Ecology Letters最新文献

Reduction of Tree Water Stress by Large Herbivores in an African Savanna 非洲大草原上大型食草动物对树木水分压力的减少

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2026-11-03 DOI: 10.1111/ele.70468

Emily R. Wedel, Andrew B. Davies, Jacob R. Goheen, Todd M. Palmer, Robert M. Pringle, Tyler C. Coverdale

{"title":"Reduction of Tree Water Stress by Large Herbivores in an African Savanna","authors":"Emily R. Wedel, Andrew B. Davies, Jacob R. Goheen, Todd M. Palmer, Robert M. Pringle, Tyler C. Coverdale","doi":"10.1111/ele.70468","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70468","url":null,"abstract":"Large mammalian herbivores (LMH) play complex roles in shaping tree cover and composition in savannas by suppressing trees through browsing and reducing competition from neighbouring trees and understory vegetation. Where LMH are declining, release from browsing and intensification of competition has unpredictable physiological consequences. To test how LMH removal affects tree growth and water stress, we combined 16 years of growth data with measurements of leaf water potential and gas exchange from a herbivore-exclusion experiment in Kenya. Across tree species, LMH exclusion increased growth but elevated water stress, particularly under dry conditions. Moreover, the tree species with the most acquisitive water-use strategy was most susceptible to increased water stress and reduced carbon assimilation under exclusion. These findings indicate that although LMH limit tree growth, they also reduce water stress. Ultimately, interspecific differences in tree physiology will affect how savanna communities respond to interacting pressures from climate change and LMH declines.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2026-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70468","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149305598","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}

引用次数: 0

Eco-Evolutionary Feedback to a Pesticide Worsens the Impact of a Pesticide Switch in a Pivotal Freshwater Non-Target Species 对农药的生态进化反馈加剧了关键淡水非目标物种农药转换的影响

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2026-10-21 DOI: 10.1111/ele.70459

Rafaela A. Almeida, Maxime Fajgenblat, Pieter Lemmens, Kiani Cuypers, Jade Maes, Kristien I. Brans, Luc De Meester

{"title":"Eco-Evolutionary Feedback to a Pesticide Worsens the Impact of a Pesticide Switch in a Pivotal Freshwater Non-Target Species","authors":"Rafaela A. Almeida, Maxime Fajgenblat, Pieter Lemmens, Kiani Cuypers, Jade Maes, Kristien I. Brans, Luc De Meester","doi":"10.1111/ele.70459","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70459","url":null,"abstract":"Pest management often requires the rotation of insecticides, sequentially exposing non-target populations to different compounds. In a two-phased experiment, we assessed whether exposure to the pesticide chlorpyrifos induces rapid evolution in the non-target species Daphnia magna and quantified the response of control and pre-exposed populations to a second exposure to the same pesticide, another pesticide with the same mode of action (malathion), or a pesticide with another mode of action (deltamethrin). Chlorpyrifos selection induced rapid shifts in genotype composition and reduced genotype richness and strongly influenced population development following the second exposure. Chlorpyrifos-selected populations outperformed control populations when subsequently exposed to chlorpyrifos and malathion but underperformed when exposed to deltamethrin. Our results highlight an eco-evolutionary feedback in which rapid adaptive responses to a pesticide worsen the response when exposed to a different type of pesticide in non-target species, increasing vulnerability to common agricultural practices.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70459","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149232203","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}

引用次数: 0

Functional Diversity Responses to Temperature Vary Spatially and With Protection Status in Wintering Waterbird Assemblages 越冬水鸟群落功能多样性对温度响应的空间差异及保护状况

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2026-10-20 DOI: 10.1111/ele.70467

