Aubrie R. M. James, Margaret M. Mayfield, Malyon D. Bimler
{"title":"Facilitation Thinking for Coexistence Theory","authors":"Aubrie R. M. James, Margaret M. Mayfield, Malyon D. Bimler","doi":"10.1111/ele.70150","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70150","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Species interactions are foundational to biodiversity maintenance. Facilitation, a common outcome of species interactions, occurs among and between a wide variety of organisms yet its treatment in the theory and models used to predict species coexistence is underdeveloped. We ask why this is and speculate about how to address this apparent discrepancy. We first evaluate a persistent ambivalence to facilitation in the context of population and community ecology, particularly in contemporary coexistence theory. We then propose ‘facilitation thinking’ to remedy the gap between empirical evidence of facilitation and mathematical theory of coexistence. We briefly discuss how a holistic treatment of facilitation in theory has the potential to reconfigure our basic understanding and definition of coexistence. Ultimately, we argue for an expanded theory of coexistence that accounts for a diversity of species interaction outcomes, allowing for the study of interactions and diversity maintenance beyond the war of all against all.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70150","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144315046","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}
Armun Liaghat, Martin Guillemet, Rachel Whitaker, Sylvain Gandon, Mercedes Pascual
{"title":"Host Competitive Asymmetries Accelerate Viral Evolution in a Microbe–Virus Coevolutionary System","authors":"Armun Liaghat, Martin Guillemet, Rachel Whitaker, Sylvain Gandon, Mercedes Pascual","doi":"10.1111/ele.70153","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70153","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Microbial host populations evolve traits conferring specific resistance to viral predators via various defence mechanisms, while viruses reciprocally evolve traits to evade these defences. Such coevolutionary dynamics often involve diversification promoted by negative frequency-dependent selection. However, microbial traits conferring competitive asymmetries can induce directional selection, opposing diversification. Despite extensive research on microbe–virus coevolution, the combined effect of both host trait types and associated selection remains unclear. Using a CRISPR-mediated coevolutionary system, we examine how the co-occurrence of both trait types impacts viral evolution and persistence, previously shown to be transient and nonstationary in computational models. A stochastic model incorporating host competitive asymmetries via variation of intrinsic growth rates reveals that competitively advantaged host clades generate the majority of immune diversity. Greater asymmetries extend viral extinction times, accelerate viral adaptation locally in time and augment long-term local adaptation. These findings align with previous experiments and provide further insights into long-term coevolutionary dynamics.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70153","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144315045","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}
Daniel C. G. Metz, Kelly L. Weinersmith, Alexis S. Beagle, Rudra M. Dixit, Christina G. Fragel, Clayton E. Cressler
{"title":"Deadly Decomposers: Distinguishing Life History Strategies on the Parasitism-Saprotrophy Spectrum","authors":"Daniel C. G. Metz, Kelly L. Weinersmith, Alexis S. Beagle, Rudra M. Dixit, Christina G. Fragel, Clayton E. Cressler","doi":"10.1111/ele.70135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70135","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The ability to parasitize living hosts as well as decompose dead organic matter is both common and widespread across prokaryotic and eukaryotic taxa. These parasitic decomposers have long been considered merely accidental or facultative parasites. However, this is often untrue: in many cases, parasitism is integral to the ecology and evolution of these organisms. Combining life cycle information from the literature with a generalised eco-evolutionary model, we define four distinct life history strategies followed by parasitic decomposers. Each strategy has a unique fitness expression, life cycle, ecological context, and set of evolutionary constraints. Correctly classifying parasitic decomposers is essential for understanding their ecology and epidemiology and directly impacts efforts to manage important medical and agricultural pathogens.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70135","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144308993","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}
Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Eamonn I. F. Wooster, April Robin Martinig, Jennifer R. Green, Aimee Chhen, Sandra Cuadros, Ryan Gill, Gopal Khanal, Nicola Love, Rekha Marcus, C. Lauren Mills, Kwasi Wrensford, Nicholas S. Wright, Stefano Mezzini, Jessa Marley, Michael J. Noonan
