Ecosphere最新文献

{"title":"Aboveground biomass relationship with canopy cover and vegetation to improve carbon change monitoring in rangelands","authors":"Chiara Pasut,&nbsp;Jacqueline R. England,&nbsp;Melissa Piper,&nbsp;Stephen H. Roxburgh,&nbsp;Keryn I. Paul","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70231","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70231","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Rangelands cover vast areas of the global land surface and are important to the terrestrial carbon budget. However, carbon accounting in rangeland systems is often limited by the lack of transparent and systematic methods for assessing changes in aboveground biomass (<i>B</i>_AG). Although relationships between <i>B</i>_AG and canopy cover, <i>C</i>, have been investigated at site and regional scales, there are few studies across regions where the impact of a range of vegetation types and site conditions has been assessed. Here, results were compiled from extensive field measurements across 431 Australian rangeland sites (covering an area of ~6 million km²) to develop empirical relationships to predict <i>B</i>_AG from <i>C</i> and other structural variables. A boosted-regression-tree model was trained to identify the relative importance of predictor variables. Then, based on these results, a stepwise empirical log-linear relationship was developed to estimate <i>B</i>_AG. About 70% of the <i>B</i>_AG could be described using <i>C</i>, the percentage of large trees (stem diameter &gt;50 cm), and height. Because such detailed information is not yet available at sufficient spatial and temporal resolution, classifications based on existing maps of structural vegetation classes, using <i>C</i> as the single predictor variable, were explored as an alternative approach to estimate <i>B</i>_AG. For most structural vegetation classes assessed, estimates of <i>B</i>_AG from <i>C</i> were statistically significant, with Lin's concordance coefficients of 0.67–0.79 and proportional error of &lt;36% relative to the <i>B</i>_AG across all the classes. There was generally little improvement in model performance with the inclusion of additional explanatory variables. Overall, this study has improved our understanding of relationships between <i>C</i> and <i>B</i>_AG across rangeland systems. Additionally, combining remotely sensed woody cover data with these relationships may offer a transparent and accurate approach to monitor changes in biomass carbon stocks in these ecosystems at a large spatial scale.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70231","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143861459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Occurrence patterns and trends of frogs in coastal wetlands of the Great Lakes call for further habitat restoration","authors":"Douglas C. Tozer,&nbsp;Annie M. Bracey,&nbsp;Valerie J. Brady,&nbsp;Michael F. Chislock,&nbsp;Jan J. H. Ciborowski,&nbsp;Matthew J. Cooper,&nbsp;Giuseppe E. Fiorino,&nbsp;Thomas M. Gehring,&nbsp;Erin E. Gnass Giese,&nbsp;Greg P. Grabas,&nbsp;Anna M. Harrison,&nbsp;Robert W. Howe,&nbsp;Gary A. Lamberti,&nbsp;Gregory J. Lawrence,&nbsp;Gerald J. Niemi,&nbsp;Donald G. Uzarski,&nbsp;Bridget A. Wheelock,&nbsp;Danielle M. Ethier","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70248","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70248","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Countless wetlands have been lost and degraded globally, making amphibians the most threatened vertebrate class. However, despite facing extensive threats and stressors, coastal wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America (lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario) still support sizable populations of frogs (order Anura, including toads). We used data from the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program to quantify the first-ever annual occurrence probabilities and trends (2011–2023) of eight marsh-breeding frog species, or groups of species, at 1550 point count locations in 747 coastal wetlands throughout the Great Lakes, and to assess 11 potential drivers of occurrence. Sampled wetlands were marshes greater than 4 ha in area with a permanent or periodic surface-water connection to an adjacent Great Lake or their connecting river systems. Across our study area, green frog (<i>Lithobates clamitans</i>) occurrence increased by 8% per year, whereas chorus frog (<i>Pseudacris maculata</i>, <i>Pseudacris triseriata</i>) occurrence decreased by 14% per year. We found more positive or stable trends in occurrence among lakes and species (85%) than negative trends (15%). Occurrence of all species was negatively associated with one or two indicators of poor water quality: specific conductance, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, and urban and agricultural land cover in the surrounding watershed (median area: 12 km²). Occurrence of multiple species was positively associated with high lake levels and surrounding wetland (&lt;250 m) and forest (&lt;2.5 km) land cover and negatively associated with surrounding road density (&lt;2.5 km). Even though occurrence of most species was increasing or stable and was relatively high (&gt;50%), all will likely benefit from conservation actions because 50%–90% of Great Lakes coastal wetlands have been lost and converted to anthropogenic land uses, leaving frog populations at a fraction of their former, original sizes. Therefore, extra precaution is critical to help ensure their growth and persistence. Improving water quality, increasing natural forest and wetland land cover within 2.5 km, and reducing roads within 2.5 km of Great Lakes coastal wetlands will help conserve these important indicator species in this globally recognized but imperiled ecosystem.