Ecology Letters最新文献

{"title":"Millennia of Metacommunity Diversification and Homogenization Captured by Sedimentary Ancient DNA","authors":"Dilli P. Rijal,&nbsp;Kari Anne Bråthen,&nbsp;Antony G. Brown,&nbsp;Peter D. Heintzman,&nbsp;Inger G. Alsos,&nbsp;Nigel G. Yoccoz","doi":"10.1111/ele.70218","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70218","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Alpha (α), beta (𝛽), gamma (𝛾) and zeta (𝛇) diversity metrics are complementary in their information, yet insight from this complementarity has yet to be explored. Here we use postglacial lake sediments for reconstructing plant metacommunity diversity patterns using all four metrics. Based on sedimentary ancient DNA data, we find that the metacommunity both diversified (𝛽_spatial) and homogenised (𝛇) over millennia of ecosystem development, alongside rising taxon richness at both community (α) and metacommunity (𝛾) level. In contrast temporal turnover of taxa (𝛽_temporal) declined, both at the community and metacommunity level. With taxon appearances exceeding disappearances this suggests the co-existence of taxa in the communities increased. However, the shared taxa in the metacommunity (𝛇) showed a continuously high temporal turnover, suggesting the taxa contributing to the metacommunity homogenisation were largely transient. That communities homogenised but remained distinctively different over millennia highlights the importance of individual communities in sustaining metacommunity biodiversity.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70218","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145111088","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":"De-Extinction at a Crossroads: Ecology, Ethics, and the Future of Conservation in the Biotech Age","authors":"Bruno Paganeli,&nbsp;Mauro Galetti","doi":"10.1111/ele.70217","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70217","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The recent announcement of a genetically engineered organism resembling the extinct dire wolf (<i>Aenocyon dirus</i>) has reignited a media and academic debate over the ecological, ethical, and philosophical implications of de-extinction. Although the revival was later clarified to be a modified grey wolf with a small fraction of the dire wolf DNA, the case illustrates how close biotechnology is to achieving a true de-extinction. While proponents promote such techniques as innovative additional tools for conservation, this paper calls for a more critical examination of their broader implications. Drawing on insights from invasion ecology, rewilding, ethics, and governance, we argue that de-extinction must not be guided by feasibility or commercial appeal alone. Instead, it requires a multidisciplinary framework to be thoroughly understood, responsibly guided, and—if deemed appropriate—accepted. As biotechnological innovations advance and may become widely used, they should be aligned with biodiversity conservation principles to avoid unintended ecological consequences.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70217","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145111157","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":"Positive Density Dependence Promotes Host Persistence in the Face of Infectious Disease","authors":"Heather M. Kaarakka,&nbsp;Joseph R. Hoyt,&nbsp;J. Paul White,&nbsp;Kate E. Langwig","doi":"10.1111/ele.70203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70203","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sociality offers benefits to species that can enhance their fitness. However, pathogen transmission can be higher in larger groups, potentially negating the advantages of group living. Despite the important paradoxical effects of population density on disease impacts and recovery, the competing effects of density remain unexplored. Here, we examine the response of a social bat species to pathogen invasion by comparing the effect of colony size on disease impacts during the summer (disease-free period) and winter (disease period). During pathogen invasion, larger winter colonies initially experienced relatively higher declines than smaller colonies. Conversely, summer colony size positively influenced colony growth immediately following pathogen invasion and during recovery, suggesting that Allee effects may be important in population resilience. Our results show that hosts faced with a novel pathogen may experience both benefits and costs of group living, and balancing these competing effects could impede evolutionary selection pressure toward asociality.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70203","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145102327","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":"Borealisation of Plant Communities in the Arctic Is Driven by Boreal-Tundra Species","authors":"Mariana García Criado,&nbsp;Isabel C. Barrio,&nbsp;James D. M. Speed,&nbsp;Anne D. Bjorkman,&nbsp;Sarah C. Elmendorf,&nbsp;Isla H. Myers-Smith,&nbsp;Rien Aerts,&nbsp;Juha M. Alatalo,&nbsp;Katlyn R. Betway-May,&nbsp;Robert G. Björk,&nbsp;Mats P. Björkman,&nbsp;Daan Blok,&nbsp;Elisabeth J. Cooper,&nbsp;J. Hans C. Cornelissen,&nbsp;William A. Gould,&nbsp;Ragnhild Gya,&nbsp;Greg H. R. Henry,&nbsp;Luise Hermanutz,&nbsp;Robert D. Hollister,&nbsp;Annika K. Jägerbrand,&nbsp;Ingibjörg S. Jónsdóttir,&nbsp;Elina Kaarlejärvi,&nbsp;Olga Khitun,&nbsp;Simone I. Lang,&nbsp;Petr Macek,&nbsp;Jeremy L. May,&nbsp;Anders Michelsen,&nbsp;Signe Normand,&nbsp;Siri L. Olsen,&nbsp;Eric Post,&nbsp;Riikka Rinnan,&nbsp;Niels Martin Schmidt,&nbsp;Sofie Sjogersten,&nbsp;Anne Tolvanen,&nbsp;Joachim P. Töpper,&nbsp;Andrew Trant,&nbsp;Vigdis Vandvik,&nbsp;Tage Vowles","doi":"10.1111/ele.70209","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70209","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Following rapid climate change, tundra plant communities are experiencing extensive compositional shifts. A conservation