Bradley Law, Leroy Gonsalves, Chris Slade, Traecey Brassil, Cheyne Flanagan
{"title":"GPS tracking reveals koalas Phascolarctos cinereus use mosaics of different forest ages after environmentally regulated timber harvesting","authors":"Bradley Law, Leroy Gonsalves, Chris Slade, Traecey Brassil, Cheyne Flanagan","doi":"10.1111/aec.13518","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13518","url":null,"abstract":"<p>An accurate picture of an animal's home range is fundamental for quantifying habitat quality and response to disturbance. When combined with remote sensing of vegetation attributes, there is potential to assess habitat selection at high resolution. We used a high-quality GPS-collaring data set (> 12 500 fixes) from 10 koalas <i>Phascolarctos cinereus</i> and a canopy height model derived from LiDAR in multiple-use forests harvested for timber 5–10 years previously. Our aim was to assess how individual koalas use the forest mosaic created by timber harvesting by quantifying home ranges and habitat selection of different forest age/height classes created by past harvesting. We found that koalas maintained a stable home range over the average of 7 months of tracking. On average, there was 95% overlap for individuals among seasons, illustrating high site fidelity in the regenerating forest. Also, there were no apparent shifts during the intense drought of spring 2019. Male home ranges (64 ha) were three times the size of females (21 ha). Core areas were considerably smaller, ranging from 15 (male) to 6 ha (female). Three forest age/height classes were defined from LiDAR: (i) harvest – regeneration <14 m, (ii) harvest – retained trees ≥14 m and (iii) harvest – exclusion trees ≥14 m (zones excluded from harvesting for environmental protection). Home ranges covered the mosaic of forest classes and mixed models revealed no selection of forest class based on use versus availability. High site fidelity with no clear selection for forest age/height class (i.e. harvested and non-harvested patches) confirms that resource quality in the home range remained sufficient for breeding koalas in the post-harvest landscape. Ongoing monitoring of koalas is required to ensure that environmental protections are effective in maintaining koala populations in the face of additional disturbances from fire and climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.13518","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140546782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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":"Predation event and shelter site use by a threatened monitor lizard, Varanus rosenbergi, in the Little Desert, Victoria","authors":"Dylan M. Westaway, Mirinda Thorpe, Iestyn Hosking","doi":"10.1111/aec.13509","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13509","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Heath monitors (<i>Varanus rosenbergi</i>) are arguably the most thoroughly studied Australian varanid, largely stemming from long-term research on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. However, research on other populations within this species' disjunct distribution is limited. We opportunistically tracked a heath monitor in the Little Desert National Park, Victoria, after it consumed a painted dragon (<i>Ctenophorus pictus</i>) which we were radiotracking for another study. We report the first record of a heath monitor depredating a painted dragon, as well as the first record of heath monitors repeatedly using a hollow log for shelter. The hollow log was occupied on 10 consecutive occasions over 18 days, and then again on five occasions 9–11 months later. Our observations identify hollow logs as a habitat resource which should be considered in conservation strategies for this threatened monitor lizard. Furthermore, we observed two individuals in close proximity, possibly a breeding pair, in January. This implies that breeding may occur in summer for the Victorian mallee population, as has been reported in other populations, rather than in spring as has been speculated. Research is sorely needed across this species' disjunct distribution across southern Australia. To date, populations of heath monitors in the Victorian mallee have garnered no scientific study, despite their listing as Critically Endangered.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.13509","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140333241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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}
César M. A. Correa, Renato Portela Salomão, Alfredo Raúl Abot, Anderson Puker, Fernando Z. Vaz-De-Mello
{"title":"Evidence of drastic loss of dung beetle diversity after 25 years in an introduced Brazilian pasture","authors":"César M. A. Correa, Renato Portela Salomão, Alfredo Raúl Abot, Anderson Puker, Fernando Z. Vaz-De-Mello","doi":"10.1111/aec.13515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13515","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In tropical forest ecosystems, pastures are considered a limiting environment for dung beetles, with long-term negative effects on the diversity of this group. To understand how dung beetle diversity changes over time in introduced Brazilian pastures, studies comparing different periods are needed. Here, we conducted a study sampling dung beetles during 48 consecutive weeks in 1995 and 2020–2021. We used pitfall traps baited with fresh cattle dung in the same introduced pasture located in the Cerrado-Pantanal ecotone of Brazil. Our study found that the total species richness of dung beetles decreased by 40% in 2020–2021 compared to 1995, which could negatively impact the ecological functions of the pastures. Given the importance of dung beetles for maintaining and functioning of pastures, the decline in dung beetle diversity could lead to the degradation of pasture landscapes. We advocate for management plans for livestock production in introduced pastures that include the long-term conservation of dung beetle biodiversity. These plans will ensure the continued provision of dung beetle ecological services by dung beetles over the years.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.13515","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140333208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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}
