Oecologia最新文献

{"title":"Environmental, reproductive, and nutrient drivers of three-dimensional growth in the forest lichen Lobaria pulmonaria.","authors":"Yngvar Gauslaa","doi":"10.1007/s00442-026-05963-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-026-05963-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Measuring growth dynamics has been fundamental to understanding lichen biology and ecology. In this integrative analysis, I synthesize and reanalyze published data on three-dimensional growth in the foliose cephalolichen Lobaria pulmonaria transplanted in pristine North American forests, encompassing thallus area expansion, biomass accumulation, thallus thickening, and reproductive investment across multiple environmental gradients. Best subset regression selection and linear mixed models were applied to identify the principal internal and external factors influencing growth, specifically thallus area expansion and thickening, quantified as increases in specific thallus mass. The analyses reveal pronounced intrathalline growth heterogeneity, significant trade-offs between reproductive investment and growth, and the multifactorial influences of bark pH, elevation, light regime, and phosphorus availability. Light was often a limiting growth factor within forest interiors, whereas excessive stand openness caused chlorophyll bleaching and reduced growth. Initial phosphorus enrichment enhanced thallus thickness but did not consistently promote area or biomass expansion. Taken together, these finding highlight the habitat specialization of L. pulmonaria and the importance of bark pH, light, hydration, and reproductive investment in shaping growth dynamics. The study advances the understanding of growth strategies in L. pulmonaria and provides a foundation for predicting responses to environmental change and guiding conservation efforts.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"208 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13534230/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148875598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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":"Legacy and live effects of ecosystem engineer differ across energy gradient, reversing net engineering outcome.","authors":"R Daniel Harris, James E Byers","doi":"10.1007/s00442-026-05921-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-026-05921-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ecosystem engineers influence abiotic and biotic properties of communities. However, environmental factors like stress or energy gradients could modify their influence. Furthermore, engineering effects include legacies that persist after the engineer's death that may interact with gradients differently than the live engineer. Here, we show that live and legacy effects of the oyster Crassostrea virginica, a reef-building ecosystem engineer, act in opposing directions across a physical energy gradient, reversing oysters' net engineering effect. When energy is low, live oysters primarily buffer erosional forces and increase habitat availability for cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora). When energy is high, legacy effects of oysters on cordgrass are negative, because high energy piles dead oyster shells onto cordgrass and smothers it. Thus, with increasing energy, net effects of engineering on cordgrass shift from positive live effects to negative legacy effects. Estuary wide, oysters have a net positive effect on cordgrass, because high energy coastlines - where negative effects predominate - are rare. Live and legacy engineering can have disparate, context-dependent effects; combined, they determine the overall effects of engineers on communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"208 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13524962/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148851080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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":"Plants adjust leaf senescence in response to light heterogeneity across branches.","authors":"Isaac Kazuo Uyehara, Luisa Wienges, Mark van Kleunen","doi":"10.1007/s00442-026-05958-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-026-05958-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The senescence of productive leaves is expected to decrease canopy photosynthesis, but it may allow plants to use resorbed nitrogen for new growth. If plants use leaf senescence as part of a competitive strategy, we expect that leaves with low competitive value would be sacrificed to supply nitrogen to leaves with high competitive value. However, when plants have multiple branches, it is unclear if plants can target leaves in shaded conditions for senescence and whether they prioritize the growth of their shaded or unshaded branches. We measured changes in leaf nitrogen in sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) grown with two symmetrical branches that were then subjected to either shaded or unshaded light conditions. We complemented the experiment with a mathematical model of leaf senescence to test whether our proposed physiological mechanisms could explain the results. When both branches were grown in low light, leaf senescence was inhibited relative to plants with both branches grown in high light. For plants with one branch in high light and one branch in low light, the senescence of older leaves was inhibited in the high-light branch, but accelerated in the low-light branch. This was associated with an increase in the growth rate of the youngest leaves in the low-light branch. Our mathematical model reproduced these results, suggesting that leaf senescence may be mediated by the carbon status of the plant. The pattern of leaf senescence and growth in this experiment was consistent with a strategy that prioritizes competing with neighbors for light rather than avoiding competition.