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70248","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Benthic invertebrates in the Wadden Sea form a stable community characterized by facilitating relationships","authors":"Mark Rademaker,&nbsp;Paula de la Barra,&nbsp;Anieke van Leeuwen,&nbsp;Allert I. Bijleveld","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70212","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70212","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Entire tidal food webs rely on the presence and productivity of benthic invertebrates. These invertebrates recycle nutrients, decompose organic matter, and function as food for myriad species at higher trophic levels. The interactions between benthic invertebrate species also play an important role in shaping the ecological functioning of these ecosystems. Here, we used a deep-learning species distribution model to characterize the interspecific interactions occurring in an intertidal benthic invertebrate community while accounting for abiotic factors. The data include &gt;30,000 samples collected between 2008 and 2020, over a spatial grid of more than 2400 km² in the Wadden Sea. The benthic invertebrates in the Wadden Sea were shown to form a stable community where species engage in relatively few strong interactions in a larger network of weak interactions. This corroborates classical theory on stability–connectivity relations. We provide a stepping stone for species-specific analysis by showing that the numbers of interaction link to functional species traits. However, the biological interpretation of these links remains open. We conclude that rather than posing a catch-all solution for improving our understanding of benthic invertebrate communities, our approach provides a baseline interaction mapping tool and starting point for more targeted experiments to elucidate underlying mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70212","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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-stage spatial mark–resight analysis reveals an increasing grizzly bear population with declining density near roads","authors":"Jesse Whittington,&nbsp;Mark Hebblewhite,&nbsp;Connor Meyer,&nbsp;Barb Johnston,&nbsp;Anne Forshner,&nbsp;Bryan J. Macbeth,&nbsp;Anthony L. Einfeldt,&nbsp;Seth G. Cherry","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70246","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Wildlife ecologists throughout the world strive to monitor trends in population abundance to help manage wildlife populations and conserve species at risk. Spatial capture–recapture studies are the gold standard for monitoring density, yet they can be difficult to apply because researchers must be able to distinguish all detected individuals. Spatial mark–resight (SMR) models only require a subset of the population to be marked and identifiable. Recent advances in SMR models with radio-collared animals required a two-staged analysis. We developed a one-stage generalized SMR (gSMR) model that used detection histories of marked and unmarked animals in a single analysis. We used simulations to assess the performance of one- and two-stage gSMR models. We then applied the one-stage gSMR with telemetry and remote camera data to estimate grizzly bear (<i>Ursus arctos</i>) abundance from 2012 to 2023 within the Canadian Rocky Mountains. We estimated abundance trends for the population and reproductive females (females with cubs of the year). Simulations suggest that one- and two-stage models performed equally well. One-stage models are more dependable as they use exact likelihoods, whereas two-stage models have shorter computation times for large data sets. Both methods had &gt;95% credible interval coverage and minimal bias. Increasing the number of marked animals increased the accuracy and precision of abundance estimates, and ≥10 marked animals were required to obtain coefficients of variation &lt;20% in most scenarios. The grizzly bear population increased slightly (growth rate λ_mean = 1.02) to a 2023 density of 10.4 grizzly bears/1000 km². Reproductive female abundance had high interannual variability and increased to 1.0 bears/1000 km². Population density was highest within protected areas, within high-quality habitat and far from paved roads. The density of activity centers declined near paved roads over time. Mechanisms of decline may have included direct mortality and shifting activity centers to avoid human activity. Our study demonstrates the influence of human activity on localized density and the importance of protected areas for carnivore conservation. Finally, our study highlights the widespread utility of remote camera and telemetry-based SMR models for monitoring spatiotemporal trends in abundance.