Ecology Letters最新文献

{"title":"Warming and Species Richness Weaken Eco-Phenotypic Feedback Loop in Long-Term Natural Ecosystems","authors":"Qinghua Zhao,&nbsp;Yingying X. G. Wang,&nbsp;Chi Xu,&nbsp;George Sugihara,&nbsp;Frederik De Laender","doi":"10.1111/ele.70372","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70372","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Eco-phenotypic feedback—reciprocal interactions between phenotypic traits and ecological dynamics—is increasingly recognised as a driver of biodiversity patterns, species interactions and ecosystem functioning. Through this feedback, phenotypic traits such as body size can rapidly respond to environmental variation through plastic or evolutionary changes, altering population abundance, which in turn feeds back to shape the trait dynamics. Yet, whether the strength of this feedback remains stable under environmental change remains unclear. Using long-term monitoring data from 101 aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems encompassing multiple generations, we provide the first synthesis showing that warming and species richness systematically weaken the eco-phenotypic feedback loop, whereas species with larger median body size exhibit stronger feedback. Our findings reveal that climate change can erode key trait–demography couplings and highlight the importance of integrating eco-phenotypic frameworks into global change research.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147577689","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":"Community Assembly Reveals How Environmental Controls Over Rodent Competition Drive Deer Mouse Density and Hantavirus Infection","authors":"Angela D. Luis,&nbsp;Dean E. Pearson","doi":"10.1111/ele.70374","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70374","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Host diversity can strongly influence disease prevalence, but whether it dilutes or amplifies disease remains debated. We applied community assembly theory to examine whether conditionality from abiotic and biotic filtering could explain variation in rodent diversity and Sin Nombre hantavirus (SNV) prevalence across 24 locations in the southwestern United States. Overall, community composition, not diversity per se, drove diversity-disease relationships. Environmental factors determined community composition, which regulated primary host abundance and SNV infection via resource competition. Across roughly half the communities, dilution effects emerged because added species increased dietary overlap, reducing focal host abundance and SNV infection. In other communities, environmental and biotic structuring favoured competitors, suppressing host abundance and SNV infection across diversity levels. Our results highlight how environmental structuring and substitutive assembly processes interact to influence diversity-disease patterns. Community assembly theory provides a framework for integrating abiotic and biotic processes to inform landscape-scale disease patterns.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70374","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147577688","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":"Genetic Diversity Impacts Climate-Induced Species Range Shifts","authors":"Brunno F. Oliveira,&nbsp;Romain Bertrand,&nbsp;Lise Comte,&nbsp;Jonathan Lenoir,&nbsp;Gaël Grenouillet,&nbsp;Lesley T. Lancaster,&nbsp;Jérôme Murienne,&nbsp;Sarah Diamond,&nbsp;Brett R. Scheffers,&nbsp;R. M. W. J. Bandara,&nbsp;Jake A. Lawlor,&nbsp;Nikki A. Moore,&nbsp;Barrett W. Wolfe,&nbsp;Fabricio Villalobos,&nbsp;Sarah R. Weiskopf,&nbsp;Laura M. Thompson,&nbsp;Malin L. Pinsky,&nbsp;Jonathan Rolland","doi":"10.1111/ele.70345","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70345","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Climate change threatens biodiversity when species cannot tolerate, adapt to, or track shifting environmental conditions to stay within their climatic niches. A major unresolved question is whether and how species' genetic diversity modulates these dynamics, buffering against range contractions or facilitating range expansions. To test this, we integrated the largest global databases of species range shifts and genetic diversity, encompassing 4673 range shift estimates for 1888 species with available genetic data, including insects, arachnids, birds, fish, and plants. We found that range shifting rates were significantly shaped by the interaction of genetic diversity and climate change velocity. Under rapid warming, species with higher genetic diversity exhibited reduced trailing edge contractions, likely reflecting enhanced evolutionary potential or reduced vulnerability to drift. Under moderate warming, species with higher genetic diversity shifted more rapidly at leading edges and range centroids, consistent with greater colonisation ability. Our study provides evidence that genetic diversity potentially enables persistence at the trailing edge and colonisation at the leading edge, with the magnitude of these effects varying depending on the velocity of climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70345","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147518705","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":"Pervasive Fitness Trade-Offs Revealed by Rapid Adaptation to Shifting Population Densities in Large Experimental Populations of Drosophila melanogaster","authors":"M. C. Bitter,&nbsp;S. Greenblum,&nbsp;S. Rajpurohit,&nbsp;A. O. Bergland,&nbsp;J. A. Hemker,&nbsp;E. Lappo,&nbsp;N. J. Betancourt,&nbsp;S. Tilk,&nbsp;S. Berardi,&nbsp;H. Oken,&nbsp;P. Schmidt,&nbsp;D. A. Petrov","doi":"10.1111/ele.70363","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70363","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Trade-offs are an inherent feature of organismal biology and fundamental to the evolution of natural populations. Here, we use experimental evolution in large, genetically diverse populations of <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> to directly measure the manifestation of trade-offs in response to fluctuating selection on ecological timescales. We first conducted a lab-based selection experiment to quantify a genome-wide signal of fluctuating selection elicited in response to shifting population densities and in the absence of fluctuating abiotic conditions. We then conducted an independent experiment to show that lab-based manipulations of population density can identify loci relevant to selection during population expansion and collapse in an outdoor setting, where multiple biotic and abiotic conditions fluctuate simultaneously. In concert, our data indicate a role of eco-evolutionary feedbacks and generic fitness trade-offs in the maintenance of variation in natural populations and show how a coarse-grained genetic architecture of adaptation can lead to predictable evolutionary change across settings.