Ecology Letters最新文献

{"title":"Plant Genome Size Mediates Species and Community Responses to Precipitation Change and Nitrogen Enrichment in Grasslands","authors":"Jiamei Sun,&nbsp;Cunzheng Wei,&nbsp;Huanlong Li,&nbsp;Bin Zhang,&nbsp;Xingguo Han,&nbsp;Qingmin Pan","doi":"10.1111/ele.70193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70193","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Evidence is mounting that plant genome size (GS) is associated with species' ecological strategies for water and nutrient utilisation. However, its role in mediating species' responses to ongoing precipitation changes and increasing nitrogen deposition, and its impact on plant community dynamics, remains poorly understood. Here, combining a precipitation gradient experiment with a nitrogen addition experiment in a semi-arid grassland, we show that species with different GS exhibited different responses to these environmental changes. Small-GS species demonstrated great drought tolerance and predominantly influenced community productivity under drought conditions, whereas large-GS species performed better under wetter and nitrogen-enriched conditions, which met their higher water and nutrient demands. These results suggest that plant-GS difference among coexisting species is linked to their varied responses to environmental changes and consequently mediates community dynamics. Therefore, ecosystem feedbacks to global environmental changes can be explained by some relatively stable genetic characters like GS.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144888532","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":"Correction to “Causal Effects Versus Causal Mechanisms: Two Traditions With Different Requirements and Contributions Towards Causal Understanding”","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/ele.70172","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70172","url":null,"abstract":"<p>\u0000 <span>Grace, J. B.</span>, <span>N. Huntington-Klein</span>, <span>E. W. Schweiger</span>, <span>M. Martinez</span>, <span>M. J. Osland</span>, <span>L. C. Feher</span>, <span>G. R. Guntenspergen</span>, &amp; <span>K. M. Thorne</span>. <span>2025</span>. “ <span>Causal Effects versus Causal Mechanisms: Two Traditions with Difference Requirements and Contributions towards Causal Understanding</span>.” <i>Ecology Letters</i> <span>28</span>:e70029. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70029\u0000 </p><p>We would like to correct the statement found on page 12,</p><p>Ferraro, Sanchirico, and Smith (2019) have stated that ‘Mechanistic models that judge success by model-data consistency represent predictive inference. Such models are not considered to be causal and need not include any variables with causal effects.’</p><p>to say,</p><p>Ferraro, Sanchirico, and Smith (2019) have stated that mechanistic models that judge success by model-data consistency represent predictive inference and such models are not typically considered to be causal and need not include any variables with causal effects. Such models, while not considered to be causal, may shed light on causal relationships under limited circumstances.</p><p>We would also like to correct the statement found on page 2,</p><p>“For example, Dee et al. (2023) repeatedly makes the unconditional declaration that data pooled across separate samples, such as samples across an environmental gradient, cannot be used for causal inferences because the samples cannot be assumed to be ‘all else equal’. Other presentations of causal statistics to ecologists make similar declarations and expound on an extensive list of restrictions. Some have gone so far as to make the blanket declaration that the parameters and relationships in mechanistic models do not qualify as causal because they are not based on causal statistical methods (Ferraro, Sanchirico, and Smith 2019).”</p><p>to say,</p><p>“For example, Dee et al. (2023) imply that analyses of data pooled across spatially separated samples require defending the assumption of no omitted confounders (i.e., adhering to the Perfection Standard in our Figure 2). To be more specific, they state, ‘In Grace et al., the authors use spatial variation across sites … The Dee et al. model eliminates the spatial variation that comes from the “between-plots” comparisons because we believe those comparisons will yield biased inferences about the relationship between richness and productivity – hidden bias that comes from unobserved confounding variables.’ Elsewhere, Dee et al. say, ‘it is unlikely that one can measure all possible confounding variables.’ and ‘failure to control for all confounding variables can lead to inferences of the wrong sign or magnitude.’”</p><p>We apologize for the errors.