{"title":"Keystone individuals – linking predator traits to community ecology","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.07.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2024.07.001","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Individual behavioral plasticity enables animals to adjust to different scenarios. Yet, personality traits limit this flexibility, leading to consistent interindividual differences in behavior. These individual behavioral traits have the potential to govern community interactions, although testing this is difficult in complex natural systems. For large predators who often exert strong effects on ecosystem functioning, this behavioral diversity may be especially important and lead to individualized ecosystem roles. We present a framework for quantifying individual behavioral plasticity and personality traits of large wild predators, revealing the extent to which certain natural behaviors are governed by these latent traits. The outcomes will reveal how the innate characteristics of wildlife can scale up to affect community interactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141779023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elena Litchman, Sébastien Villéger, Lucie Zinger, Jean-Christophe Auguet, Wilfried Thuiller, François Munoz, Nathan J.B. Kraft, Laurent Philippot, Cyrille Violle
{"title":"Refocusing the microbial rare biosphere concept through a functional lens","authors":"Elena Litchman, Sébastien Villéger, Lucie Zinger, Jean-Christophe Auguet, Wilfried Thuiller, François Munoz, Nathan J.B. Kraft, Laurent Philippot, Cyrille Violle","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.06.005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2024.06.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The influential concept of the rare biosphere in microbial ecology has underscored the importance of taxa occurring at low abundances yet potentially playing key roles in communities and ecosystems. Here, we refocus the concept of rare biosphere through a functional trait-based lens and provide a framework to characterize microbial functional rarity, a combination of numerical scarcity across space or time and trait distinctiveness. We demonstrate how this novel interpretation of the rare biosphere, rooted in microbial functions, can enhance our mechanistic understanding of microbial community structure. It also sheds light on functionally distinct microbes, directing conservation efforts towards taxa harboring rare yet ecologically crucial functions.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141577126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Advisory Board and Contents","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/s0169-5347(24)00150-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/s0169-5347(24)00150-2","url":null,"abstract":"No Abstract","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141500687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Subscription and Copyright Information","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/s0169-5347(24)00153-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/s0169-5347(24)00153-8","url":null,"abstract":"No Abstract","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141500655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chongzhe Zhang, Ian J Wright, Uffe N Nielsen, Stefan Geisen, Manqiang Liu
{"title":"Linking nematodes and ecosystem function: a trait-based framework.","authors":"Chongzhe Zhang, Ian J Wright, Uffe N Nielsen, Stefan Geisen, Manqiang Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.02.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.02.002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Trait-based approaches are being increasingly adopted to understand species' ecological strategies and how organisms influence ecosystem function. Trait-based research on soil organisms, however, remains poorly developed compared with that for plants. The abundant and diverse soil nematodes are prime candidates to advance trait-based approaches belowground, but a unified trait framework to describe nematode ecological strategies and assess their linkages with ecosystem function is lacking. We categorized nematode traits as morphological, physiological, life history, and community clusters, and proposed the nematode economics spectrum (NES) to better understand nematode ecological strategies and their association with ecosystem function. We argue that bridging the NES and the plant economics spectrum will facilitate a more holistic understanding of ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling under global change.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139997497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Janette W Boughman, Jack A Brand, Robert C Brooks, Russell Bonduriansky, Bob B M Wong
{"title":"Sexual selection and speciation in the Anthropocene.","authors":"Janette W Boughman, Jack A Brand, Robert C Brooks, Russell Bonduriansky, Bob B M Wong","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.02.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.02.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Anthropogenic change threatens global biodiversity by causing severe ecological disturbance and extinction. Here, we consider the effects of anthropogenic change on one process that generates biodiversity. Sexual selection (a potent evolutionary force and driver of speciation) is highly sensitive to the environment and, thus, vulnerable to anthropogenic ecological change. Anthropogenic alterations to sexual display and mate preference can make it harder to distinguish between conspecific and heterospecific mates or can weaken divergence via sexual selection, leading to higher rates of hybridization and biodiversity loss. Occasionally, anthropogenically altered sexual selection can abet diversification, but this appears less likely than biodiversity loss. In our rapidly changing world, a full understanding of sexual selection and speciation requires a global change perspective.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140176628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Arjun Amar, Chevonne Reynolds, Robert L Thomson, Davide Dominoni
{"title":"Investigating the impacts of artificial light via blackouts.","authors":"Arjun Amar, Chevonne Reynolds, Robert L Thomson, Davide Dominoni","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.04.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.04.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Natural experiments provide remarkable opportunities to test the large-scale effects of human activities. Widespread energy blackouts offer such an 'experiment' to test the impacts of artificial light at night (ALAN) on wildlife. We use the situation in South Africa, where regular scheduled blackouts are being implemented, to highlight this opportunity.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141081524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When indices disagree: facing conceptual and practical challenges.","authors":"Carlos Alberto Arnillas, Kelly Carscadden","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.02.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.02.001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hypothesis testing requires meaningful ways to quantify biological phenomena and account for alternative mechanisms that could explain the same pattern. Researchers combine experiments, statistics, and indices to account for these confounding mechanisms. Key concepts in ecology and evolution, such as niche breadth (NB) or fitness, can be represented by several indices, which often provide uncorrelated estimates. Is this because the indices use different types of noisy data or because the targeted phenomenon is complex and multidimensional? We discuss implications of these scenarios and propose five steps to aid researchers in identifying and combining indices, experiments, and statistics. Building on prior efforts to construct databases of hypotheses and indices and document assumptions, these steps help provide a formal strategy to reduce self-confirmatory bias.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140176630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Problem-solving ability: a link between cognition and conservation?","authors":"Amanda R Ridley, Elizabeth M Speechley","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.05.010","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.05.010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Traditionally, conservation and cognition have been disparate research disciplines. However, Audet et al.'s recent research contributes to an increasing body of evidence that innovative behaviours may determine the ability of species to respond to rapid environmental change, identifying an opportunity for cognition research to directly contribute to conservation outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141184762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Laura J Sonter, Martine Maron, Anna Metaxas, Joseph W Bull
{"title":"Ensuring legitimate project-level claims about net biodiversity outcomes.","authors":"Laura J Sonter, Martine Maron, Anna Metaxas, Joseph W Bull","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.05.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2024.05.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Renewable energy projects, such as wind farms and hydropower dams, can indirectly benefit biodiversity by mitigating climate change. However, we explain why such indirect benefits should not contribute towards the accounting of project-level net biodiversity outcomes and provide guidance on the steps needed to legitimately claim no-net-loss of biodiversity.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141432897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}