Journal of Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Phenological selection mosaic of predispersal seed predation affects gender variation in an andromonoecious plant","authors":"Gaku Kudo, Akari Shibata","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70130","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70130","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Predispersal seed predation could influence the sexual expression of plants with sexually heteromorphic flowers. The timing of snowmelt determines the reproductive phenology of alpine plants at a given site, and it can also cause variation in the intensity of seed predation at a local level in alpine ecosystems. We investigated the associations between predation intensity and the floral sex allocation and fitness in an andromonoecious alpine herb, <jats:italic>Peucedanum multivittatum</jats:italic> (Apiaceae), along the natural gradient of flowering phenology in northern Japan over 4 years.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>The developing fruits of the early‐flowering populations were heavily predated by moth caterpillars, whereas seed predation was negligible in the late‐flowering populations because predator moths concentrated their oviposition in early summer. The moths tended to oviposit on umbels with more perfect flowers, fewer male flowers and taller flower stems.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Plants with male‐biased umbels predominated in the early‐flowering populations. Selection differential and selection gradient analyses showed that greater production of perfect flowers accelerated seed predation, resulting in lower female fitness as seed producers. In contrast, male flower production contributed to a reduction in predation damage, but this was independent of male fitness as a pollen donor. Therefore, having a male‐biased floral gender is advantageous in minimising seed predation and maintaining the floral display.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>The proportion of perfect flowers per umbel increased in the late‐snowmelt populations, where higher production of perfect flowers led to greater fruit production due to low levels of seed predation. Along the phenological gradient, natural selection for perfect flower production shifted from negative to positive values, indicating heterogeneous local‐scale selection.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic>: Our study shows that spatiotemporal variation in the intensity of seed predation acts as a selective force, promoting the local evolution of floral sex expression in andromonoecious plants.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"140 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144747437","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":"Large‐scale atmospheric variability entails differential modes of seasonal tree growth in the Mediterranean Basin","authors":"Héctor Hernández‐Alonso, José Miguel Olano, Hermine Houdas, Gianluca Piovesan, Arben Q. Alla, Dario Domingo, Miguel García‐Hidalgo, Dinka Matošević, Ivan Balenović, María E. Coca‐García, Gabriel Sangüesa‐Barreda","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70120","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Synoptic scale changes in atmospheric circulation govern the climate that affects wood formation over wide geographical extents. Intra‐annual tree growth exhibits disparate climatic responses across seasons, and its reliance on teleconnections may ultimately result in the development of contrasting growth modes over large spatial extents. Teleconnections' impact on seasonal tree growth in Mediterranean species is poorly understood; yet it is crucial for the global carbon cycle.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We collected wood samples on 335 <jats:italic>Pinus nigra</jats:italic> trees, a circum‐Mediterranean species, encompassing a 2000 km wide gradient of the Mediterranean Basin. Our statistical framework included four teleconnections and served to address separately and for each season: (1) the spatial differences of the teleconnection–climate links, (2) the response of late‐ and early‐wood growth to the interactive effect of precipitation and temperature and (3) the direct link between teleconnections and late‐ and early‐wood.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We report a strong, uniform and positive link between the East Atlantic Pattern and temperature over all analysed sites and seasons. However, the impact of teleconnections on precipitation was predominantly negative, with spatial heterogeneity observed in all seasons for all teleconnections except one. Winter and spring temperatures positively influenced earlywood and spring latewood, respectively, while precipitation effects were always modulated by temperature for both intra‐annual growths. Teleconnections controlled more intensively latewood than earlywood and confirmed that climatic patterns related to precipitation showed the biggest differences in intra‐annual growth in size and sign, like the Western Mediterranean Oscillation.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic>. In this work, we demonstrate the control of teleconnections on seasonal tree growth through local climate across the Mediterranean basin. Despite the constant link between the East Atlantic Pattern and temperature, synergies among teleconnections pointed to an east–west dipole in tree seasonal growth, driven by precipitation variability. The Iberian Peninsula and the North and South Balkans presented significant differences with respect to the entire Mediterranean basin, particularly during the summer and coinciding with the formation of latewood. This highlights how teleconnections promote differential tree growth modes at large geographical scales, which is of particular importance for the carbon cycle, given the substantial amount of carbon stored in latewood.