Ecological Applications最新文献

{"title":"Bird occurrence and trophic interactions vary across gradients of tree diversity and microclimate in a planted forest","authors":"Sophie Coyne,&nbsp;Eriberto Osorio,&nbsp;Shelley K. Bennett,&nbsp;Aidan Kirchgraber,&nbsp;John D. Parker,&nbsp;A. Justin Nowakowski","doi":"10.1002/eap.70219","DOIUrl":"10.1002/eap.70219","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Deforestation reshuffles communities across landscapes with myriad consequences for ecosystem function. Following deforestation, rapid exposure to novel microclimates can act as a strong environmental filter, favoring warm-adapted species and decoupling trophic interactions. Forest restoration may partly reverse this process through increased food resources, structural complexity of habitat, and buffering of microclimates—each potentially modified by tree diversity. Despite growing evidence that tree diversity and cool microclimates help maintain animal diversity in natural forests, less is known about how these factors shape species assemblages or multi-trophic dynamics in restoration areas. Here, using surveys and two field experiments within a long-term tree planting experiment, we assessed the relative effects of tree diversity, forest structure, and associated microclimate on fine-scale space use by birds and their top-down impacts on insects. Surveys showed that the probability of occurrences of birds increased in cooler plots, which were associated with higher tree diversity and vertical complexity. The strength of microclimate effects on bird occurrences was strongest for species that are forest specialists. To assess risk to insect herbivores from avian predation, we used a sentinel prey experiment and found that predation risk increased in warmer plots, counter to our expectations based on bird surveys. Last, we examined top-down effects of bird exclusion on leaf herbivory, finding that skeletonizing patterns of herbivory increased in exclosures and in cooler plots. Taken together, these results suggest that microclimate resulting from variation in forest structure shapes the space use of birds at fine scales with complex outcomes for bird–herbivore–tree interactions in planted forests. Active restoration methods that enhance below-canopy cooling may improve biodiversity outcomes and help maintain species interactions that underlie many ecosystem functions.</p>","PeriodicalId":55168,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Applications","volume":"36 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147629222","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":"Resource management as a conservation tool to impact genetic diversity through mating patterns in wild populations","authors":"Noa Yaffa Kan-Lingwood,&nbsp;Liran Sagi,&nbsp;Alan R. Templeton,&nbsp;Naama Shahar,&nbsp;Ariel Altman,&nbsp;Nurit Gordon,&nbsp;Daniel I. Rubenstein,&nbsp;Amos Bouskila,&nbsp;Shirli Bar-David","doi":"10.1002/eap.70226","DOIUrl":"10.1002/eap.70226","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The distribution of resources influences interactions in wild populations by affecting movement, space-use patterns, and, as a result, mating systems. Limited resources may reduce encounters between potential breeders, reducing the number and variety of individuals contributing to the population's gene pool. This can impact the variance effective population size (<i>N</i>_ev), an important indicator of genetic drift and genetic diversity in populations. Despite its importance, the relationship between resource distribution and genetic diversity has received limited attention in the practical management of genetically vulnerable populations. Here, we provide empirical evidence that the number of reproducing males (adult males identified as sires by parentage analysis from foal genotypes) and <i>N</i>_ev can be affected by resource management in the population of the Asiatic wild ass (<i>Equus hemionus</i>) in the Negev Desert, Israel, using water sources. This population, characterized by strong polygyny, has experienced declining genetic diversity. Following an intervention to increase the number of water sources from one to three during May 2020, we monitored the population using noninvasive genetic methods and direct observations. We collected 864 fecal samples from adult males, females, and foals, genotyped the DNA across 535 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and conducted a parentage analysis. The results showed an increase in the proportion of total reproducing males out of all adult males in the population from 16%–18% to 42%–48%, with a significant rise in reproducing males in 2020 that had not been sires in 2019, from 31.2% to 73.8% (<i>Z</i> = −2.877, <i>p</i> = 0.002) before and after the management, respectively. Spatial analyses indicated a higher presence of reproducing males near the new water sources. These findings demonstrate how resource management can impact <i>N</i>_ev in the short term and, therefore, potentially influence genetic diversity in the long term. We suggest a management framework targeting genetic diversity within an adaptive management approach and discuss its relevance and applicability for other systems and types of resources.