying appropriate interventions to mitigate wetland loss, and projecting future carbon removal capacity in response to accelerated sea-level rise.</p>","PeriodicalId":11505,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Monographs","volume":"96 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecm.70079","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149123567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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":"Effects of invertebrates and local environment on decomposition rates of dead plant and animal biomass along an elevation gradient","authors":"Chao Guo,&nbsp;Lisa Geres,&nbsp;Axel Göttlein,&nbsp;Rupert Seidl,&nbsp;Sina Greiner,&nbsp;Marit L. Hertlein,&nbsp;Matthias-Claudio Loretto,&nbsp;Robin Reiter,&nbsp;Tobias Richter,&nbsp;Daniel Rieker,&nbsp;Sebastian Seibold","doi":"10.1002/ecm.70077","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecm.70077","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Decomposition of necromass, that is, dead biomass of plants and animals, is an essential process across ecosystems, primarily influenced by climate, necromass characteristics, and decomposer communities, but local environmental conditions like vegetation and soil can also modify large-scale patterns. While single necromass types have been studied intensively, it remains poorly understood how patterns and drivers of decomposition vary across necromass types originating from plants and animals. Here, we quantified how elevation, as a proxy for macroclimate, and local conditions (microclimate, vegetation, soil) interactively affect decomposition rates and invertebrate effects across necromass types. We conducted a comprehensive decomposition experiment including five types of plant or animal necromass (carrion, dung, leaves, beech wood, and spruce wood) along an elevation gradient (600–2000 m above sea level [asl]) in the German Alps. To assess the effects of invertebrates on decomposition of different necromass types, we implemented two treatments that either gave access to invertebrates or excluded them. We found that invertebrates had idiosyncratic effects on decomposition across necromass types, with positive effects for carrion and spruce wood, negative effects for dung and leaves, and no effect for beech wood. Decomposition rates declined significantly with elevation for carrion and beech wood, whereas the other necromass types showed no significant relationship with elevation. Local environmental conditions, especially higher tree cover and stronger microclimatic buffering led to lower decomposition rates of carrion, leaves, and beech wood, but higher decomposition rates of dung and spruce wood. Soil pH was particularly relevant for the decomposition of carrion and beech wood. For carrion, the contribution of invertebrates to decomposition significantly declined with increasing elevation. Our results demonstrate that patterns and drivers of decomposition show little generality across necromass types in temperate mountain forests. Local environmental conditions played a more important role in determining decomposition rates of all studied plant and animal necromass than the macroecological gradient of elevation. Invertebrates are important for decomposition of most necromass types but they can either accelerate or decelerate decomposition. This highlights that both necromass characteristics and local environmental conditions need to be considered to better understand decomposition processes at the ecosystem level.</p>","PeriodicalId":11505,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Monographs","volume":"96 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecm.70077","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148979540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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":"Eutrophication reduces seagrass ecosystem stability by decreasing trophic transfer efficiency of energy and fatty acids","authors":"Yang Fang,&nbsp;Zhijian Jiang,&nbsp;Songlin Liu,&nbsp;Yunchao Wu,&nbsp;Xiaoping Huang","doi":"10.1002/ecm.70076","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecm.70076","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Efficient trophic transfer of energy and matter underpins ecosystem functionality, service provision, and stability. The efficiency of energy and matter transfer is jeopardized by various environmental stressors, but their limiting factors might be distinct and require mechanistic elucidation. Addressing this gap, this study examined the transfer efficiency of energy and fatty acids (FAs), and consumer energy budget in a highly representative and widely distributed marine tritrophic food chain under nutrient enrichment using in situ enclosure and lab mesocosm experiments, as well as with a comprehensive global-scale estimation. Our results showed that nutrient enrichment led to a 32.3% decrease in the trophic transfer efficiency of energy, while enhancing the energy loss rate of secondary consumers. Meanwhile, the trophic transfer efficiency of FAs decreased under nutrient enrichment, with the greatest decline in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) reaching 62.1%. Both declines were primarily driven by nutrient-induced shifts in plant–herbivore interaction, mediated by distinct plant traits. Specially, seagrass nutritional quality (starch and total FAs) was the key factor limiting energy transfer efficiency, while chemical defense (total phenols and tannins) predominantly constrained matter transfer efficiency. By scaling these findings through a global estimation, nutrient-enriched seagrass beds may lose approximately 2.0 Tg C of energy and 63.5 × 10⁶ kg of long-chain PUFAs annually through food chain transfer. Such reductions in the trophic transfer efficiency of energy and matter could ultimately compromise ecosystem stability and diminish the quantity and quality of seafood available for human consumption. Therefore, these novel findings advance our understanding of how plant–herbivore interactions mediate the trophic transfer efficiency of energy and matter, and also provide a scientific basis for crucial decisions concerning eutrophication mitigation and the conservation of vital ecosystem services.