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144715565","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":"A path towards appropriate degradation experiments for assessing carbon sequestration potential of macroalgae","authors":"Lydia J. White, Alf Norkko","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70107","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>The biodiversity and climate crises have increased the urgency to understand turnover rates and drivers of marine carbon sequestration. Efforts have concentrated on measuring degradation of macroalgae to quantify how much of their carbon might be sequestered.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We systematically reviewed literature on macroalgal degradation, compiling 364 measurements of exponential decay constant <jats:italic>k</jats:italic>. To date, most degradation experiments (1) are carried out in aquaria or shallow environments, (2) span short timescales, (3) use dried or frozen material or (4) rarely incorporate environmental gradients driving degradation.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Decay constants were higher in intertidal versus subtidal habitats, for pre‐treated algal tissue compared to fresh, and when refractory material was present rather than absent. These patterns have implications for estimates of export efficiency of macroalgal carbon to the deep ocean.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic>. We recommend that future studies of macroalgal degradation (1) adopt standardized approaches, such as using fresh material and litter bag mesh size of 10 mm, to make studies more comparative, (2) measure degradation with sufficient frequency to robustly estimate decay constants and/or refractory material and (3) incorporate environmental gradients, including depth, light and oxygen availability, to improve estimates of macroalgal carbon remineralisation rates during transport to deeper water.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144715564","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":"Soil and litter legacy effects of pine invasion on subsequent reinvasion and secondary invasion","authors":"Jan‐Hendrik Dudenhöffer, Philip E. Hulme","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70113","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70113","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Invasive alien trees can alter the biotic and abiotic properties of invaded ecosystems. Even after intensive control programmes, areas can be prone to reinvasion by the same species or secondary invasion by other species. One key factor that might determine reinvasion or secondary invasion is soil and litter legacy effects of the primary invader. Alien conifers are a prominent case of invaders with the potential to create lasting soil and litter legacy effects. In New Zealand, lodgepole pine (<jats:italic>Pinus contorta</jats:italic>) is considered the most problematic invasive conifer species posing a threat to biodiversity, farming productivity and landscape values.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We assessed if soil and litter microbiome legacies of controlled <jats:italic>P. contorta</jats:italic> invasions can facilitate the reinvasion by conspecifics and potential secondary invasion by the two most abundant commercially planted alien conifer species (<jats:italic>Pinus radiata</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Pseudotsuga menziesii</jats:italic>). We grew plants in a sterile background soil inoculated with live or sterile soil and litter samples sourced from uninvaded grassland and stands of <jats:italic>P. contorta</jats:italic> that had been controlled by herbicide 2 years previously. Our experimental design aimed to disentangle the total observed legacy effect into its components of soil and litter microbiome‐mediated effects and their potential interaction on seedling establishment and early growth of the primary invader and the potential secondary invaders.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We found an overall negative legacy effect of <jats:italic>P. contorta</jats:italic> invasion on its own performance, whereas <jats:italic>P. menziesii</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>P. radiata</jats:italic> were neutrally or even positively affected, respectively. This was mainly driven by the individual effect of the soil microbiome. In contrast, seedling establishment was positively affected by the physical litter component but negatively affected by the litter microbiome. Thereby, the soil and litter microbiome‐mediated components can interact creating non‐additive effects.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic>. Our results suggest an increased risk of secondary invasion by other alien conifers after control of <jats:italic>P. contorta</jats:italic>. The complex interactions of soil and litter effects on plant performance highlight the importance of simultaneously considering multiple dimensions of legacy effects and their possible interactions. Paying attention to such interactions may help to better understand reinvasion and secondary invasion processes and inform post‐invasion management practices.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144715573","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":"Nitrogen enrichment threatens non‐N mineral nutrition and nutritional stability of forage due to biodiversity loss","authors":"Xiao‐Jing Zhang, Guo‐Jiao Yang, Yu Ning, Liang‐Chao Jiang, Xiao‐Sa Liang, Xiao‐Ru Zhang, Xiao‐Tao Lü, Xing‐Guo Han","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70121","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Nitrogen (N) enrichment induced by anthropogenic activities increases forage production but reduces plant diversity in global grasslands. It remains unclear whether biodiversity losses following N enrichment affect non‐N mineral nutrition of forage and nutritional stability, key components of forage quality.