</p>","PeriodicalId":55168,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Applications","volume":"36 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eap.70226","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147585408","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":"An integrated framework to identify and characterize regional-scale insect dispersal.","authors":"Felipe Dargent, Megan S Reich, Marrissa Miller, Kala Studens, Nilofar Benvidi, Kerry Perrault, Joshua Aibueku, Brent Holmes, Clement P Bataille, Jean-Noël Candau","doi":"10.1002/eap.70230","DOIUrl":"10.1002/eap.70230","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Forest pest insects cause major socio-economic impacts, global losses of millions of dollars, and ecosystem changes. A key challenge for their management is tracing regional dispersal events critical to outbreak dynamics. We developed an integrated tracing framework for pest insects by combining isotope geolocation, ecological data, and atmospheric modeling, and applied this framework to the eastern spruce budworm moth (Choristoneura fumiferana), the most severe defoliator of the North American boreal forest, to trace outbreak dispersal events. We first generated a North American model of bioavailable sulfur isotope (δ³⁴S) variation in space (isoscape) and then calibrated it to spruce budworm tissues of known origin. We then used an automated trap network with high temporal resolution to collect samples and identify potential immigration events of eastern spruce budworm to Nova Scotia, Canada. Finally, we traced the natal origin of these immigrants by sequentially integrating high-probability regions of origin derived from δ³⁴S values and estimated migration routes derived from biologically constrained atmospheric transport models. We find that this integrated framework allows us to narrow down the region of pest origins, restricting it to a few possible locations and demonstrating long-distance dispersal of spruce budworm across ~400 km over the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec. Our framework demonstrates that combining isotopic data with ecological indicators and atmospheric transport modeling offers improved resolution and understanding of insect dispersal ecology. This approach is transferable to trace other migratory insect species to address conservation, agriculture, and bio-surveillance needs in the context of global environmental change.</p>","PeriodicalId":55168,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Applications","volume":"36 3","pages":"e70230"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13095504/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147730850","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":"Shrub encroachment in alpine meadow diminishes ecosystem multifunctionality, but shrub removal can facilitate recovery.","authors":"Yimin Zhao, Xiaodan Tan, Junsheng Ke, Yao Xiao, Xiang Liu, Jihua Wu, Mu Liu","doi":"10.1002/eap.70244","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.70244","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In grasslands, shrub encroachment driven by climate change and anthropogenic disturbance alters various ecosystem functions. However, its effect on ecosystem multifunctionality, defined as the simultaneous performance of multiple ecosystem functions, is still poorly understood. Furthermore, the efficacy of removing shrubs to reverse the effects of shrub encroachment, a common management practice, remains debated. We aimed to disentangle the differential biotic (e.g., diversity of plant and soil) and abiotic responses within the herbaceous plant community to shrub encroachment and removal, and to explore how these changes drove shifts in ecosystem multifunctionality. This study was conducted in shrub-encroached (Potentilla fruticosa) alpine meadows on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We established a experiment with four treatments: natural grassland, shrub encroachment, artificial shrub installation, and shrub removal. We found that shrub encroachment reduced multifunctionality primarily by lowering soil water content. Shrub removal nearly reversed all negative alterations caused by encroachment, and specifically enhanced biotic attributes, like evenness, that in turn boosted multifunctionality. However, some of the effects of shrub removal remained incomplete relative to natural grassland. While artificial shrubs successfully reproduced the aboveground abiotic conditions (e.g., light and temperature) that actual shrubs do, they were less effective in evoking other environmental changes and did not affect multifunctionality. This study highlights that shrub encroachment induces substantial changes in both abiotic and biotic components, which thereby negatively affects multifunctionality and ecosystem services. Importantly, shrub removal proved to be an effective short-term solution with long-term potential for restoring these functions. Our findings provide key insights into the consequences of shrub encroachment, offering valuable guidance for ecosystem restoration and management aimed at mitigating its impacts in alpine meadows.