Susanna E. Venn, James Camac, Samantha P. Grover, John W. Morgan
{"title":"Alpine shrub leaf litter decomposition across mountain summits in south-eastern Australia","authors":"Susanna E. Venn, James Camac, Samantha P. Grover, John W. Morgan","doi":"10.1111/aec.13511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13511","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Climate warming has been linked to shrub expansion in alpine regions and the decomposition of shrub leaf litter and subsequent release of nutrients has been proposed as a mechanism to facilitate shrub growth. We quantified the rate of alpine shrub leaf litter decomposition (measured as mass loss) over the course of a year in four locally occurring alpine shrub species that grow across four alpine summits. We measured a range of environmental attributes at the study sites, and via a standard litter bag approach, we evaluated the effects of site elevation, the depth of litter bag deployment, the removal time, the species-specific leaf area (SLA) and the accumulated growing degree days at each site on the total per cent and rate of litter decomposition (as mass loss). The higher elevation sites were cooler with more snow days than the lower sites. Soil moisture was higher early in the snow-free season at the higher elevation sites. Linear mixed effect models indicated no significant effects of elevation on total and rate of litter decomposition, but there were significant positive effects of deployment depth and removal time and a significant negative effect of species SLA. There were significant negative relationships between the rate of decomposition and growing degree days, as decomposition slows through time. The modelled mean rates of shrub litter decomposition for each species indicated that there would be more and faster decomposition if winter and early spring conditions were to persist for a whole year, compared with the modelled rates of average annual conditions persisting for a whole year. Our results indicate that Australian alpine shrub litter decomposes readily, with the highest rates of decomposition occurring soon after deployment, which in this study was after a snowy winter at the start of the growing season in spring.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.13511","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140333203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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}
Manu E. Saunders, Rose L. Andrew, James Mitchell-Williams, Peter Pemberton, Elizabeth M. Wandrag, John T. Hunter
{"title":"Rapid on-ground assessment after the 2019–2020 megafires reveals new information on rare and threatened plants in northern New South Wales, Australia","authors":"Manu E. Saunders, Rose L. Andrew, James Mitchell-Williams, Peter Pemberton, Elizabeth M. Wandrag, John T. Hunter","doi":"10.1111/aec.13514","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13514","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Lack of ecological knowledge is a major challenge for effective conservation of threatened plant species in Australia as disturbance events, such as wildfire, increase in frequency and magnitude. Rapid on-ground surveys are increasingly important to inform recovery strategies for rare and threatened plants in response to extreme wildfire events, yet resources are rarely available to deploy time-sensitive surveys. Here, we utilize a rapid on-ground survey and monitoring program to document basic biological and ecological information for 21 rare and threatened plant species from the New England bioregion in northern New South Wales, which were affected by the catastrophic 2019–2020 megafires. Our results fill an important knowledge gap of ecology, population size, distribution and response to fire for these taxa, document for the first time a species distribution pattern within the Torrington State Conservation Area and reveal previously undocumented plant–insect interactions for nine species, including likely pollination of <i>Persoonia terminalis</i> ssp. <i>terminalis</i> and <i>Monotaxis macrophylla</i> by native bee (Hymenoptera) and fly (Diptera) species. Our findings reveal that two species (<i>Cassinia heleniae</i> and <i>Hakea macrorrhyncha</i>) have scarce distribution and low population sizes, despite neither having a conservation listing and their threat status should be urgently assessed. Simple rapid on-ground surveys can be more cost effective for delivering long-term conservation outcomes for rare and threatened taxa and we advocate that future funding and prioritisation processes must support the immediate delivery of such surveys in response to disturbance events.