</p>","PeriodicalId":11505,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Monographs","volume":"96 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148809990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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":"Genome size-driven shifts in grassland productivity and species composition under nitrogen enrichment and mowing","authors":"Huanlong Li,&nbsp;Junjie Yang,&nbsp;Xingguo Han,&nbsp;Yunhai Zhang,&nbsp;Ilia J. Leitch,&nbsp;Andrew R. Leitch,&nbsp;Josep Peñuelas,&nbsp;Jordi Sardans,&nbsp;Haiyang Zhang,&nbsp;Dong Cao,&nbsp;Fangyuan Zhao,&nbsp;Man Chen,&nbsp;Yong Jiang,&nbsp;Yang Yang,&nbsp;Qingmin Pan,&nbsp;Yann Hautier,&nbsp;Cunzheng Wei","doi":"10.1002/ecm.70075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.70075","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Grasslands underpin critical ecosystem services, yet their biodiversity and functioning are increasingly threatened by nitrogen (N) deposition and influenced by biomass removal through mowing to provide fodder. Trait-based approaches have advanced our understanding of plant responses, but many commonly used traits are plastic and context-dependent, limiting their predictive power. Here, we propose that plant genome size (GS), a relatively stable genetic character between individuals of a species, offers predictive power through nucleotypic constraints that are hypothesized to influence plant nutrient use, growth dynamics, and competitive strategies. By utilizing a large dataset of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) from an N addition and mowing field experiment over 15 years, we showed that GS–N interactions caused a selective stimulation of large-GS species under N enrichment, but only when N addition treatment exceeded a saturation threshold of 15 g N m⁻² year⁻¹. Conversely, low levels of N addition preferentially enhanced ANPP of small-GS plants. These divergent responses between two genomic groups, pivoting at the N saturation threshold, could be ascribed to a shift from competition for N to competition for light, as N availability increases. Meanwhile, biomass removal by mowing delayed the impact of this threshold by selectively benefiting small-GS species and disadvantaging large-GS species. This response could be due to the increased amount of canopy light penetration following biomass removal favoring small-GS species even under higher N availabilities. Additionally, large-GS species showed greater sensitivity of ANPP to interannual fluctuations in temperature and precipitation compared to small-GS species. The climate sensitivity of large-GS species was further amplified with increasing N treatment, reflecting a pervasive large genome constraint among grassland plants. Our findings pinpoint the co-regulation of GS, nutrients, and climate on plant growth, providing evidence that GS is a predictive character for ANPP change trajectories and community dynamics under the combined influence of global changes and management scheme shifts.</p>","PeriodicalId":11505,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Monographs","volume":"96 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148754224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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":"A geometric approach to beta diversity: Comment","authors":"Andrés Baselga","doi":"10.1002/ecm.70073","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecm.70073","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;Song et al., (&lt;span&gt;2025&lt;/span&gt;) introduced a geometric approach intended to quantify beta diversity. In principle, new methods to assess patterns of biological diversity can open new avenues to understand how biological communities are structured and why. However, to fulfil this expectation, any new measure of biological diversity (i) needs to be linked to a clear ecological concept, and (ii) its mathematical properties need to be coherent with that ecological concept. Song et al. claim that their new measure, betavolume, is a measure of beta diversity. In this paper I show that betavolume does not account for beta diversity, community dissimilarity or community differentiation. Therefore, the measure proposed by Song et al. should not be termed beta diversity or any other related concept. This does not negate the possibility that betavolume could quantify another relevant attribute of biological communities, but proving this would require a (still missing) rigorous assessment of what ecological concept is betavolume actually accounting for.