concern is the potential encroachment of boreal species into the tundra (‘borealisation’). Tundra borealisation has been sporadically reported, but not systematically quantified. Here, we synthesised data from across 32 study areas, spanning 1137 plots and 287 vascular plant species, resurveyed between 1981 and 2023. We (i) quantified tundra borealisation as the colonisation and increase in abundance of Boreal and Boreal-Tundra species, (ii) assessed biogeographical, climatic and local borealisation drivers and (iii) identified species contributing to borealisation and their associated traits. Half of the plots experienced borealisation, although borealisation rates were not different to random expectation. Borealisation was greater in Eurasia, closer to the treeline, at higher elevations, in warmer and wetter regions, where climate change was limited, and where initial boreal abundance was lower. Boreal coloniser species were generally short-statured, and more often shrubs and graminoids. Boreal species colonised around three times less frequently than Boreal-Tundra species. Hence, our findings indicate that tundra borealisation is mainly driven by the spread of already established boreal-low Arctic tundra species. These plant community composition changes could have cascading impacts on land-atmosphere interactions, trophic dynamics and Indigenous and local livelihoods.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70209","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145103829","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":"Necromass of Diverse Root-Associated Fungi Suppresses Decomposition of Native Soil Carbon via Impacts of Their Traits","authors":"Carrillo Yolima,&nbsp;Emiko K. Stuart,&nbsp;Jeff R. Powell","doi":"10.1111/ele.70216","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70216","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We investigated the decomposition of diverse root-associated fungi, their influence on native soil carbon (C) dynamics and the relationship of these processes with fungal traits. We quantified the decomposition of ¹³C-labelled mycelium of 14 species, their priming of native soil C, impact on functional soil C pools, microbial use of C and microbial community size and composition and evaluated chemical, morphological and physiological traits of the fungi to investigate their potential to control C processes. Fungal melanin, blackness, C/N and growth rates were linked to necromass decomposability and its stabilisation. Necromass addition commonly caused suppression of native soil C decomposition (negative priming), including that of the resistant C pool, and this suppression was stronger as fungal decomposability decreased. We provide novel, clear evidence of linkages between root-associated fungal traits, necromass decomposition, microbial C use and soil C stability which builds our mechanistic understanding of the role of dead fungi on soil C storage.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70216","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145077473","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":"Multispecies Coexistence Emerges From Pairwise Exclusions in Communities With Competitive Hierarchy","authors":"Zachary R. Miller,&nbsp;Dillon Max","doi":"10.1111/ele.70206","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70206","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Competitive coexistence is often understood as an additive process where coexisting species pairs, triplets, etc. combine to form larger communities. However, emergent coexistence—where multispecies persistence occurs without pairwise coexistence—can arise through mechanisms including intransitive loops, facilitation, or higher-order interactions. Emergent coexistence has functional consequences, for example constraining community assembly and reducing robustness to extinctions. Here, we demonstrate that emergent coexistence can arise without intransitivity in competitive communities with pairwise interactions. First, we develop a simple trade-off model where interactions are competitive, transitive, and pairwise, yet coexistence is emergent. Second, we show that coexistence is typically emergent in well-known hierarchical trade-off models. Third, we find that emergent coexistence frequently occurs without pronounced intransitivity in random model communities. Our results suggest that competitive coexistence may often be emergent, highlighting a need to better understand the mechanisms and prevalence of this phenomenon in order to reliably predict community assembly, robustness, and biodiversity maintenance.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70206","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145077474","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":"Delicate Trade-Offs: Nonlinear Multiple Biotic Constraints on Absorptive Fine Root Lifespan Across Trees","authors":"Wenjing Zeng,&nbsp;M. Luke McCormack,&nbsp;Yun Lyu,&nbsp;Yuanxin Liu,&nbsp;Huijie Gan,&nbsp;Shaopeng Wang,&nbsp;Lingcai Kong,&nbsp;Liang Li,&nbsp;Zeqing Ma","doi":"10.1111/ele.70210","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70210","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Root lifespan is crucial for predicting carbon and nutrient cycling. While economic theories suggest root construction cost primarily determines root lifespan, the role of extrinsic biotic factors remains unexplored. We analysed 61,221 images from a subtropical common garden to quantify 21 factors influencing root lifespan across 16 tree species and developed a comparable global absorptive root lifespan dataset across biomes. Absorptive root lifespan in subtropical trees spanned 91 to 545 days, shorter than that in boreal forest. Root nitrogen concentration explained most of the variation (45%) in root lifespan, while phytopathogenic fungi, bacteria and herbivorous nematodes accounted for 36%. These three extrinsic biotic factors showed significant non-linear negative relationships with root lifespan. Interestingly, pathogenic microorganisms (28%) affected root lifespan more strongly than herbivorous nematodes (8%). These findings fill a gap in understanding root lifespan in subtropical forests and provide a holistic view of how multiple biotic factors shape it.