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.13514","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140333205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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":"Correction to ‘Assessing Brazilian reptiles' road-kill risks using trait-based models’","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/aec.13517","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13517","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Rahhal, N.D.F., Pinto, F.A.S., Medrano- Vizcaíno, P., Francisco, C.N. & Bruno, S.F. (2023) Assessing Brazilian reptiles' road-kill risks using trait-based models. Austral Ecology, 48, 1361–1382. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13383</p><p>In the first paragraph of page 1371, the text originally reads ‘Upon exclusion of planned roads, we estimate 21168.643 and 2146883.652 ind./year (…)’. It will now read as follows: ‘Upon exclusion of planned roads, we estimate 21168.643 ind./km/year and 2146883.652 ind./year (…)’.</p><p>We apologize for this error.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.13517","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140340492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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}
Deusdedith M. Rugemalila, Jeremiah Sarakikya, T. Michael Anderson
{"title":"Tree and grass competition in savannas: Interactive effects of soil moisture, grass defoliation and grass species identity on the growth and survival of tree seedlings","authors":"Deusdedith M. Rugemalila, Jeremiah Sarakikya, T. Michael Anderson","doi":"10.1111/aec.13512","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13512","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We experimentally examined the influence of grass competition, grass species identity (taxa) and water availability on the seedling growth and survival of two dominant tree species (<i>Vachellia</i> (formerly <i>Acacia</i>) <i>robusta</i> and <i>V. tortilis</i>) of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Despite being widely distributed, the species have an opposing overstorey dominance across a rainfall and productivity gradient, with <i>V. robusta</i> dominating the more productive mesic sites and <i>V. tortilis</i> in the lower productivity, drier sites. We investigated the role of different grass species, which vary in distribution and abundance across the rainfall gradient, in influencing the growth and survival of <i>Vachellia</i> seedlings. We found a significant effect of grass competition but no effect of grass species identity on the growth or survival of seedlings. Seedling survival was highest in the absence of grass competition, intermediate when grasses were defoliated to simulate grazing and lowest when grown with ungrazed grasses. Grass competition had a more negative effect on the stem diameter of <i>V. tortilis</i> than <i>V. robusta.</i> All <i>V. tortilis</i> seedlings grown under a combination of drought conditions and unclipped grasses died by the end of the experiment. However, reduced grass competition by simulated grazing improved <i>V. tortilis</i> seedling survival to comparable levels achieved by <i>V. robusta</i> species. Our study advances our understanding of tree and grass competition across environmental gradients and suggests that the presence of grass and soil moisture have species-specific effects on tree seedling growth and survival in African savannas.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"49 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.13512","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140188609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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}
Masingitla P. Mtileni, Kenneth C. Oberlander, Kelsey L. Glennon
{"title":"Morphological and habitat differentiation between diploids and tetraploids of a Drakensberg near-endemic taxon, Rhodohypoxis baurii var. platypetala (Hypoxidaceae)","authors":"Masingitla P. Mtileni, Kenneth C. Oberlander, Kelsey L. Glennon","doi":"10.1111/aec.13502","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13502","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Environmental factors may shape the spatial distribution of ploidy levels. Here, we undertook a cytogeographical study of <i>Rhodohypoxis baurii</i> var. <i>platypetala</i> (Hypoxidaceae), a Drakensberg near-endemic taxon. We addressed the following questions: (1) Are there mixed-ploidy populations or is each population represented by a single ploidy level? (2) Is there a pattern in the environmental distribution of ploidy levels? (3) Are there specific environmental variables associated with each ploidy level locality? (4) Are plant traits similar or different within and among ploidy levels across populations that experience different environmental factors? We measured leaf and flower traits of individuals that were sampled for flow cytometry from 17 populations across the KwaZulu-Natal and Free State provinces in South Africa. We extracted daily climate data for 13 variables and collected soil samples to evaluate pH and nutrient properties to characterize the sampled populations to test for relationships with ploidy level distributions. Twelve populations were found to contain only diploids, four populations contained only tetraploids, and only one population was ‘mixed ploidy’ (both diploid and triploid individuals present). There was an overlap in the altitudinal range of diploid and tetraploid populations, but diploids reached the highest altitudes recorded for the current study. We also found that <i>R. baurii</i> var. <i>platypetala</i> occurs in acidic soils and that tetraploids occurred in soils with marginally higher nitrogen and phosphorus than soils where diploids occur. Tetraploids generally occurred in warmer conditions, in drier soils, and possessed broader leaves and larger flowers than diploids. Our study suggests that soil factors and temperature at a small (within localities) spatial scale likely shape ploidy level distributions in the Drakensberg grasslands.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"49 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.13502","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140188607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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}