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70246","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Causes and consequences of individual variation: Linking state-dependent life histories to population performance","authors":"Marc A. Wiseman,&nbsp;Kevin L. Monteith,&nbsp;Ryan A. Long","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70230","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70230","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Although classic ecological models often have assumed functional equivalence among individuals in a population, ecologists now recognize that individual variation can modulate ecological processes across levels of organization. Nevertheless, current models disproportionately emphasize variation among cohorts, and considerable uncertainty remains over the mechanisms that generate within-cohort variation and the downstream consequences for population and community dynamics. State-dependent life-history theory provides a useful framework for predicting the causes and consequences of within-cohort variation. Behavioral or physiological adjustments made by individuals in response to their underlying state (e.g., energy reserves or disease status) can influence fitness and, by extension, population performance. For iteroparous animals, resource allocation by maternal females often is state dependent; however, the population-level consequences of this strategy and the mechanisms that govern them remain largely unresolved. To explore individual variation in reproductive effort and its associated outcomes, we developed and empirically parameterized a state-dependent, individual-based model of maternal resource allocation for a long-lived, iteroparous mammal, the North American elk (<i>Cervus canadensis</i>). Females were allowed to adjust their investment in gestation versus lactation in response to their nutritional condition in spring. We tested the prediction that females in poor condition could increase fitness by delaying parturition and increasing investment in gestation, giving birth to correspondingly larger neonates that had a greater chance of surviving their first month of life (when mortality is generally highest) and subsequently reducing investment in lactation to help rebuild somatic reserves. We predicted that population growth would be faster when resource allocation was state dependent than when gestation length was decoupled from female condition and adjustment of reproductive investment was largely post-natal. Our results supported this prediction: state-dependent resource allocation by maternal females increased population growth by an average of 4%, leading to larger population sizes after 30 years. Population growth was consistent across a range of winter severities, suggesting that state-dependent resource allocation also could help buffer populations against climatic variation. Our results reveal a potentially general mechanism underpinning intraspecific variation in life-history strategies and suggest that such variation at the individual level can influence performance outcomes at the population level.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70230","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143827071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Camera traps reveal cryptic species-specific seed removal preferences in a seasonal small-mammal foraging study","authors":"Madeline H. Vavra,&nbsp;Peter W. Guiden","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70178","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70178","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Seasonal changes in plant–animal interactions, such as seed dispersal and predation, remain poorly understood in temperate ecosystems. We examined seed removal of three woody species (<i>Acer saccharum</i>, <i>Tsuga canadensis</i>, and <i>Lonicera</i> spp.) by small mammals (<i>Peromyscus</i> spp., <i>Tamiasciurus hudsonicus</i>) across fall, winter, and spring using custom camera traps that could record species-specific foraging behavior year-round, including under snow. We predicted that seed removal would decline in the winter and that the assemblage of visiting small-mammal species would vary seasonally due to their differing thermoregulation strategies. We also expected to observe interspecific variation in foraging behavior and seed selection. The overall occurrence of seed removal was lowest in January, the coldest month of our study, driven by reduced foraging by <i>Peromyscus</i> spp. Seed removal by <i>T. hudsonicus</i> was consistent across months. Our results also revealed clear differences in the identity of seeds removed by the two small-mammal taxa. <i>Peromyscus</i> spp. used all three seed species but preferred <i>Lonicera</i> spp. and <i>A. saccharum</i>, while <i>T. hudsonicus</i> only removed <i>A. saccharum</i> seeds. These findings underscore the importance of context dependency in seed removal and the important roles of small-mammal community composition and seasonality in shaping plant establishment, including the spread of invasive plants.