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145071743","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":"Synthesis of Nature's Extravaganza: An Augmented Meta-Meta-Analysis on (Putative) Sexual Signals","authors":"Pietro Pollo,&nbsp;Malgorzata Lagisz,&nbsp;Renato Chaves Macedo-Rego,&nbsp;Ayumi Mizuno,&nbsp;Yefeng Yang,&nbsp;Shinichi Nakagawa","doi":"10.1111/ele.70215","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70215","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Colourful body parts and bizarre displays that do not seem to contribute to the survival of individuals that express them have puzzled biologists for centuries. Sexual selection theory posits that these traits evolved because more conspicuous individuals attract more mates and experience greater fitness, yet evidence for this remains fragmented. Our augmented meta-meta-analysis of 41 meta-analyses, encompassing 375 animal species and 7428 individual effect sizes, shows that the conspicuousness of (putative) sexual signals is positively related to mate attractiveness, fitness benefits, individual condition, and other characteristics (e.g., body size) of signal bearers. Most of these patterns are consistent across both taxa and sexes, underscoring the generalisability of our results. Furthermore, the strength of pre-copulatory sexual selection on conspicuousness is positively associated with the relationship between (i) conspicuousness and fitness benefits and (ii) conspicuousness and individual condition. This suggests that the relationships we assessed regarding trait conspicuousness would be stronger if we could select only traits that are truly used for mate attraction. Our study unifies several decades of knowledge on conspicuous traits, confirms many predictions made by the theory of sexual selection, and lays a clear path for the future of research on this topic.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70215","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145068404","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":"Linking Individual Performance to Density-Dependent Population Dynamics to Understand Temperature-Mediated Genotype Coexistence","authors":"Marjolein Bruijning,&nbsp;Luc De Meester,&nbsp;Marco D. Visser,&nbsp;Erlend I. F. Fossen,&nbsp;Héléne Vanvelk,&nbsp;Joost A. M. Raeymaekers,&nbsp;Lynn Govaert,&nbsp;Kristien I. Brans,&nbsp;Sigurd Einum,&nbsp;Eelke Jongejans","doi":"10.1111/ele.70214","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70214","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The persistence of local populations exposed to climate change depends on their adaptive potential and on the ability of local individuals to compete with migrating conspecifics tracking environmental shifts. Modern coexistence theory (MCT) offers a framework for studying such competitive interactions among genotypes. However, MCT often focuses on emerging population-level outcomes, aggregating over the underlying individual-level interactions. We present a cross-scale application of MCT, combining it with an Integral Projection Model (IPM), explicitly connecting individual performance to population-level dynamics. We parameterise our model using experimental data on competing <i>Daphnia</i> genotypes from two latitudes. Consistent with observations, our model shows that higher temperatures increase the likelihood of competitive exclusion of Northern genotypes by Southern genotypes. Moreover, it reveals latitudinal variation in neonate sex ratios as a driver of temperature-dependent evolutionary shifts. By identifying vital rates underlying population-level competitive outcomes, our approach preserves the straightforward theoretical interpretability of MCT, while providing enhanced process-level resolution through IPMs.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70214","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145068402","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":"Urbanisation Facilitates Intrapopulation Dietary Niche Diversity in a Generalist Carnivore","authors":"Tal Caspi,&nbsp;Emily Sit,&nbsp;Monica G. Serrano,&nbsp;Stevi L. Vanderzwan,&nbsp;Katie A. Smith,&nbsp;William Merkle,&nbsp;Deb Campbell,&nbsp;Benjamin N. Sacks","doi":"10.1111/ele.70207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70207","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The niche variation hypothesis predicts that members of generalist species are specialists, and that the degree of individual specialisation correlates positively with resource diversity. Urban landscapes are highly heterogeneous in resource distribution; therefore, we predicted urbanisation would be associated with narrower individual dietary niches and greater differentiation among individuals of generalist species. We used stable isotope analysis to compare diets of urban and nonurban coyote (<i>Canis latrans</i>) populations in San Francisco and Marin County, California, USA. Urban coyotes had dietary niches nearly three times narrower than nonurban coyotes and greater among-individual variation in isotope values. Within-individual differences explained 18% of total δ¹³C variation in urban coyotes compared to 58% in nonurban coyotes, and 34% versus 44% of δ¹⁵N variation, indicating stronger individual specialisation in the urban population. Our findings suggest urbanisation facilitates intrapopulation dietary niche diversity by spatially structuring foraging, highlighting the role of human activity in promoting ecological diversification.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70207","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145051249","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}