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70172","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144861580","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":"Biodiversity Consistently Promotes Ecosystem Multifunctionality Across Multiple Temporal Scales in an Aquatic Microbial Community","authors":"Wan-Hsuan Cheng,&nbsp;Takeshi Miki,&nbsp;Chao-Chen Lai,&nbsp;Fuh-Kwo Shiah,&nbsp;Chia-Ying Ko,&nbsp;Chih-hao Hsieh,&nbsp;Chun-Wei Chang","doi":"10.1111/ele.70185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70185","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Biodiversity is essential for sustaining ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF), yet its role in natural ecosystems remains uncertain because various environmental drivers, alongside biodiversity, influence EMF, complicating the empirical biodiversity–EMF relationship. Additionally, the effects of biodiversity and environmental drivers on EMF likely vary across temporal scales, making this relationship inherently scale-dependent. Over nine years, we conducted a biweekly sampling, measuring microbial diversity, EMF (via 31 carbon utilisation functions), and various environmental variables in a subtropical freshwater ecosystem. Our analysis across inter-annual, seasonal, and short-term scales revealed that biodiversity consistently enhances EMF at all scales, while environmental drivers such as precipitation, temperature, and phosphate influenced EMF only at specific scales (short-term, seasonal, and inter-annual, respectively). Importantly, biodiversity mediated these environmental impacts, reinforcing its central role in maintaining EMF. These findings highlight biodiversity as a critical pillar for EMF across scales, underscoring the importance of conserving biodiversity to sustain EMF amid multifaceted environmental changes.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144861839","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":"Pollinator-Promoting Interventions in European Urban Habitats—A Synthesis","authors":"Gabriella Süle,&nbsp;András Báldi,&nbsp;David Kleijn,&nbsp;Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter,&nbsp;Stephen Venn,&nbsp;Dave Goulson,&nbsp;Simon Dietzel,&nbsp;Audrey Muratet,&nbsp;Lorna J. Cole,&nbsp;Erik Öckinger,&nbsp;Olga Tzortzakaki,&nbsp;Weronika Banaszak-Cibicka,&nbsp;Oliver Betz,&nbsp;Lorna M. Blackmore,&nbsp;Łukasz Dylewski,&nbsp;Benoît Fontaine,&nbsp;Bertrand Fournier,&nbsp;Costanza Geppert,&nbsp;Janine Griffiths-Lee,&nbsp;Catriona Hawthorn,&nbsp;Andrea Holzschuh,&nbsp;Jakub Horák,&nbsp;Svenja Horstmann,&nbsp;Helen Hoyle,&nbsp;Vassiliki Kati,&nbsp;Anikó Kovács-Hostyánszki,&nbsp;Lorenzo Marini,&nbsp;Alice Michelot-Antalik,&nbsp;Marco Moretti,&nbsp;Briony A. Norton,&nbsp;Benjamin B. Phillips,&nbsp;Milan Plećaš,&nbsp;Patrik Rada,&nbsp;Miklós Sárospataki,&nbsp;Sonja Schulze,&nbsp;Assaf Shwartz,&nbsp;Philipp Unterweger,&nbsp;Viktor Szigeti","doi":"10.1111/ele.70189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70189","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Pollinators receive considerable interest due to their fundamental role in ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Unlike farmlands, studies of urban pollinator-promoting interventions are scarce and have not been synthesised, hampering policy implementation. To fill this gap, we compared pollinator-promoting interventions (treatment) with conventionally managed (control) sites regarding vegetation, floral resources, and pollinators. Our synthesis investigated 1051 sampling sites with different interventions (abandonment, extensive mowing, flower sowing, and combined practices) and habitats (parks, grasslands, road verges, private and public gardens) from 28 European datasets at pooled- and study-levels. Urban pollinator-promoting interventions generally benefited plants and pollinators with taxon, intervention, habitat, and spatio-temporal specific differences. Pooled analyses showed mostly positive and never negative treatment effects, while study-level details described primarily positive and neutral but rarely negative effects. Bumblebees and butterflies benefited most from the interventions. Some effects were stronger for interventions involving flower sowing, interventions occurring in road verges, and interventions located in Northwestern Europe. Although regulations, guidelines, and monitoring are improving, knowledge gaps remain for some pollinator taxa (e.g., beetles), regions (e.g., Mediterranean), and novel interventions (e.g., for ground-nesting insects). Further collaborative studies from around the world could help cities bring people, plants, and pollinators together by creating resilient, multi-functional urban spaces.