Tanith B. Hackney, Hannah S. Wauchope, Pol Capdevila, Christopher F. Clements

{"title":"Functional Diversity Responses to Temperature Vary Spatially and With Protection Status in Wintering Waterbird Assemblages","authors":"Tanith B. Hackney, Hannah S. Wauchope, Pol Capdevila, Christopher F. Clements","doi":"10.1111/ele.70467","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70467","url":null,"abstract":"Wetlands support disproportionately high biodiversity, including waterbirds, which underpin key ecological functions and regulatory services. This has led to efforts to protect these crucial sites, but whether these protections can maintain waterbird assemblages in the face of new threats such as climate change is poorly understood. Here, we calculated functional redundancy and three metrics of functional diversity from over 45,000 waterbird censuses, spanning four decades of rising winter temperatures for 2792 protected and unprotected sites in Europe. We modelled the effect of average winter temperature and the trend over time for each of these metrics. Our results suggest functional diversity generally increased in warmer winters and over time, but redundancy declined, and the effect of temperature varied spatially and between levels of protection. This suggests abundance and distribution shifts due to climate change are altering functional diversity and resilience of waterbird assemblages both inside and outside protected areas across Europe.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70467","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149226498","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}

引用次数: 0

Divergent Spatial and Temporal Sensitivities of Forest Biomass to Climate Challenge Space-For-Time Assumptions and Models 森林生物量对气候变化时空变化的不同时空敏感性

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2026-10-20 DOI: 10.1111/ele.70466

Linqing Yang, William R. L. Anderegg

{"title":"Divergent Spatial and Temporal Sensitivities of Forest Biomass to Climate Challenge Space-For-Time Assumptions and Models","authors":"Linqing Yang, William R. L. Anderegg","doi":"10.1111/ele.70466","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70466","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding and projecting forest carbon responses to climate change remains challenging. The widely used space-for-time substitution (SFTS) approach assumes that ecological responses along spatial climate gradients can substitute for temporal relationships, yet agreement among spatial, temporal, and mechanistic approaches remains largely unknown. Using global satellite-derived aboveground biomass (AGB) data, we quantified forest AGB sensitivities to spatial versus temporal climate variability, projected climate-driven AGB changes under future emission scenarios, and compared results with Earth system models (ESMs). Spatial climate gradients explain substantially more AGB variation than temporal anomalies, with strong divergence across regions and forest ages. ESMs better reproduce spatial sensitivities than temporal ones. Temporal extrapolation generally projects future AGB gains, whereas spatial extrapolation often indicates AGB declines. These contrasts demonstrate that spatial, temporal, and model-based approaches capture distinct facets of forest–climate coupling, and integrating them can better constrain uncertainty in carbon–climate feedbacks and improve future ecosystem projections.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70466","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149226514","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}

引用次数: 0

Living on the Edge: Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics Along Invasion Fronts 生活在边缘：沿入侵前沿的生态和进化动力学。

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2026-10-15 DOI: 10.1111/ele.70465

Phillip J. Haubrock, Neil Angelo Abreo, Stelios Katsanevakis, Franz Essl, Ali Serhan Tarkan, Janeide Padilha, Philip E. Hulme, Danish A. Ahmed, António Barbosa Nogueira, Teun Everts, Cang Hui, Ronaldo Sousa, J. Robert Britton

{"title":"Living on the Edge: Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics Along Invasion Fronts","authors":"Phillip J. Haubrock, Neil Angelo Abreo, Stelios Katsanevakis, Franz Essl, Ali Serhan Tarkan, Janeide Padilha, Philip E. Hulme, Danish A. Ahmed, António Barbosa Nogueira, Teun Everts, Cang Hui, Ronaldo Sousa, J. Robert Britton","doi":"10.1111/ele.70465","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70465","url":null,"abstract":"Invasion fronts are the advancing edges of non-native species' ranges and represent dynamic, non-equilibrium boundaries where colonization, biotic interactions and rapid evolutionary processes interact. Although biological invasions are increasingly well studied, the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms operating at invasion fronts remain conceptually fragmented despite their disproportionate influence on spread dynamics, exerted impact and management. Here, we synthesize how invasion-front geometries arise from interactions among propagule pressure, landscape permeability, long-distance dispersal and environmental heterogeneity, producing continuous (including satellite colonies), patchy/fragmented or coalescing fronts that shift with invasion stage and spatiotemporal scales. We integrate ecological and evolutionary evidence from macro-organisms to show how gradients from core to front can result in declining population density, increased trait divergence, spatial sorting, serial founder effects, expansion load, and behavioural and physiological differentiation. We further draw parallels with climate-driven range expansions, while emphasizing the stronger disequilibrium and novel biotic contexts characteristic of non-native invasion fronts. Finally, we map these dynamics onto impact trajectories, demonstrating how trait-mediated interactions, resource reallocation and system-level reconfiguration can emerge sequentially along the invasion gradient. By unifying ecological and evolutionary processes across appropriate spatial and temporal scales, we establish invasion fronts as powerful natural laboratories and critical leverage points for predicting, monitoring and managing biological invasions.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70465","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149190470","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}