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Beta diversity has historically proven a difficult concept to operate with, and as a result multiple measures and methods have been introduced. In fact, many of the methods used to assess beta diversity patterns, like many similarity/dissimilarity indices (Jaccard, &lt;span&gt;1912&lt;/span&gt;; Simpson, &lt;span&gt;1943&lt;/span&gt;; Sørensen, &lt;span&gt;1948&lt;/span&gt;), predated the term beta diversity, which was introduced by Whittaker in 1960. Even in his seminal paper, Whittaker (&lt;span&gt;1960&lt;/span&gt;) used several methods to assess beta diversity patterns, including similarity indices. Whittaker defined beta diversity as “the extent of change in community composition, or degree of community differentiation,” and proposed that the simplest measurement of beta diversity is beta = gamma/alpha, where alpha diversity is the average site diversity and gamma diversity is the diversity of the regional pool of sites. This simple mathematical formula is thus the strict sense definition of beta diversity (gamma/alpha), in which beta quantifies the effective number of communities in a region (Tuomisto, &lt;span&gt;2010&lt;/span&gt;). This applies to any diversity measure computed as numbers equivalents (Hill's numbers, see Jost, &lt;span&gt;2007&lt;/span&gt;), and the multiplicative nature of the partition of gamma diversity into alpha and beta components (because gamma = alpha × beta) ensures that beta diversity measures based on Hill's numbers are independent of alpha diversity (Baselga, &lt;span&gt;2010a&lt;/span&gt;; Jost, &lt;span&gt;2007&lt;/span&gt;). This property is crucial, because it allows making analysis of the ecological correlates of beta diversity and inferences about the underlying processes driving changes in species composition without the confounding effects of alpha diversity gradients (Baselga, &lt;span&gt;2010a&lt;/span&gt;; Jost, &lt;span&gt;2010&lt;/span&gt;). There is also a broad sense definition of beta diversity (i.e., the variation of biological communities, in line with the previo","PeriodicalId":11505,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Monographs","volume":"96 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecm.70073","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148564642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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 geometric approach to beta diversity: Reply","authors":"Chuliang Song,&nbsp;Muyang Lu,&nbsp;Joseph R. Bennett,&nbsp;Benjamin Gilbert,&nbsp;Marie-Josée Fortin,&nbsp;Andrew Gonzalez","doi":"10.1002/ecm.70074","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ecm.70074","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11505,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Monographs","volume":"96 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148459480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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":"High resolution data reveal fundamental steps and turns in animal movements","authors":"Richard M. Gunner,&nbsp;Rory P. Wilson,&nbsp;Miguel Lurgi,&nbsp;Luca Börger,&nbsp;James Redcliffe,&nbsp;Emily L. C. Shepard,&nbsp;Mark D. Holton,&nbsp;Margaret C. Crofoot,&nbsp;Abdulaziz Alagaili,&nbsp;Samantha Andrzejaczek,&nbsp;Daniel Ariano-Sánchez,&nbsp;Thomas Barbedette-Gerard,&nbsp;Nigel C. Bennett,&nbsp;Alice Bernard,&nbsp;Rowan Brown,&nbsp;Nik Cole,&nbsp;Scott Creel,&nbsp;Ariovaldo P. Cruz-Neto,&nbsp;Agustina di Virgilio,&nbsp;Carlos M. Duarte,&nbsp;Christophe Eizaguirre,&nbsp;Kyle H. Elliott,&nbsp;Monika Faltusova,&nbsp;Mathieu Garel,&nbsp;Natasha Gillies,&nbsp;Adrian C. Gleiss,&nbsp;Aoife Göppert,&nbsp;David Grémillet,&nbsp;Sophie de Grissac,&nbsp;Tim Guilford,&nbsp;Maxime Hoareau,&nbsp;Mark Jessopp,&nbsp;Agustina Gómez-Laich,&nbsp;Milos Jezek,&nbsp;Sergio A. Lambertucci,&nbsp;Pascal Marchand,&nbsp;Nikki Marks,&nbsp;Andréia Martins,&nbsp;Mark Meekan,&nbsp;Yuichi Mizutani,&nbsp;Rasmus M. Mortensen,&nbsp;Bradley M. Norman,&nbsp;Josue Ortega,&nbsp;Oliver Padget,&nbsp;Michael Painter,&nbsp;Aurore Ponchon,&nbsp;Pascal Provost,&nbsp;Aurélien Prudor,&nbsp;Flavio Quintana,&nbsp;Stefanie Reinhardt,&nbsp;Samantha D. Reynolds,&nbsp;Frank Rosell,&nbsp;Carlos R. Ruiz-Miranda,&nbsp;Peter G. Ryan,&nbsp;David M. Scantlebury,&nbsp;Stefan Schoombie,&nbsp;Rebecca Scott,&nbsp;Vaclav Silovsky,&nbsp;Jeroen Steenbeek,&nbsp;Vikash Tatayah,&nbsp;Carole Toïgo,&nbsp;Lucia Torrez,&nbsp;Fred Tremblay,&nbsp;Joshua P. Twining,&nbsp;Ken Yoda,&nbsp;Henri Weimerskirch,&nbsp;Shannon Whelan,&nbsp;Juan M. Morales,&nbsp;Jonathan R. Potts","doi":"10.1002/ecm.70069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.70069","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Animal movement paths display substantial complexity and variability, promoting efforts to identify universal rules and models that best describe them. Using high-resolution (≥10 Hz) movement from 43 vertebrate species spanning diverse taxa, body sizes, and lifestyles, we show that paths are universally composed of straight-line steps interspersed with sharp turns, echoing patterns documented in lower taxa such as bacteria. We report how vertebrate “fundamental steps”—straight travel segments between successive detected turns (with <i>F</i>_stepduration as the turn-to-turn interval and <i>F</i>_steplength as the corresponding distance when displacement is available)—and “fundamental turn angles” (<i>F</i>_turnangles; net changes in travel heading between successive steps) vary with species' mass, locomotor mode, behavior, and