</p>","PeriodicalId":55168,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Applications","volume":"36 3","pages":"e70244"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147789753","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":"Benthic habitat structure explains broad-scale patterns in reef fish communities.","authors":"Mollie Asbury, Nina Schiettekatte, Tye L Kindinger, Laura Richardson, Joshua S Madin","doi":"10.1002/eap.70238","DOIUrl":"10.1002/eap.70238","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding how different ecological and anthropogenic drivers shape community structure is a central goal in ecology, particularly in spatially heterogeneous and rapidly changing systems. Fishes contribute to many key ecosystem functions and services on coral reefs, and a variety of physical, biological, and anthropogenic factors influence their distributions, habitat use, and ecological roles. Although habitat complexity is consistently shown to be important for reef fish ecology, it is rarely fully represented in large-scale analyses. When included, it is often measured using coarse or one-dimensional metrics, and seldom evaluated alongside other known ecological drivers. Here, we use three-dimensional habitat and overlapping fish census data collected at 89 sites throughout the main Hawaiian Archipelago to determine the role habitat structure plays in fish community structure compared to traditionally hypothesized environmental and anthropogenic drivers. We examined the impact of habitat structure (rugosity, fractal dimension, and coral cover), environmental conditions (depth, temperature, chlorophyll a, and wave exposure), and anthropogenic pressures (sedimentation, effluent pollution, coastal development, tourism, and fishing pressure) on four community descriptors: biomass, species richness, abundance, and community composition; the latter based on fish body size, diet, grouping behavior, and position in water column. Rugosity was the dominant driver of all community descriptors but was closely followed by environmental variables. The composition of behavioral traits in fish communities were strongly shaped by habitat structure, reflecting patterns in habitat use and predator-prey dynamics. Where structural complexity was not the primary effect, environmental conditions, such as temperature, were more strongly associated, particularly with body size distributions. Our results show that degraded reef conditions (i.e., reduced rugosity and coral cover) support communities with lower biomass and limited traits, which likely translates to a narrower range of ecosystem functions and services. These findings illustrate how different dimensions of habitat structure, in combination with environmental gradients, filter community traits and influence ecological organization. We offer a framework for predicting how management actions that alter habitat structure may cascade through fish communities to affect ecosystem functions and services. Maintaining structural features of reef habitats may therefore be essential to supporting the functional diversity and resilience of coral reef communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":55168,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Applications","volume":"36 3","pages":"e70238"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147823514","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":"Remote sensing reveals that wild herbivores limit senescent vegetation accumulation on dryland conservation reserves.","authors":"Matt S Smith, Adrian G Fisher, Graeme Finlayson, Mike Letnic","doi":"10.1002/eap.70239","DOIUrl":"10.1002/eap.70239","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Wild herbivores threaten vegetation recovery on dryland conservation reserves globally. Monitoring herbivore impacts in remote drylands is difficult because vegetation biomass transitions between living and senescent states in response to irregular precipitation events. However, land managers need detailed understanding of the impacts that wild herbivores have on vegetation to develop and refine herbivore management strategies. Remote sensing provides the ability to assess grazing impacts on living and senescent vegetation with high temporal and spatial resolution. Here, we use Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to investigate how grazing by kangaroos and rabbits impacted fractional cover of photosynthetic (PV) and non-photosynthetic (NPV) vegetation over a 7-year period on three dryland reserves with experimental herbivore exclusion plots. We compared PV and NPV cover in plots that were accessible to all herbivores, accessible to kangaroos only, and inaccessible to both rabbits and kangaroos. Generalized linear mixed models were used to determine if the grazing impacts of rabbits and kangaroos varied from each other, between reserves, and in response to variable rainfall patterns. Grazing impacts varied between each herbivore, conservation reserve, and between PV and NPV. PV was only weakly limited by kangaroos across all reserves and antecedent rainfall totals. NPV was limited by rabbits and kangaroos, with grazing having stronger impacts on NPV than PV. The grazing impacts of rabbits and kangaroos varied spatially with evidence that NPV was limited by kangaroos only, by rabbits only, and by both species across different reserves. Both herbivores had stronger impacts on NPV as antecedent rainfall decreased. Our results show that the impact of herbivores on vegetation biomass is greatest during periods of dry climatic conditions. These findings contribute to a growing body of evidence showing that grazing by wild herbivores can have detrimental impacts on dryland ecosystems by disrupting ecological processes supported by NPV. Our results highlight the importance of herbivore management during productive periods to ensure NPV is retained during periods of low rainfall.