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70189","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144869233","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":"Global Study of Plant-Herbivore Interactions Reveals Similar Patterns of Herbivory Across Native and Non-Native Plants","authors":"Andrea Galmán,&nbsp;Philip G. Hahn,&nbsp;Brian D. Inouye,&nbsp;Nora Underwood,&nbsp;Yanjie Liu,&nbsp;Susan R. Whitehead,&nbsp;William C. Wetzel","doi":"10.1111/ele.70196","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70196","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A core hypothesis in invasion and community ecology is that species interaction patterns should differ between native and non-native species due to non-native species lacking a long evolutionary history in their resident communities. Numerous studies testing this hypothesis yield conflicting results, often focusing on mean interaction rates and overlooking the substantial within-population variability in species interactions. We explored plant-herbivore interactions in populations of native and established non-native plant species by quantifying differences in mean herbivory and added a novel approach by comparing within-population variability in herbivory. We include as covariates latitude, plant richness, plant growth form and cover. Using leaf herbivory data from the Herbivory Variability Network for 788 plant populations spanning 504 species globally distributed, we found no overall differences in mean herbivory or variability between native and non-native plants. These results suggest native and established non-native plants interact similarly with herbivores, indicating non-native status is not a strong predictor of ecological roles.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70196","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144832506","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":"Contrasting 50-Year Trends of Moth Communities Depending on Elevation and Species Traits","authors":"Felix Neff,&nbsp;Yannick Chittaro,&nbsp;Fränzi Korner-Nievergelt,&nbsp;Glenn Litsios,&nbsp;Carlos Martínez-Núñez,&nbsp;Emmanuel Rey,&nbsp;Eva Knop","doi":"10.1111/ele.70195","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70195","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Following alarming studies on insect declines, evidence for contrasting patterns in temporal insect trends is growing. Differences in environmental conditions (e.g., climate), anthropogenic pressures (e.g., land-use and climate change), and insect community composition may drive contrasting trends. With increasing elevation, these factors change quickly, which makes elevational gradients an ideal study case to disentangle their roles for differences in temporal trends. We thus analysed 2.8 million moth records collected in Switzerland. Fifty-year trends (1972–2021) depended on local conditions and insect community composition: moth abundance, richness and biomass at low elevation decreased but increased at high elevation. These changes mainly concerned cold-adapted, mono- and oligophagous, and pupal overwintering species, which shifted their ranges upwards. Our results point to climate change but also intensive land use and light pollution as drivers of moth community changes and suggest that high-elevation habitats as refugia could be key to sustain moth diversity.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70195","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144832505","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 Causal Inference Framework for Climate Change Attribution in Ecology","authors":"Joan Dudney,&nbsp;Laura E. Dee,&nbsp;Robert Heilmayr,&nbsp;Jarrett Byrnes,&nbsp;Katherine Siegel","doi":"10.1111/ele.70192","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70192","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>As climate change increasingly affects biodiversity and ecosystem services, a key challenge in ecology is accurate attribution of these impacts. Though experimental studies have greatly advanced our understanding of climate change effects, experimental results are difficult to generalise to real-world scenarios. To better capture realised impacts, ecologists can use observational data. Disentangling cause and effect using observational data, however, requires careful research design. Here we describe advances in causal inference that can improve climate change attribution in observational settings. Our framework includes five steps: (1) describe the theoretical foundation, (2) choose appropriate observational datasets, (3) estimate the causal relationships of interest, (4) simulate a counterfactual scenario and (5) evaluate results and assumptions using robustness checks. We demonstrate this framework using a pinyon pine case study in North America, and we conclude with a discussion of frontiers in climate change attribution. Our aim is to provide an accessible foundation for applying observational causal inference to estimate climate change effects on ecological systems.