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"208 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148851139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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":"Substrate type and termite discovery shape decomposition at the dry end of an African savanna rainfall gradient.","authors":"Katherine Bunney, Mark Robertson, Paul Eggleton, Sally Archibald, Catherine Parr","doi":"10.1007/s00442-026-05960-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-026-05960-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Decomposition is the process by which dead plant biomass is recycled and made available again for uptake by other plants. It is largely mediated by microbes and soil invertebrates. Global decomposition studies have demonstrated that decomposition is primarily temperature-driven with rainfall playing a secondary role, although to date, all global decomposition studies have used a single substrate to measure decomposition meaning differences with substrate type may be missed. Here we explored the decomposition of wood, dung and grass along a semi-arid rainfall gradient (380-650 mm/year) at three savanna sites in north-eastern South Africa. As the three sites experience a similar temperature range, we effectively controlled for temperature allowing us to explore the effect of rainfall in isolation. We used decomposition bags - with and without termite access - and measured mass loss after set time intervals. We predicted that the absolute decomposition of all three substrates would increase along the rainfall gradient. This assumption held for dung and grass, but we found the reverse for wood. Our study highlights the importance of considering multiple substrates as decomposition patterns and dominant agents can vary. Unexpectedly low wood decomposition at our wettest site suggests that the amount of dead wood available, and therefore probability of discovery by termites, may be an important factor explaining findings from decomposition studies. Resource availability and termite discovery is a neglected subject within decomposition studies and warrants further investigation.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"208 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13525070/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148851160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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":"Delayed hatching as a life-history response to intraguild predation: interspecific variation in predatory mites.","authors":"Takamitsu Furukawa, Yukie Sato","doi":"10.1007/s00442-026-05962-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-026-05962-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>When and why embryos delay hatching in response to predation risk remains poorly understood, particularly across species experiencing different ecological contexts. Predator-induced hatching plasticity allows embryos to adjust hatching timing in response to predator cues, yet interspecific variation in delayed hatching has rarely been examined. Phytoseiid mites provide a useful system because delayed hatching can be induced by mechanical stimuli mimicking predator attacks, and predation risk from cannibalism and intraguild predation (IGP) in the vulnerable larval stage varies among species according to diet specialisation. We compared delayed hatching responses among four phytoseiid mite species differing in cannibalism and diet specialisation by exposing eggs to mechanical stimulation and recording hatching timing with unstimulated controls. Mechanical stimulation induced stronger delayed hatching responses in Neoseiulus californicus (odds ratio = 5.73) and Neoseiulus cucumeris (odds ratio = 7.83), a weaker response in Phytoseiulus persimilis (odds ratio = 3.11), and no detectable response in Typhlodromus bambusae (odds ratio = 0.99). The magnitude of delayed hatching corresponded to interspecific differences in cannibalism and diet specialisation, suggesting that variation in predation risk associated with intraguild interactions shapes hatching timing strategies. These findings support the hypothesis that delayed hatching is an adaptive life-history response to intraguild predation risk and suggest that interspecific variation in hatching plasticity may have important consequences for predator community dynamics and the establishment success of biological control agents.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"208 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148851028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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":"Limits on the capacity of an ectotherm to buffer temperature extremes through the construction of a central refuge.","authors":"Terry J Ord, Katrina Blazek","doi":"10.1007/s00442-026-05959-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-026-05959-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Competition, lack of space, and prolonged environmental change can lead animals to build refuges in areas that are (or become) exposed or otherwise offer poor protection. This is especially problematic for species that invest heavily in refuge construction and reside in that refuge long-term. We examined the consequences