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70178","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143826801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Intra-population variation in the effects of sea ice reduction on an Arctic breeding bird","authors":"Hilde Dørum,&nbsp;Sébastien Descamps,&nbsp;Børge Moe,&nbsp;Bård-Jørgen Bårdsen,&nbsp;Kjell Tore Hansen,&nbsp;Sveinn Are Hanssen,&nbsp;Christophe Sauser,&nbsp;Marika Marnela,&nbsp;Sebastian Gerland,&nbsp;Geir W. Gabrielsen","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70081","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Arctic is warming four times faster than any other region on Earth, leading to a dramatic reduction in sea ice. Even though sea ice plays a key role in the ecology of many Arctic species, few studies have assessed the consequences of its disappearance on the dynamics of Arctic wildlife populations. Moreover, the potential intra-population variations in such effects remain largely overlooked. Here, using a 40-year time series, we assessed how sea ice changes in a High Arctic fjord affected the population dynamics of common eiders <i>Somateria mollissima</i> via changes in their fine-scale breeding distribution and how these effects varied among breeding sites. More specifically, some islands within the fjord used to be connected by landfast ice to the shore most of the spring and thus to be accessible to one of the main eider predators, the Arctic fox <i>Vulpes lagopus</i>. Following the disappearance of spring sea ice in the fjord, these islands recently became disconnected much earlier in the season and thus inaccessible to foxes. We tested the prediction that these islands now represent favorable nesting grounds for common eiders and that the breeding eider populations on these islands increased following the sea ice retreat. Our results support our prediction and the role played by fox predation in mediating the sea ice effects. Even though the overall eider population in the fjord has slightly declined in the last decades, the recent sea ice reduction has led to a rapid colonization of newly available breeding habitats and to an increasing number of breeding eiders there. Inter-annual changes in sea ice did not significantly affect the number of eiders breeding on the islands that were historically isolated from fox predation. Ignoring such intra-population variation between breeding sites in predation risk masks the effects of sea ice reduction on eider dynamics. Our study illustrates the complex and fine-scale effects of sea ice disappearance on Arctic wildlife and the potential importance of predation in mediating these effects.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70081","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143826802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Ecological thresholds and transformations due to climate change: The role of abiotic stress","authors":"Michael J. Osland,&nbsp;John B. Bradford,&nbsp;Lauren T. Toth,&nbsp;Matthew J. Germino,&nbsp;James B. Grace,&nbsp;Judith Z. Drexler,&nbsp;Camille L. Stagg,&nbsp;Eric R. Grossman,&nbsp;Karen M. Thorne,&nbsp;Stephanie S. Romañach,&nbsp;Davina L. Passeri,&nbsp;Gregory B. Noe,&nbsp;Jessica R. Lacy,&nbsp;Ken W. Krauss,&nbsp;Kurt P. Kowalski,&nbsp;Glenn R. Guntenspergen,&nbsp;Neil K. Ganju,&nbsp;Nicholas M. Enwright,&nbsp;Joel A. Carr,&nbsp;Kristin B. Byrd,&nbsp;Kevin J. Buffington","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70229","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70229","url":null,"abstract":"<p>An ecological threshold is the point at which a comparatively small environmental change triggers an abrupt and disproportionately large ecological response. In the face of accelerating climate change, there is concern that abrupt ecosystem transformations will become more widespread as critical ecological thresholds are crossed. There has been ongoing debate, however, regarding the prevalence of ecological thresholds across the natural world. While ecological thresholds are ubiquitous in some ecosystems, thresholds have been difficult to detect in others. Some studies have even concluded that threshold responses are uncommon in the natural world and overly emphasized in the ecological literature. As ecologists who work in ecosystems chronically exposed to high abiotic stress, we consider ecological thresholds and ecosystem transformations to be critical concepts that can greatly advance understanding of ecological responses to climate change and inform ecosystem management. But quantifying ecological thresholds can be challenging, if not impossible, without data that are strategically collected for that purpose. Here, we present a conceptual framework built upon linkages between abiotic stress, climate-driven ecological threshold responses, and the risk of ecosystem transformation. We also present a simple approach for quantifying ecological thresholds across abiotic stress gradients. We hypothesize that climate-driven threshold responses are especially influential in ecosystems chronically exposed to high abiotic stress, where autotroph diversity is low and foundation species play a prominent ecological role. Abiotic conditions in these environments are often near physiological tolerance limits of foundation species, which means that small abiotic changes can trigger landscape-level ecological transformations. Conversely, the alleviation of stress near thresholds can allow foundation species to thrive and spread into previously inhospitable locations. We provide examples of this climate-driven threshold behavior from four high-stress environments: coastal wetlands, coral reefs, drylands, and alpine ecosystems. Our overarching aim in this review is to clarify the strong relationships between abiotic stress, climate-driven ecological thresholds, and the risk of ecosystem transformation under climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70229","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143827059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Intrinsic dimensionality as a metric for temporal plant diversity evaluation: Case study from the SHIFT campaign","authors":"Kerry Cawse-Nicholson,&nbsp;K. Dana Chadwick,&nbsp;Philip G. Brodrick,&nbsp;Michael Kiper,&nbsp;David R. Thompson,&nbsp;David Schimel,&nbsp;Charles E. Miller,&nbsp;Philip A. Townsend,&nbsp;Luciana F. Alves,&nbsp;Alexey N. Shiklomanov,&nbsp;Moses A. Cho,&nbsp;Abel Ramoelo,&nbsp;Philemon Tsele,&nbsp;Nobuhle Majozi,&nbsp;Zoe Amie Pierrat,&nbsp;Simon Ferrier","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70213","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70213","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Current biodiversity metrics derived from remote sensing data are typically applied to small local areas, require significant training data, and are not easily extensible globally. Here we propose the mathematical concept of intrinsic dimensionality (ID) as a method to quantify terrestrial vegetation variability without a need for in situ training data. We apply this technique to airborne imaging spectroscopy data from the Surface Biology and Geology High Frequency Time series (SHIFT) airborne campaign, with weekly overflights from February to May 2022 over a region in California stretching from Figueroa Mountain in the Los Padres National Forest to Point Conception and adjacent coastal areas. ID is considered in both spatial and temporal context—spatial ID represents spectral variability across a geographical region at a single time step, and temporal ID represents spectral variability over time for a single geographical location. Results show an encouraging and significant correlation between spatially calculated ID and in situ vegetation species richness data despite different spatial scales between the two (<i>p</i> = 0.01). Spatial ID remained largely unchanged at each time step over the course of three months during the spring green-up period when vegetation characteristics and spectral responses were changing rapidly (number of species remains unchanged even though spectra reflect phenological change over time). The temporal ID remained constant for pseudo-invariant surfaces such as parking lots, roofs, and rock, but showed increased ID with time for trees, shrubs, and grasses. This robustness of spatial ID to seasonal change is desirable in any measure of species richness because it is insulated from changes in vegetation condition that are unrelated to plant species richness. Even though the spatial ID is consistent across acquisition dates, when considering the full time series (temporal ID), we find that subweekly sampling may be necessary to spectrally capture the full phenological cycle of certain vegetation types.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70213","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143827058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Shedding the cloak of neutrality: A guide for reflexive practices to make the sciences more inclusive and just","authors":"Rapichan Phurisamban,&nbsp;Erika Luna,&nbsp;Harold N. Eyster,&nbsp;Stephen Chignell,&nbsp;Michele Koppes","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70168","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The environmental sciences community cannot meaningfully address the compounding ecological and societal crises of our time without also addressing <i>epistemic</i> oppression—the persistent, systemic exclusion that dismisses or erases certain forms of expertise in knowledge production and scientific practices. Epistemic oppression is justified by the inaccurate assumption that scientific knowledge is neutral, value-free, and objective. This assumption persists because science practices omit information about who we are and how we come to know the world in our work. It operates through the construction of knowledge hierarchies at three levels: (1) privileging particular worldviews of individual scientists, (2) privileging certain academic disciplines, and (3) privileging Eurocentric knowledge systems. To limit epistemic harms, we need to acknowledge that the sciences are inherently <i>relational</i> (i.e., emerge out of relationships among scientists and what we study) and <i>situated</i> (i.e., dependent on the social context surrounding knowledge production). By recognizing and reflecting on assumptions of neutrality, we can transform the scientific community toward fostering greater inclusion and acceptance of diverse worldviews, theories of knowledge, and methodologies to simultaneously address today's wicked problems and advance true diversity, equity, and belonging. Moving from concepts to practice, we outline several reflexive strategies and offer examples and guiding questions to acknowledge our standpoints in scientific research. By embracing reflexivity in our practices, including making our positionality in our work explicit, the environmental sciences can become more inclusive and effective at addressing the compounding crises of this era.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70168","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143827056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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}