{"title":"The Human Shield Hypothesis: Does Predator Avoidance of Humans Create Refuges for Prey?","authors":"Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Eamonn I. F. Wooster, April Robin Martinig, Jennifer R. Green, Aimee Chhen, Sandra Cuadros, Ryan Gill, Gopal Khanal, Nicola Love, Rekha Marcus, C. Lauren Mills, Kwasi Wrensford, Nicholas S. Wright, Stefano Mezzini, Jessa Marley, Michael J. Noonan","doi":"10.1111/ele.70138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70138","url":null,"abstract":"<p>As anthropogenic disturbance restructures ecological communities worldwide, ecologists have developed and tested hypotheses about which species “win” and “lose” in the face of human impacts. One heavily invoked paradigm is that of the human shield, which posits that predators avoid areas of human disturbance due to perceived risk from humans, and prey therefore seek refuge in these areas of perceived safety. Since its introduction in 2007, the human shield hypothesis (HSH) has gained popularity in the ecological literature, although there are more passing mentions of human shields than there are robust tests of the HSH. Here, we systematically review evidence for the HSH and evaluate how it is commonly discussed and tested. While there are several clear-cut cases of human shields, the emergence of human shields is highly context-dependent. By formally outlining the assumptions of the HSH, we derive predictions about what ecological and anthropogenic contexts are most likely to be conducive to human shields. Further robust studies that compete the HSH against alternative hypotheses and account for confounding factors can shed light on the role of human shields in human-modified ecosystems and inform the conservation and management of wildlife in a changing world.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70138","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144300459","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}
R. C. Rodríguez-Caro, R. Gumbs, E. Graciá, S. P. Blomberg, H. Cayuela, M. K. Grace, C. P. Carmona, H. A. Pérez-Mendoza, A. Giménez, K. J. Davis, R. Salguero-Gómez
{"title":"Synergistic and Additive Effects of Multiple Threats Erode Phylogenetic and Life History Strategy Diversity in Testudines and Crocodilia","authors":"R. C. Rodríguez-Caro, R. Gumbs, E. Graciá, S. P. Blomberg, H. Cayuela, M. K. Grace, C. P. Carmona, H. A. Pérez-Mendoza, A. Giménez, K. J. Davis, R. Salguero-Gómez","doi":"10.1111/ele.70147","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70147","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding how multiple threats interact is crucial for the prioritisation of conservation measures. Here, we investigate how interactions between six common threats (climate change, habitat disturbance, global trade, overconsumption, pollution and emerging diseases/invasive species) reduce the life history strategy diversity and phylogenetic diversity of 230 species of Testudines and 21 of Crocodilia. We classify threat interactions into additive, synergistic and antagonistic according to the reduction of life history strategy and phylogenetic diversity. Most threat interactions are antagonistic; the effect of threats jointly is lower than the sum of the effects of threats separately. However, we find that the interaction between emerging diseases or invasive species with other threats has synergistic and additive effects, meaning that the combined effects are greater than or equal to the effects of threats separately. Our work can help target conservation strategies and detect key places to address multiple threats when they appear together.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70147","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144273393","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}
Nelson Valdivia, Alexis M. Catalán, Daniela N. López, Moisés A. Aguilera, Claudia Betancourtt, Eliseo Fica-Rojas, Bernardo R. Broitman
{"title":"Species Removal Dampens the Scale Dependency of Ecological Determinism and Stochasticity in Coastal Communities","authors":"Nelson Valdivia, Alexis M. Catalán, Daniela N. López, Moisés A. Aguilera, Claudia Betancourtt, Eliseo Fica-Rojas, Bernardo R. Broitman","doi":"10.1111/ele.70144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70144","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Deterministic and stochastic processes control community dynamics. However, the responses of both processes to the loss of foundation species, which strongly influence community dynamics across spatial scales, are unclear. We experimentally examined how spatial extent and foundation species removal affect rocky-intertidal community dynamics over 3 years in eight field sites spanning ~1000 km along the southeastern Pacific. The normalised stochasticity ratio (<i>NST</i>), which distinguishes between stochastic (> 50%) and deterministic (< 50%) community dynamics, decreased with spatial extent for sessile and mobile species, with consistently lower values under foundation species removal for sessile communities. The effect of foundation species removal on <i>NST</i> was strongest in smaller sessile communities and diminished as spatial extent increased, while mobile communities showed no significant response to the disturbance. Our experimental results demonstrate that the loss of foundation species disrupts the scale dependency of ecological mechanisms, highlighting its negative implications for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functioning.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144220308","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}
Bana A. Kabalan, Alexander J. Reisinger, Lauren M. Pintor, Marco Scarasso, Ashley R. Smyth, Lindsey S. Reisinger