引用次数: 0

Coinfections Dampen the Effects of Temperature on Host–Parasite Interactions 共感染抑制温度对宿主-寄生虫相互作用的影响

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2026-10-14 DOI: 10.1111/ele.70464

I. Will, C. A. Smith, T. E. Hector, K. C. King

{"title":"Coinfections Dampen the Effects of Temperature on Host–Parasite Interactions","authors":"I. Will, C. A. Smith, T. E. Hector, K. C. King","doi":"10.1111/ele.70464","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70464","url":null,"abstract":"Coinfections by multiple parasite species are widespread and often modify disease outcomes. To what degree other forms of ecological complexity, such as environmental change, influence the impacts of coinfecting parasites on disease remains unclear. We exposed nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans) to naturally coinfecting parasites (Leucobacter celer and Leucobacter musarum) at temperatures across the host's thermal range. While we found that host mortality varied widely with temperature during single infections, coinfections buffered hosts against temperature-mediated variation via ongoing parasite competition. We extended our experiments with mathematical models indicating that changing virulence, rather than transmission, most plausibly underpins temperature-dependent host mortality. At moderate, but not extreme temperatures, we found coinfection continued to dampen mortality outcomes due to another source of host variation, genotypic susceptibility. Coinfection may provide a stabilizing effect on disease in a warming world—but this effect can falter when hosts are faced with multiple stressors.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70464","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149172724","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}

引用次数: 0

Pyrodiversity and Phylodiversity: Insights on Post-Fire Forest Communities 热解多样性和系统多样性：对火灾后森林群落的认识

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2026-10-09 DOI: 10.1111/ele.70460

Rebecca C. Wilcox, Becky L. Estes, Brent D. Mishler, Sarah J. Jacobs

{"title":"Pyrodiversity and Phylodiversity: Insights on Post-Fire Forest Communities","authors":"Rebecca C. Wilcox, Becky L. Estes, Brent D. Mishler, Sarah J. Jacobs","doi":"10.1111/ele.70460","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70460","url":null,"abstract":"Fire is a fundamental process that structures community assembly and biodiversity patterns; however, altered disturbance regimes associated with anthropogenic change present a major threat to fire-adapted systems. Reintroducing fire to increase pyrodiversity (spatiotemporal diversity in fire) has been identified as an important step in restoring fire-adapted western temperate forests. Here, we utilize phylogenetic and taxonomic metrics to assess how pyrodiversity influences plant community assembly dynamics and diversity patterns in the central Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Compared to fire exclusion, regional taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity generally increased after fire. Further, with increased pyrodiversity, community assembly mechanisms diversified and occurrences of diverse plant lineages and local phylogenetic endemism increased, illustrating how evolutionary history influences responses of plants to pyrodiversity. These results demonstrate the importance of restoring mixed-severity fire to these systems and how phylogenetic tools can provide a valuable way to understand and monitor restoration impacts.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70460","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149140462","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}

引用次数: 0

Seasonal Temperature Fluctuation Enables Persistence of a Model Multi-Trophic System 季节温度波动使模式多营养系统能够持续存在

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2026-10-07 DOI: 10.1111/ele.70461