environment. Here, “fundamental” denotes the finest scale step/turn events resolvable under our sampling rate and turn-detection criteria; these event-scale steps/turns are intrinsically different from the straight-line segments inferred from low-resolution position data. To explain these relationships, we posit that animals inherently move in a straight line until sensory information signals a better heading, triggering a turn. Across all species examined, animals spent the vast majority of their travel time moving in straight lines (species-level means &gt;90%), with turns representing discrete decision points influenced by body size, locomotor mode, and ecological context. Larger animals turned less frequently, consistent with biomechanical constraints of mass and rotational inertia, while aerial species often exhibited higher turning rates driven by soaring flight demands. We further show that turns can be linked to diverse behavioral drivers, including prey pursuit, obstacle avoidance, predator evasion, and exploitation of environmental energy. By explicitly quantifying turns, we clarify how distributions of step durations and turn angles interact to shape movement patterns and why different statistical models (e.g., correlated random walks, Lévy flights) emerge when lower resolution data are analyzed. Finally, we demonstrate how fundamental steps and turns can be incorporated into an agent-based modeling framework using penguins as a case study, enabling reconstruction of realistic tracks and prediction of movement responses to environmental change. Straight-line travel punctuated by decision-driven turns thus emerges as a fundamental principle of vertebrate movement, linking fine-scale movement structure, ecological context, and emergent patterns of space use.</p>","PeriodicalId":11505,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Monographs","volume":"96 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecm.70069","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148237796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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":"Adaptation to warm environments with a fast pace of life in a marine predatory snail","authors":"Christopher Dwane,&nbsp;Lisa M. Komoroske,&nbsp;Allison L. Rugila,&nbsp;Blair P. Bentley,&nbsp;Emma Rawson,&nbsp;Elizabeth Clark,&nbsp;Gillian Nichols,&nbsp;Mikayla Newbrey,&nbsp;Emily Bucari,&nbsp;Chance Yan,&nbsp;Jordanna Barley,&nbsp;Ryan Horrigan,&nbsp;Liam McCarthy,&nbsp;Nicholas Duncan,&nbsp;Ana Beatriz Juarez Stucker,&nbsp;Andrew R. Villeneuve,&nbsp;Brian S. Cheng","doi":"10.1002/ecm.70071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.70071","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding how latitudinal temperature variation shapes local adaptation of life-history strategies is crucial for predicting future responses to warming. Contrasting predictive frameworks explain how growth and other life-history traits may respond to differing selective pressures across latitude. However, these frameworks have rarely been explored within the context of fluctuating environmental temperatures across longer (i.e., seasonal) time scales experienced in nature. Furthermore, consequences of growth differences for other aspects of fitness, including reproductive output, remain unclear. Here, we conducted a long-term (17-month) laboratory experiment to examine local adaptation in two populations of the predatory marine snail <i>Urosalpinx cinerea</i> separated by 8.6° latitude (1000 km). We reared F1 offspring in a common-garden design under two seasonally fluctuating temperature regimes (“warm” and “cold”, simulating field thermal conditions experienced by low- and high-latitude populations, respectively), quantifying temporal patterns in growth, maturation, and reproductive output. We identified striking divergence in life-history strategies between populations in the warm regime, with offspring from the low-latitude population achieving greater growth in their first year, and high reproductive output coupled with reduced growth in their second year. In contrast, the high-latitude population grew slower in their first year, but eventually attained larger sizes in their second year, at the expense of reduced reproductive output. Responses in the cold regime followed similar population-specific life-history patterns to those in the warm regime, although growth and reproductive output was reduced in both populations. Our data provide support for adaptive divergence across latitude consistent with the pace-of-life syndrome hypothesis, with the low-latitude population selected for a fast-paced life characterized by rapid development and early reproduction. In contrast, the high-latitude population exhibited slower growth and delayed maturation. Our results highlight the potential limitations of short-term comparisons of growth that do not account for longer term processes, such as seasonal temperature variation and ontogenetic shifts in energy allocation, and imply a radical reshaping of physiological performance and life-history traits across populations under climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":11505,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Monographs","volume":"96 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecm.70071","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148174431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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}