of refuge position in an iconic central place forager, the Australian meat ant (Iridomyrmex purpureus). Colonies excavate massive ground nests out of soil and can remain in those nests for a decade or more. We monitored the external and internal temperature of nests for over two years. These data were combined with a phylogenetic analysis of optimal brood incubation temperatures compiled from the literature to infer the probable incubation temperature for this species. Focussing on summertime extremes, our field data across consecutive years showed the spatial position of meat ant nests had critical impacts on the internal conditions of nests. In most instances, colonies would probably be able to protect broods by actively moving broods to different depths within the nest. However, this thermoregulation would unlikely fully compensate for the extreme temperatures experienced by the most exposed nest in our study. This exposed nest has in turn suffered a sustained decline in colony size over the last decade. Even for a central place forager believed to be resilient to environmental degradation, refuges could not protect against prolonged environmental change, with likely tangible impacts on fitness.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"208 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13493446/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148795977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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":"Impacts of climate and reduced ice cover on trophic structure and community dynamics in a high latitude lake.","authors":"Francesca Pilotto, Knut Marius Myrvold, Randi Saksgård, Knut Andreas Eikland, Birger Skjelbred, Stefano Larsen, Gunnar Halvorsen, Trygve Hesthagen, Thomas C Jensen","doi":"10.1007/s00442-026-05957-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-026-05957-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate-driven environmental change can alter both the structural and dynamic properties of ecological communities. With ongoing warming, high-latitude lakes experience reduced ice cover, higher growing-season temperatures, and altered hydrology, potentially triggering cascading effects across lake ecosystems. We investigated long-term variation (1994-2022) in ice phenology, temperature, magnitude of spring floods, and pelagic communities in an oligotrophic subalpine lake in Norway. We analysed the structure and dynamics of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish communities, as well as synchrony across trophic groups. Long-term records indicated declining ice-cover duration and increasing growing-season temperatures, although only the reduction in ice-cover duration was significant within the 1994-2022 study period. Phytoplankton richness and biovolume increased, zooplankton communities increased in diversity but declined in temporal stability, and fish community structure changed, with brown trout becoming more abundant at the expense of arctic char. We also observed shifts in synchrony between trophic groups, suggesting changes not only in community organisation but potentially in interspecific interactions. Given the observational, correlative nature of the study, causal attribution remains limited. Although some biological metrics showed significant associations with climate-related variables, several metrics that changed over time were not related to the measured abiotic drivers, indicating partial coupling between environmental variability and community structure and dynamics. This limited coupling may reflect the relatively modest magnitude of environmental change that occurred over the study period. Overall, our results document cross-trophic restructuring of pelagic communities in a high-latitude oligotrophic lake and underscore the importance of long-term monitoring for documenting and anticipating future shifts.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"208 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13476355/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148760709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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":"Projecting shifts in the distribution of Vachellia tortilis subsp. raddiana in Africa under climate change: a MaxEnt modeling and GIS analysis.","authors":"Biyu Liu, Wahbi Jaouadi, Kaouther Mechergui, Jehan Abdalgader A Alkhelaif, Melek Mallat, Danping Xu","doi":"10.1007/s00442-026-05955-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-026-05955-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Vachellia tortilis (Forssk.) Hayne subsp. raddiana (Savi) Brenan, a drought-resistant tree native to arid and semi-arid regions of Africa and the Middle East, plays a crucial ecological and socioeconomic role by providing shade, forage, fuelwood, and contributing to soil stabilization and desertification control. To support scientific site selection for artificial planting and assess its current and potential distribution, we used the MaxEnt model combined with ArcGIS to evaluate climatic suitability across Africa based on occurrence records and environmental variables. After ten iterations, the model achieved high predictive accuracy with training and test AUC values of 0.942. Eight key bioclimatic factors shaped the distribution, with Mean Temperature of the Coldest Quarter (32.1%) and Isothermality (28.6%) exerting the greatest influence. Present-day highly suitable habitats (496.69 × 10⁴ km²) are concentrated in northern and southeastern Africa, notably in Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, and Botswana, while moderate- and low-suitability zones cover 662.83 × 10⁴ km² and 695.81 × 10⁴ km², respectively. Future projections indicate an upward shift in suitable areas, with limited changes expected by the 2030s but substantial declines from the 2050s onward. Under the SSP585 scenario by the 2090s, highly suitable habitats are predicted to shrink by 80% to only 98.91 × 10⁴ km², becoming fragmented and primarily confined to Western Sahara, Kenya, Libya, Egypt, and Ethiopia. The model developed by MaxEnt was applicable to explore the environmental suitability of Vachellia tortilis.