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147506920","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":"Integrating Lab- and Field-Based Approaches to Decipher Individuals' Response to Anthropogenic Change","authors":"M. de Guinea,&nbsp;R. Landesman,&nbsp;J. R. Madden,&nbsp;T. Bugnyar,&nbsp;Y. Bartan,&nbsp;R. Nathan","doi":"10.1111/ele.70366","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70366","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The global expansion of human activities increasingly exposes wild animals to novel, potentially threatening conditions. Consistent behavioural responses to perceived risk may be detrimental to wildlife, either by limiting foraging opportunities or by overexposing them to lethal hazards. We examine the relationship between risk responses, movement patterns and survival in fan-tailed ravens (<i>Corvus rhipidurus</i>) inhabiting Israel's Dead Sea coastline. We found consistent individual differences assessed through controlled laboratory assays (novel food, objects, environment and foraging near humans) and even stronger consistencies in the wild via GPS-derived movement metrics. While risk-prone ravens remained near tourist sites and travelled less, risk-averse individuals foraged farther towards the edge of their home ranges, avoiding human activity. Further, risk-averse individuals were more likely to survive over extended periods than risk-prone individuals. As anthropogenic change accelerates, variation in consistent risk-taking behaviour could determine individuals' capacity to adapt and survive and consequently shape population composition and persistence.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13008825/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147502757","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":"Are Insect Populations Inherently More Variable? A Multi-Taxa Approach to Characterising Interannual Fluctuations in Insect Time Series","authors":"Graham A. Montgomery,&nbsp;Eliza M. Grames,&nbsp;Jake M. Jacobsen,&nbsp;Ethan X. Kahn,&nbsp;Amanda Leyel,&nbsp;Mia C. Rosati,&nbsp;Qiyuan Wu,&nbsp;Chris S. Elphick,&nbsp;David Wagner,&nbsp;Morgan W. Tingley","doi":"10.1111/ele.70359","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70359","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The determinants of population variability across taxa, time, and space are not fully understood, particularly for insects, a group with recent reports of widespread abundance declines. We collated data from unpublished and published sources to calculate indices of interannual population variability for over 4500 unique insect time series, comprising data from nearly 1500 species. We evaluate whether insects exhibit greater population variability than other types of animals. Our results demonstrate that insects as a group indeed exhibit much greater population variability than birds, mammals, or fish, but that within Insecta, included orders show similar levels of population variability. We also find that population variability in insects is greater at higher latitudes, for species with smaller body sizes and for shorter, older time series and that it varies between biomes. Overall, our findings can inform the interpretation and prediction of insect population trends, fluctuations and extinction risk in an era of insect decline.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70359","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147484022","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":"Converting and Constructing Effect Sizes With the Response Ratio","authors":"Marc J. Lajeunesse","doi":"10.1111/ele.70335","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70335","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Data synthesised and published as response ratios in ecology (<span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mtext>lnRR</mtext>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ mathrm{lnRR} $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math>, or ratio of means, <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>RoM</mi>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ mathrm{RoM} $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math>) remain isolated from broad secondary analyses because they cannot be converted to other effect size metrics. Here I address this lack of data interoperability by developing a conversion to the widely used Hedges' <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>d</mi>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ d $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math> (standardised mean difference, <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>SMD</mi>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ mathrm{SMD} $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math>). This conversion is practical and near exact—as long as assumptions of homogeneity of variances are met, Hedges' <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>g</mi>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ g $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math> correction is used to adjust for small-sample bias, and only additive and not multiplicative ecological processes are converted. I then generalise this conversion with