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We assessed the responses of forage non‐N nutrition (P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn) and nutritional stability to multi‐levels N addition (0, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 g N m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup> year<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>) in a temperate steppe over 9 years from 2015 to 2023.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Nitrogen addition decreased standardized mineral concentration (<jats:italic>MC</jats:italic>) and expected mineral stability (<jats:italic>MS</jats:italic>) of forage, with the effects being strengthened over time. There were positive but saturation relationships between plant species richness and forage <jats:italic>MC</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>MS</jats:italic> across the N addition gradient. Nitrogen addition significantly reduced the capacity of grasslands to supply non‐N minerals by decreasing plant species richness, and led to a trade‐off between forage yield and quality. In addition, the N‐induced decreases in <jats:italic>MC</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>MS</jats:italic> were more severe in dry years due to a stronger decline of species richness.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic>. Nitrogen enrichment reduced non‐N mineral nutrition and nutritional stability of forage, largely due to species richness losses. While the quantitative role of biodiversity in sustaining production has been widely reported, our results emphasize its qualitative role under scenarios of increasing N deposition and climate change. The trade‐off between forage yield and quality highlights the existence of trade‐offs not only among different ecosystem services but also between different facets of a particular service.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"704 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144701421","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":"Macrophyte species diversity and community stoichiometric homeostasis are correlated with different dimensions of stability following disturbance","authors":"Yihan Wang, Hang Shan, Qingchuan Chou, Weicheng Pang, Shangsheng Sun, Chaochao Lv, Yuqing Tian, Qingyang Rao, Te Cao, Haojie Su, Ping Xie","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70122","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Understanding how biodiversity and community functional traits preserve lake ecosystem multidimensional stability under global environmental changes is crucial for sustaining the vital ecosystem services we depend on.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Based on sediment nutrient gradient experiments and three‐year seasonal monitoring of macrophyte communities in Erhai Lake, southwest China, spanning pre‐ and post‐algal bloom periods, we explored how species diversity and a key community functional trait (stoichiometric homeostasis) affect multiple dimensions (temporal stability, resistance, resilience and recovery) and facets (function, composition, diversity and functional trait) of stability of macrophyte communities following algal blooms.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Generally, we found that species diversity and stoichiometric homeostasis of phosphorus (<jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>P</jats:sub>) had positive relationships with functional and compositional temporal stability, resistance and recovery, indicating that ecosystems with high species diversity and community <jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>P</jats:sub> are more resistant and stable in response to external algal bloom disturbances. However, species diversity and community <jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>P</jats:sub> had no positive or even negative relationships with resilience, suggesting that high biodiversity with high‐<jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>P</jats:sub> species‐dominated ecosystems is not beneficial for the rapid recovery from disturbances, probably due to the slow growth and reproduction rate of high‐<jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>P</jats:sub> species. In addition, we found strong positive correlations between functional and compositional stability across the four dimensions of stability, while the stability of species diversity and the key functional trait (<jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>P</jats:sub>) exhibited complex relationships, implying the difficulty of optimizing multiple dimensions and facets of stability simultaneously.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic>. Our work demonstrated that macrophyte species diversity and community <jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>P</jats:sub> are critical in determining the multiple dimensions and facets of stability in response to disturbances, which provides new insights for predicting the responses of macrophyte‐dominated lake ecosystems to the current increasing frequency of algal blooms.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"106 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144684523","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":"Early detection of plant community responses to climate warming along mountain roads","authors":"Evelin Iseli, Nathan Diaz Zeugin, Camille Brioschi, Jake Alexander, Jonathan Lenoir","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70114","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Global warming is causing species to shift their ranges towards higher latitudes and elevations, leading to a reassembly of plant communities and associated community thermophilization (i.e. an increasing number or cover of thermophilic species, sometimes at the expense of mesic or cold‐adapted species). Given the large variation typically observed in the magnitude and direction of range shifts, quantifying community thermophilization might provide a more sensitive method to detect climate change impacts within short time periods and across limited spatial extents, as it integrates range shifts across multiple species while also accounting for changes in abundance.