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"208 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148761955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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":"Conspecific mortality and resource availability drive a trait-mediated cascade by modifying sea urchin grazing behavior.","authors":"Casey J Sheridan, Zachary H Randell","doi":"10.1007/s00442-026-05949-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-026-05949-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Predator risk effects on prey can cascade through food webs and influence ecosystem state via trait-mediated indirect effects (TMIEs). Predicting when these interactions occur and whether they produce community-level effects requires understanding the cues prey respond to, how responses vary with prey attributes and environmental context, and how these components interact. In kelp forest ecosystems, changes in sea urchin foraging behavior in response to food availability or predators can cause state shifts from forests to urchin barrens. It is less clear what cues of predation risk urchins respond to, how these cues interact with food availability, and their effects on kelp mortality. We conducted a field experiment in Monterey Bay, California using cages containing refuge habitat with live kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) and purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) to test for separate and combined effects of a predator cue (red rock crab, Cancer productus), a damaged conspecific cue (crushed urchins), drift kelp, and urchin satiation on urchin exposure (i.e., use of locations exposed to predators), grazing, and kelp mortality. While predator presence did not affect urchin behavior, the damaged conspecific cue reduced urchin exposure (74%), grazing (48%), and kelp mortality (58%). Urchin satiation also decreased the number of exposed grazing urchins (96%) and consumption of live kelp (84%). Adding drift kelp nearly prevented kelp consumption regardless of the damaged conspecific cue, overriding its effect. These findings show predation risk cues can interact with resource availability to modify prey behavior, demonstrating how a trait-mediated indirect effect may cascade to alter ecosystem state.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"208 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13457239/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148707233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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":"One species does not replace a community: functional roles of co-occurring translocated and endemic mycophagous mammals.","authors":"A Naccarella, C Truong, E G Ritchie, D R Sutherland, A Coetsee, A R Rendall","doi":"10.1007/s00442-026-05947-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-026-05947-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biodiversity decline alters species interaction networks and can destabilise ecosystem functions. Fungal consumption by mammals supports ectomycorrhizal (ECM) spore dispersal, contributing to fungi-plant symbioses. The ecological impacts of losing mycophagous mammals and to what extent species roles are redundant or complementary remains poorly quantified. Using fungal ITS2 metabarcoding, we explore the fungal community in scats of a translocated fungal generalist, the eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii), on Phillip and French Island in southeast Australia. We compare: (1) fungi in bandicoot scats and soil; (2) soil fungi, soil properties and vegetation to compare possible fungal availability across habitats; and (3) fungi within the scats of two sympatric mammals, an endemic fungal generalist (swamp wallaby, Wallabia bicolor, on Phillip Island) and fungal specialist (long-nosed potoroo, Potorous tridactylus trisulcatus, on French Island). We found diverging patterns between soil fungi and mammal diet; and between soil fungi, soil properties and vegetation across sites. On French Island, bandicoot and potoroo scats had similar ECM fungal richness, although community composition differed, with less ECM observed in soils. On Phillip Island, only one scat from the wallaby contained ECM fungi, while soils were more ECM diverse than bandicoot scat. Our findings suggest the functional roles of mycophages should not be considered interchangeable across ecosystems. Translocated bandicoots may have the capacity to perform functionally unique roles compared to resident mycophages, highlighting that translocations could provide multiple ecosystem benefit. Adequately assessing functional redundancy or complementarity requires a site-specific characterisation and comparison of the cumulative roles of co-occurring mycophagous mammals.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"208 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13457359/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148707293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}