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144832504","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":"Distinguishing Short-Term Versus Long-Term Responses in Cover-Class Structured Community Dynamics: A Test With Grassland Drought Response","authors":"Aryaman Gupta,&nbsp;Samuel J. L. Gascoigne,&nbsp;György Barabás,&nbsp;Benjamin Wong Blonder,&nbsp;Man Qi,&nbsp;Erola Fenollosa,&nbsp;Rachael Thornley,&nbsp;Christina Hernandez,&nbsp;Andy Hector,&nbsp;Roberto Salguero-Gómez","doi":"10.1111/ele.70182","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ele.70182","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Climate change is increasing the magnitude and frequency of precipitation extremes. Consequently, grassland community dynamics are destabilising and becoming harder to predict since models typically simulate long-term (asymptotic) behaviour, potentially neglecting short-term (transient) behaviour. Here, we use cover data from an experiment performed over 8 years to model short- and long-term responses of three functional groups (grasses, legumes, and non-leguminous forbs) to precipitation extremes. We use Integral Projection Models (IPMs) and pseudospectral theory to track transient grassland community dynamics driven by response lags and interannual shifts. We show that the cover-class structure and inter-cover-class interactions of functional groups make them transiently unstable but asymptotically stable, that is, disturbances are initially amplified before eventually dissipating. We also show that grasses dominate under irrigation, while legumes and forbs dominate under drought. We demonstrate that the pseudospectra of IPMs enable computationally and data-wise inexpensive assessment of whether transient dynamics drive community responses to disturbances.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70182","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144825261","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":"Thermal Plasticity in a Cross-Sexual Transfer Trait: Geographic Variation and Phenotypic Integration of Blue Wing Colour in Female Butterflies","authors":"Magne Friberg,&nbsp;Karolina Pehrson,&nbsp;Kristoffer Mjörnman,&nbsp;Erik I. Svensson","doi":"10.1111/ele.70190","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70190","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Within-sex phenotypic variation can arise through co-option of sexual differentiation mechanisms. Recently, several such cross-sexual-transfer traits have been identified, but we lack a mechanistic understanding of their geographic variation, environmental influences, and phenotypic integration with other traits. Male <i>Polyommatus icarus</i> butterflies are blue, whereas female wing coloration varies from brown to blue. Here, we show that female wing colour varies in a geographic mosaic, with the spring generation being bluer than the summer generation. Laboratory experiments revealed that females developed both bluer wings and increased phenotypic integration between the amount of blue and total wing area at low temperature, qualitatively matching differences between spring and summer generations. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that female and male colour develop through similar mechanisms, supporting the cross-sexual-transfer hypothesis. Our study establishes a promising study system on cross-sexual-transfer and a solid foundation for research on the fitness consequences and evolutionary history of this trait.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70190","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144773552","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":"Social Microbial Transmission in a Solitary Mammal","authors":"Lauren Petrullo,&nbsp;Quinn Webber,&nbsp;Aura Raulo,&nbsp;Stan Boutin,&nbsp;Jeffrey E. Lane,&nbsp;Andrew G. McAdam,&nbsp;Ben Dantzer","doi":"10.1111/ele.70186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70186","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Microbial transmission is hypothesised to be a major benefit of sociality, facilitated by affiliative behaviours such as grooming and communal nesting in group-living animals. Whether microbial transmission is also present in animals that do not form groups because territoriality limits interactions and prevents group formation remains unknown. Here, we investigate relationships among gut microbiota, population density and dynamic behavioural and spatial measures of territoriality in wild North American red squirrels (<i>Tamiasciurus hudsonicus</i>). Periods of high population density predicted population-level gut microbial homogeneity but individual-level diversification, alongside changes in obligately anaerobic, non-sporulating taxa indicative of social transmission. Microbial alpha-diversity increased with more frequent territorial intrusions, and pairs with stronger intrusion-based social associations had more similar gut microbiota. As some of the first evidence for social microbial transmission in a solitary system, our findings suggest that fluctuations in density and territorial behaviours can homogenise and diversify host microbiomes among otherwise non-interacting animals.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70186","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144773858","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}