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Here, we combined an assessment of (i) species‐level range shifts and (ii) changes in community‐inferred temperatures (thermophilization) along three mountain roads in Switzerland to ask whether plant communities have responded to a warming climate over a 10‐year period, and whether community thermophilization is a sensitive metric for early detection of these changes.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We found a community thermophilization signal of +0.13°C over the 10‐year study period based on presence‐absence data only. Despite significant upwards shifts of species' upper range limits in the lower part of the studied elevational gradient and a decrease in species richness at high elevations, significant thermophilization was not detectable if community‐inferred temperatures were weighted by species' covers. The low cover values of species that were gained or lost from local communities over the study period, together with their similar species‐specific temperatures to resident species, explained the discrepancy between the thermophilization detected in cover‐weighted versus unweighted models.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic>. Our work shows that plant species are rapidly shifting to higher elevations along roadsides in the western Swiss Alps and that this translates into a detectable warming signal in plant communities within 10 years. However, the species‐level range shifts and the community‐level warming effect are mostly based on gained/lost species with low cover values, preventing the detection of community thermophilization signals when incorporating cover changes. We therefore recommend including unweighted approaches as an additional option for early detection of community‐level responses to changing climate, ideally in combination with assessments of species‐level range shifts.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144684463","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":"Small disturbances and subsequent competition for light can maintain a diversity of demographic strategies in a neotropical forest: Results from model–data integration","authors":"Damla Cinoğlu, Nadja Rüger, Robin R. Decker, Caroline E. Farrior","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70118","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70118","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Niche differentiation with respect to light availability as it varies across succession has often been thought to explain tree species coexistence. Demographic light‐related niches represented by growth‐survival and stature‐recruitment trade‐offs and captured by demographic groups (slow, fast, long‐lived pioneers, short‐lived breeders and intermediate) have been shown to accurately represent the biomass dynamics of secondary and old‐growth forests in central Panama in a model. However, whether the simple mechanisms of that well‐parameterized and accurate model are enough to support the long‐term coexistence of demographic groups across these trade‐offs has yet to be tested.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Here, we develop a model to test whether stochastic, small‐scale gap disturbances and subsequent competition for light can support the long‐term coexistence of the observed demographic groups in the Barro Colorado Island forest dynamics plot. Specifically, to test whether the demographic differences among species promote coexistence, we compare niche simulation models, parameterized by the different demographic groups, to a variety of neutral models, where the species have the same demographic parameters.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Upon exploring the estimated range of possible parameterizations of recruitment (a difficult‐to‐measure parameter), we identify several parameterizations where differences among groups along the growth‐survival and stature‐recruitment trade‐off axes facilitate long‐term coexistence. We find that gap disturbances are essential for these results, indicating that it is the differences in the subsequent competition for light through time that provide the opportunity for stabilizing niche differentiation. Additionally, the parameterizations that generate stable coexistence display successional negative density dependence and realistic within‐patch post‐disturbance forest dynamics.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic>. This model‐data integration exercise indicates that small‐scale disturbances and subsequent competition for light may be significant forces for stable diversity maintenance of demographic groups along the growth–survival and stature–recruitment trade‐off axes in a neotropical forest. This result, however, holds only for a subset of the empirically reasonable recruitment parameters, indicating the importance of improving the understanding of recruitment and its demographic trade‐offs for understanding demographic strategy coexistence.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"106 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144684533","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":"Increasingly conservative N cycling in a wet tropical forest: Litter and stream N concentrations decline over 29 years despite surges from hurricanes","authors":"Heather E. Erickson, Grizelle González, William H. McDowell, Jody D. Potter","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70108","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Long‐term litterfall trends are unexplored in hurricane‐prone regions but are needed to understand the consequences of altered hurricane regimes. In a wet tropical forest in northeastern Puerto Rico, we monitored litterfall mass (leaf fall, &lt;2.5 cm diameter wood fall and miscellaneous), litterfall carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) and stream nitrate every 2 weeks for 29 years (1989–2017).