abstract algebra to develop additional opportunities to reuse effect sizes—first by stating the response ratio as a geometric construction of Pythagorean means, and then <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>d</mi>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ d $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math> as a proportional compass-and-straightedge construction of the response ratio. Constructability is a new pathway of interoperability for effect sizes, and without collecting new data, allows for the response ratio and <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>d</mi>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ d $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math> to be repurposed into relative change datatypes such as the arithmetic, harmonic, geometric, quadratic and logarithmic means. Much of what has been synthesised in ecology is only available as response ratios, and I hope these conversions increase their value post-publication and facilitate reuse for bolder, more comprehensive meta-analyses.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70335","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147484012","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":"Evidence for the Stability Selection Mechanism in a Live Predator–Prey System","authors":"John P. DeLong,&nbsp;Kyle E. Coblentz,&nbsp;Kristi L. Montooth,&nbsp;Qingqing Yang,&nbsp;Dinelka Thilakarathne,&nbsp;Francis Biagioli","doi":"10.1111/ele.70367","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70367","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Stability selection is the process by which species are lost from a community due to a structural susceptibility to extinction. Stability selection is non-adaptive because it does not lead to the evolution of traits that increase individual fitness. However, stability selection could still drive evolutionary change because the stability of populations is linked to heritable traits. Here we demonstrate both phenomena with a live predator–prey system. We show that the stability properties of a predator–prey pair vary with prey genetics, indicating the potential for differential extinction to influence the genotypic makeup of populations. Second, we show that the loss of unstable predator–prey pairs in subpopulations from the overall population can lead to trait evolution in the aggregate population, providing empirical support for the stability selection mechanism. Our results indicate that community-level processes such as predator–prey interactions can generate eco-evolutionary change at the population scale.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13003581/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147484078","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":"Food Web Similarity Increases With Productivity Similarity at a Continental Scale","authors":"Ann E. Finneran,&nbsp;César A. Uribe,&nbsp;Kai M. Hung,&nbsp;Chia Hsieh,&nbsp;Matthew A. Wuensch,&nbsp;Matthew A. McCary,&nbsp;Lydia Beaudrot","doi":"10.1111/ele.70368","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70368","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Primary productivity and trophic interactions are fundamentally linked. However, it remains largely unknown how food web structure varies along primary productivity gradients at continental scales or how the influence of primary productivity on food webs varies within regions. Furthermore, anthropogenic pressure threatens the integrity of food webs globally with potentially predictable food web disassembly. Here, we test how plant productivity and anthropogenic fragmentation predict the pairwise similarity of food web networks within and among regions for 127 protected areas spanning deserts to rainforests. We measured food web structural equivalence independent of species identities and accounted for inherent scaling of food web structure with richness and connectance. Food webs were significantly more similar at sites with similar plant productivity at the continental scale and within woodland savannas, and in tropical rainforests with similar anthropogenic fragmentation. These empirical results inform how food web structure mediates biodiversity and ecosystem function.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13003585/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147484005","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":"Three Decades of Butterfly–Plant Interaction Turnover Explained by Climate and Species Loss","authors":"Pau Colom,&nbsp;Constantí Stefanescu,&nbsp;Jordi Corbera,&nbsp;Amparo Lázaro","doi":"10.1111/ele.70361","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70361","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding the mechanisms behind interaction turnover over long-term periods is essential to predict how ecological networks respond to global change. We used a high-resolution dataset of butterfly–plant interactions spanning 13–29 years in seven Mediterranean communities to assess how climate fluctuations and community shifts shape interaction turnover and its components—species turnover and rewiring. Rewiring contributed the most to interaction turnover, but its relative importance declined over time as species loss reduced the pool of shared partners between years. Consequently, species turnover became increasingly influential, even though communities shifted toward butterfly species with generalist traits that promote rewiring. Nevertheless, rewiring intensified in years with stronger temperature fluctuations, when populations experienced greater shifts in phenology and abundance and were more likely to rewire. In the context of biodiversity loss, species turnover increasingly governs interaction dynamics, while the short-term flexibility provided by rewiring may collapse as communities become impoverished.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"29 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13003583/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147484091","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}