</p>","PeriodicalId":55168,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Applications","volume":"36 3","pages":"e70239"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13095503/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147730847","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":"Multiscale habitat modeling to improve spatial prioritization for mugger crocodile conservation in riverine landscapes","authors":"Rahul Gour,&nbsp;Nikhil Whitaker","doi":"10.1002/eap.70222","DOIUrl":"10.1002/eap.70222","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Assessing the species distribution and their detectability is crucial, holding wide-ranging implications for effective conservation planning and management initiatives. Although species–habitat relationships are inherently scale-dependent, few studies apply robust multivariate approaches to optimize spatial scale selection. We developed a scale-optimized habitat suitability model for the mugger crocodile (<i>Crocodylus palustris</i>) using binomial generalized linear models, evaluating each predictor across multiple spatial scales within the Cauvery River Basin (CRB) in southern India. Model selection based on the lowest Akaike information criterion scores identified the multiscale modeling as the best performing approach. Most predictors showed the strongest associations at finer (500 m) to moderate (1000–2000 m) scales, while a subset of topographic and hydrological variables was retained at broader scales (8000 m), showing the importance of incorporating scale heterogeneity in riverine species modeling. Key variables influencing the potential distribution of muggers across the CRB include isothermality, radius of gyration area-weighted mean of wetland, distance to roads, and terrain wetness, indicating mugger prefer stable temperature, low disturbance, and localized patches but well-distributed wetland habitats. The multiscale model estimated 2209.5 km² of potentially suitable habitat across the CRB of which only 38.12% lies within the existing protected area network. Integrating the best performing model into a systematic conservation planning framework that maximizes species target while minimizing human impacts, the solution identified 990 km² of priority regions, including five high-priority areas with a total area of 540 km², outside the current protected network. The study offers a robust and resource-efficient approach to habitat delineation and conservation prioritization, improving the performance of suitability modeling across spatially varying environmental factors.</p>","PeriodicalId":55168,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Applications","volume":"36 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147584052","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":"Species-habitat networks reveal key habitats for landscape-level wild bee conservation","authors":"Marit Kinga Kasten,&nbsp;Sara Tassoni,&nbsp;Thomas Hiller,&nbsp;Markus Röhl,&nbsp;Michael Roth,&nbsp;Ingo Grass","doi":"10.1002/eap.70224","DOIUrl":"10.1002/eap.70224","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Most agricultural landscapes are composed of a variety of habitats. A landscape perspective is needed to understand biodiversity decline, but many studies focus on single habitat types. In addition, the use of local resources by species within and across habitats implies that species and their habitats are linked in species-habitat networks. However, studies on these networks are scarce. Here, we used grid-based sampling to assess wild bees at 224 sampling locations across all major habitat types, that is, arable land, grassland, forest and orchard, in 14 differently composed agricultural landscapes of Southern Germany. We assigned wild bees to habitat types based on the dominant habitat cover surrounding their sampling location to establish species-habitat networks and assessed how these networks differed in modularity and robustness to habitat loss. Orchards harbored more wild bees than expected based on their proportional cover in the landscape, indicating a preference for this extensively managed but threatened habitat by wild bees. Orchards also supported the highest species richness and proportion of oligolectic wild bees, while forests harbored the lowest richness and more social species. Landscape diversity affected both structure and robustness of bee-habitat networks in response to the simulated loss of habitats. Networks in more diverse landscapes had higher modularity but tended to be less robust, showing that greater landscape diversity and modularity do not necessarily buffer against the effects of habitat loss. However, this effect appeared to be mainly driven by increases in network size, as standardized modularity and robustness (z-scores) were not affected by landscape diversity. We could show that species-habitat networks are a powerful tool to inform ecologists and policy makers about the importance of key habitats and landscape diversity for species conservation. Key habitats for wild bee conservation include extensively managed habitats like traditional orchards. Nevertheless, all habitat types support a similar proportion of endangered species, emphasizing the importance of a diverse landscape. Conserving wild bees requires a variety of complementary habitats at the landscape scale and must consider the management of traditional and intensively managed habitats alike. Policy measures targeting landscape diversity are urgently needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":55168,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Applications","volume":"36 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eap.70224","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147585689","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":"An