{"title":"Intraspecific Variation in Crayfish Behaviour Alters Stream Ecosystem Functions","authors":"Bana A. Kabalan, Alexander J. Reisinger, Lauren M. Pintor, Marco Scarasso, Ashley R. Smyth, Lindsey S. Reisinger","doi":"10.1111/ele.70148","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70148","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Human-induced environmental changes are reshaping animal behavioural traits, yet their ecological consequences remain poorly understood. We demonstrate that among-population variation in the behavioural traits of two freshwater crayfish species profoundly affects key ecosystem functions in streams. Crayfish movement behaviour was strongly linked to increased water column metabolism in both natural streams and controlled mesocosm experiments. Movement also influenced nutrient cycling, highlighting the role of bioturbation in ecosystem dynamics. In contrast, boldness negatively impacted leaf litter breakdown, suggesting that less bold individuals rely more on leaf litter as refuge and food. Notably, within-species behavioural differences often outweighed species identity in determining ecological impacts. Our findings reveal that shifts in animal movement behaviour can drive fundamental ecological processes and emphasise the overlooked importance of within-species trait variation. These results advance our understanding of how behavioural diversity influences ecosystem functions and underscore the need to incorporate intraspecific variation into ecological frameworks.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144220086","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":"Quantitatively Testing Predictions From Mechanistic Models: A Case Study for Island Biodiversity","authors":"Tak Fung, Ryan A. Chisholm","doi":"10.1111/ele.70149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70149","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>A key test of an ecological model is whether it can quantitatively predict unseen aspects of data not used in model fitting. Previous studies have fitted models to data on island alpha diversity, but did not test how well these models predict other patterns of biodiversity. Here, we test the extent to which models fitted only to island alpha diversity can predict three other patterns of island biodiversity, including similarity of species composition among islands. We found that a neutral model produced decent predictions for 17 archipelagos, with the proportion of data points within the model's confidence intervals closely tracking the nominal coverages of the intervals, differing by 0.19 on average. Thus, as a first approximation, observed patterns of island biodiversity can be parsimoniously explained as the result of neutral competition and dispersal limitation. More broadly, our results demonstrate that neutral models can make accurate predictions of higher-order diversity statistics.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144196990","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":"Canopy Structure Exhibits Linear and Nonlinear Links to Biome-Level Maximum Light Use Efficiency","authors":"Hamid Dashti, Min Chen, Dalei Hao, Xi Yang","doi":"10.1111/ele.70142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70142","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Maximum light use efficiency (ε<sub>max</sub>) represents a plant's capacity to convert light into carbon during photosynthesis. Although prior studies have explored ε<sub>max</sub> variations between sunlit and shaded leaves or its temporal ties to canopy structure, the spatial relationship between biome-level ε<sub>max</sub> (ε<sub>biome</sub>) and biome structure remains poorly understood. We analysed data from 320 eddy covariance sites (~855 site-years) with satellite-derived near-infrared reflectance of vegetation (NIRv) and leaf area index (LAI). We introduced NIRvN (NIRv/LAI) to isolate architectural effects from leaf quantity. Site-level ε<sub>max</sub> was calculated and aggregated by biome to derive ε<sub>biome</sub>. Results show ε<sub>biome</sub> rises nonlinearly with NIRv and LAI, saturating at high LAI, with crops and tropical evergreen forests deviating from this trend. Conversely, ε<sub>biome</sub> decreases linearly with increasing NIRvN, indicating that biomes with greater NIR scattering efficiency exhibit lower ε<sub>biome</sub>. These results enhance understanding of structural influences on carbon uptake across global biomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70142","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144196989","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}
Shuhai Wen, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Tadeo Sáez-Sandino, Jiaying Chen, Jiao Feng, Qiaoyun Huang, Emilio Guirado, Matthias C. Rillig, Yu-Rong Liu
{"title":"Negative Impacts of Global Change Stressors Permeate Into Deep Soils","authors":"Shuhai Wen, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Tadeo Sáez-Sandino, Jiaying Chen, Jiao Feng, Qiaoyun Huang, Emilio Guirado, Matthias C. Rillig, Yu-Rong Liu","doi":"10.1111/ele.70143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70143","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Surface soils are highly vulnerable to multiple global change stressors associated with climate change and human activity; however, whether the impacts of this increasing number of stressors penetrate deeper soils remains virtually unknown. Here, we conducted a continental-scale survey of soil profiles (0–100 cm). Results showed that multiple stressors jointly affect multiple soil functions (from soil carbon sequestration to pathogen control) across top (0–30 cm), subsurface (30–60 cm) and deep soils (60–100 cm). An increasing number of stressors was especially detrimental to the capacity of ecosystems to support productivity and regulate soil-borne pathogens across all depths. Further analyses revealed that climatic stressors interact with multiple environmental stressors, diminishing multifunctionality across the soil profile. Our work demonstrates that the effects of multiple stressors can permeate the entire soil profile, highlighting that an increasing number of global change stressors at low levels significantly threaten multiple functions supported by deep soils.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144206422","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}