Tiantian Liu, Lin Wang, Jinlin Chen, Minghui Fei, Jeffrey A. Harvey, Owen T. Lewis, Dongbo Li, Nuo Xu, Chi Xu, Shucun Sun, Xinqiang Xi

{"title":"Seasonal Temperature Fluctuation Enables Persistence of a Model Multi-Trophic System","authors":"Tiantian Liu, Lin Wang, Jinlin Chen, Minghui Fei, Jeffrey A. Harvey, Owen T. Lewis, Dongbo Li, Nuo Xu, Chi Xu, Shucun Sun, Xinqiang Xi","doi":"10.1111/ele.70461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70461","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 Seasonal thermal fluctuation is a dominant environmental force in temperate ecosystems, yet its role in shaping community dynamics and persistence remains poorly understood. We addressed this question by tracking high-resolution seasonal dynamics of a model system composed of host Drosophila flies and two parasitoid species attacking hosts at larval and pupal stages respectively. Both parasitoid species increased in abundance steadily during the spring. The pupal parasitoid declined in summer but resurged in autumn, whereas the larval parasitoid declined after a summer peak. The host population remained relatively stable after an initial spring increase. Modelling predicted that the system would collapse under constant cool environments due to excessive parasitism on hosts, whereas pupal parasitoids would be excluded under constant warmth. These predictions were validated by controlled laboratory mesocosm experiments. Life history assays clearly revealed that cool and warm seasons favour different parasitoid species: cooler temperatures resulted in higher mortality of immature larval parasitoids due to host immunity, whereas warmer temperatures narrowed the host exposure window and increased mortality of immature pupal parasitoids. These results demonstrate that seasonal temperature fluctuation maintains a fragile multi-trophic motif by preventing resource overexploitation and competitive exclusion, highlighting that intra-annual periodic forcing sustains biodiversity.\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149099756","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}

引用次数: 0

Toward an Ecology of Household Biomes 迈向家庭生物群落生态学

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2026-10-06 DOI: 10.1111/ele.70462

Raul Costa-Pereira, Robert R. Dunn

引用次数: 0

The Effect of Biogeographic Origin on the Adaptive Trajectories of Plants in Urban Environments 生物地理来源对城市环境下植物适应轨迹的影响

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2026-10-06 DOI: 10.1111/ele.70463

Bojana Stojanova, Lucrezia Laccetti, Tsipe Aavik, Pierluigi Cortis, Federica Fumo, Charlotte Møller, Zuzana Münzbergová, Markéta Průšová, Christoph Rosche, Virve Sõber, Epp Valdaru, Giuseppe Pellegrino, Giovanni Scopece

{"title":"The Effect of Biogeographic Origin on the Adaptive Trajectories of Plants in Urban Environments","authors":"Bojana Stojanova, Lucrezia Laccetti, Tsipe Aavik, Pierluigi Cortis, Federica Fumo, Charlotte Møller, Zuzana Münzbergová, Markéta Průšová, Christoph Rosche, Virve Sõber, Epp Valdaru, Giuseppe Pellegrino, Giovanni Scopece","doi":"10.1111/ele.70463","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70463","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 Parallel adaptation is a hallmark of urban evolution, yet whether plant responses to urbanization are globally consistent or influenced by biogeographic origin remains unclear. We investigated pollinator communities, floral display and reproductive allocation in Trifolium repens along urbanization gradients in 11 European urban areas spanning boreal, continental, and Mediterranean biogeographic regions. We found strong differences, with boreal and continental gradients showing no consistent floral trait shifts, whereas Mediterranean gradients showed parallel reductions in flower and inflorescence size with increased urbanization. This pattern persisted under common-garden conditions, indicating a genetic basis. Pollinator assemblage, lacking consistent variation along the gradients, did not explain phenotypic changes. Instead, in the Mediterranean, we found an increased asexual investment, suggesting an adaptive trade-off with floral display. These findings highlight that urban evolutionary trajectories can be modulated by biogeographic origin, with semi-arid Mediterranean environments emerging as hotspots of urban-driven adaptation and particularly vulnerable to future urban expansion.\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149090797","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}

引用次数: 0