integrated population modeling workflow for supporting mesopredator management","authors":"Chloé R. Nater,&nbsp;Stijn P. Hofhuis,&nbsp;Matthew Grainger,&nbsp;Øystein Flagstad,&nbsp;Rolf A. Ims,&nbsp;Siw Killengreen,&nbsp;Dorothee Ehrich","doi":"10.1002/eap.70153","DOIUrl":"10.1002/eap.70153","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Expanding populations of mesopredators threaten biodiversity and human health in many ecosystems across the world. Lethal control through harvest is commonly implemented as a mitigation measure, yet its effects on mesopredator population dynamics in interaction with compensatory mechanisms and environmental conditions have rarely been assessed quantitatively due to data constraints. Recent advances involving integrated population models (IPMs) have enabled promising new avenues for overcoming these constraints by jointly analyzing multiple datasets while simultaneously accounting for bias and uncertainty. Here we developed a versatile IPM workflow for studying mesopredator population dynamics under different management regimes and applied it to an expanding population of red foxes in Arctic Norway. Our model combined routinely collected data on age, reproductive status, and genetic similarity from &gt;4000 harvested red foxes with opportunistic field observations and information published on red foxes elsewhere. This allowed us to quantify population dynamics over a period of 20 years, and identify the drivers of changes in population growth rates using retrospective (transient Life Table Response Experiments, tLTREs) and prospective (population viability analyses, PVAs) perturbation analyses. We found dramatic year-to-year fluctuations in red fox population size due to natural mortality and immigration responding to changes in rodent prey availability and population density. Forward projections indicated that current harvest levels were likely sufficient to prevent population increase over longer time periods. However, even substantial increases in harvest levels were unable to evoke population decline due to strong buffering effects of density dependence, especially through immigration. Our study highlights the potential of IPMs for studying population dynamics even when no structured surveys of living animals are available, and illustrates the value of extracting and curating information from harvested animals. Our semi-automated and reproducible modeling workflow can be rerun periodically when new data become available for our study population. As the workflow is also designed to be easily adapted for other harvested species, it contributes to the development of cost-effective population analyses that help inform management strategies and mitigate biodiversity loss.</p>","PeriodicalId":55168,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Applications","volume":"36 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147583965","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":"Impacts of targeted grazing, controlled burning, and strip seeding on soil microbial communities.","authors":"Michael K Spaeth, Albert Barberán, Jennifer L Funk, Danny J Eastburn, Leslie M Roche, Elise S Gornish","doi":"10.1002/eap.70245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.70245","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Increased vegetation management efforts are crucial due to the magnitude of global land degradation. Most modern land management projects focus on either controlling undesirable plant species or attempting to reconstruct the historical plant community. While most strategies are generally expected to enhance native vegetation establishment and diversity, there may be unintended impacts on vital soil microbial communities. Soil microbial communities play a crucial role in biogeochemical processes like nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and the development of soil structure, all of which influence plant productivity, nutrient acquisition, and the regulation of plant diversity and composition. We sought to investigate the consequences of different combinations of vegetation management strategies used to restore a former cropland to a perennial grassland in Davis, California, USA. Specifically, we assessed soil microbial community diversity, composition, and putative functional group abundances across different combinations of (1) targeted sheep grazing, (2) low and high frequency controlled burning, and (3) native plant strip seeding. We found that microbial taxonomic diversity was largely unchanged across vegetation management practices, but grazing, burning, and seeding led to shifts in soil microbial community composition. Microbial community shifts were primarily associated with changes in plant community composition; however, indirect modifications to carbon: nitrogen and pH were also differentially associated with compositional shifts in bacteria and fungi, respectively. Overall, our findings highlight that soil bacterial communities are resistant to increasing management intensities. Future studies should investigate how changes in soil microbial communities within managed ecosystems impact ecosystem processes and whether these processes align with land management objectives.</p>","PeriodicalId":55168,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Applications","volume":"36 3","pages":"e70245"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147789784","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}