</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Litterfall from the nine observed hurricanes averaged 500 g m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup> hurricane<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> (CV = 90%), nearly half of the long‐term mean of 951 g m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup> year<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>. Hurricane‐generated leaf fall and wood fall increased with increasing disturbance intensity (peak wind speed) and time since a previous hurricane. Wood fall from the two most intense hurricanes exceeded corresponding leaf fall and mean annual wood fall.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Litterfall increased over the 29 years due to increases in wood fall and miscellaneous materials but not leaf fall. Recovery of litterfall after individual hurricanes was distinctive and illustrated the varying effects of hurricane intensity and history on litterfall dynamics.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Leaf fall N concentrations [N] surged immediately after hurricanes yet decreased by around 33% over the 29 years. Similar changes were observed at the watershed scale, with increasing nitrate in streams following major hurricanes but then a long‐term decline. Mean annual leaf fall [N] was negatively related to the previous year's fine wood fall but positively related to that wood fall's [N], suggesting a link between fine wood dynamics and plant N uptake. Stream nitrate‐[N] showed a strong positive correlation with leaf fall [N] after hurricanes and across years, demonstrating tight coupling between terrestrial and aquatic N cycling throughout periods of cyclonic disturbances and recovery.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>The decadal decreases in litterfall [N] and stream nitrate‐[N] and the increase in wood fall suggest a trend towards more conservative cycling of N. Microbial immobilization of N in wood fall from hurricanes and during recovery likely contributed to the lower N availability.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic>. More conservative cycling of N can be expected under the current hurricane disturbance regime. However, with increased hurricane frequencies and intensities, the lack of high wood fall typical of mature canopies may alter present N cycling trends.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144669809","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":"Wood density variation across an Andes‐to‐Amazon elevational gradient","authors":"William Farfan‐Rios, Sassan Saatchi, Imma Oliveras Menor, Yadvinder Malhi, Chelsea M. Robinson, Oliver L. Phillips, Alex Nina‐Quispe, Juan A. Gibaja, Israel Cuba, Karina Garcia‐Cabrera, Norma Salinas, John Terborgh, Nigel Pitman, Rodolfo Vasquez, Abel Monteagudo Mendoza, Percy Nunez Vargas, Craig A. Layman, Miles R. Silman","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70100","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70100","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Understanding how functional traits are related to species diversity and ecosystem properties is a central goal of ecology. Wood density is a trait that integrates many aspects of plant form and function and is highly variable among species. Previous studies of wood density across elevational gradients have been based on limited sampling and have reported declines with increasing elevation, though even this simple pattern remains unknown, much less its underlying functional and evolutionary relationships.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Here, we use one of the longest and most speciose elevational gradients in the world, extending from the Andean tree line to the Amazon basin, to test the extent to which elevation, species composition, phylogenetic affinity and forest structure determine variation in wood density. Using field‐collected wood samples and global databases, we assigned wood density to 1231 species and 31,330 stems across 41 (47.5 ha) mature forest plots arrayed across a 3500‐m vertical gradient.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Our results show that mean wood density, either weighted by abundance, basal area or species, was highly variable but tended to decline from low to middle elevations and increase again from mid‐elevations to the tree line. As a result of this non‐linearity, forests at the Andean tree line had higher wood density than their lowland Amazon counterparts. We observed an abrupt transition in wood density at the lower limit of persistent cloud formation (cloud base), where the lowest wood density values were found. The decline of wood density is attributed to a significant shift in life forms, with an abundance of tree ferns at middle elevations and a higher probability of landslides and disturbances favouring a suite of traits associated with low wood density, such as softer wood and higher elasticity. Species turnover explained most of the among‐species variation across the gradient, with elevation having no consistent effect on within‐species variation in wood density.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Together, both gradual compositional changes and sharp local changes in the importance of non‐dicot life forms, such as arborescent ferns and palms, define patterns of forest‐level carbon density, with wood density per se controlling ecosystem properties, such as carbon flux, across the Andes‐to‐Amazon elevational gradient.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"62 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144677395","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}