Beaudee Newbery, Rod M. Connolly, Steve D. Melvin, Michael Sievers
{"title":"The utility of non-lethal morphometrics to evaluate fish condition","authors":"Beaudee Newbery, Rod M. Connolly, Steve D. Melvin, Michael Sievers","doi":"10.1111/aec.13510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13510","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The condition of fish relates to their energy reserves, and a suite of proxies exist to approximate condition, including biochemical and morphometric indices. Biochemical indices directly measure energy stores but are expensive and sometimes lethal. Morphometrics offer several advantages, but their utility as condition proxies is debated and largely untested experimentally. Here, we manipulated the condition of yellowfin bream (<i>Acanthopagrus australis,</i> Günther, 1859) via food reduction to simulate the effect of poor habitat quality and calculated a variety of condition indices through time. We measured four non-lethal morphometrics (Fulton's K, Le Cren's relative condition, width-to-length ratio and girth), the hepatosomatic index and a biochemical benchmark (liver lipid content). Girth and width-to-length ratio were reasonably well correlated with lipid content (<i>R</i><sup>2</sup> = 0.74 and 0.56, respectively). The hepatosomatic index was only weakly or uncorrelated to other indices, including lipid content (<i>R</i><sup>2</sup> = 0.35). Where precise estimates of body condition are not needed or repeat measures on the same individual are useful, non-lethal morphometrics provide a fast, cheap and non-lethal alternative to biochemical and lethal morphometric methods for this species. We finish by outlining how artificial intelligence-based automation can be combined with morphometrics to further enhance ethical monitoring by eliminating the need to capture and handle fish entirely.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"49 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140188608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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}
Callum Bryant, Marilyn C. Ball, Justin Borevitz, Matthew T. Brookhouse, Hannah Carle, Pia Cunningham, Mei Davey, James Davies, Ashleigh Eason, Joseph D. Erskine, Tomas I. Fuenzalida, Dmitry Grishin, Rosalie Harris, Jessica Kriticos, Aaron Midson, Adrienne B. Nicotra, Annabelle Nshuti, Jessica Ward-Jones, Yolanda Yau, Olivia Young, Helen Bothwell
{"title":"Elevation-dependent patterns of borer-mediated snow-gum dieback are associated with subspecies' trait differences and environmental variation","authors":"Callum Bryant, Marilyn C. Ball, Justin Borevitz, Matthew T. Brookhouse, Hannah Carle, Pia Cunningham, Mei Davey, James Davies, Ashleigh Eason, Joseph D. Erskine, Tomas I. Fuenzalida, Dmitry Grishin, Rosalie Harris, Jessica Kriticos, Aaron Midson, Adrienne B. Nicotra, Annabelle Nshuti, Jessica Ward-Jones, Yolanda Yau, Olivia Young, Helen Bothwell","doi":"10.1111/aec.13508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13508","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Subalpine forests worldwide face the synergistic threats of global warming and increased biotic attack, and the collapse or transition of subalpine forests is predicted in south-eastern Australia under future climates. The recent widespread dieback of subalpine snow-gum forests due to increased activity of a native wood-boring longicorn beetle, <i>Phoracantha mastersii</i>, suggests this process may already be underway. We investigated how variation in tree tissue traits and environmental conditions correlated with elevation-dependent spatial patterns of forest mortality. We hypothesized that increased vulnerability of subalpine snow gums to wood-borer-mediated dieback at intermediate elevations was associated with poorly resolved differences in traits between montane (<i>Eucalyptus pauciflora</i> subsp. <i>pauciflora)</i> and subalpine (<i>E. pauciflora</i> subsp. <i>niphophila)</i> snow-gum subspecies. We first sought to characterize variation and elevation-dependent transitions in 20 structural and drought-related functional traits among 120 healthy trees distributed along a 1000 m elevation transect that spanned the subspecies transition zone. Secondly, we surveyed 774 trees across 53 sites between 1280 and 1980 m a.s.l. to explore associations between borer-damage severity, elevation, subspecies and a subset of traits that differed between subspecies. We observed evidence for both continuous trait variation in response to changing elevation (10/20 traits) and discrete shifts in mean trait values across the transition between subspecies distributions (5/20 traits). Increased borer-damage severity across the montane-to-subalpine subspecies transition was correlated with lower bark thickness, whereas reduced borer damage at the highest elevations was associated with greater precipitation and lower temperatures. Our results suggest that due to possessing distinct traits associated with increased borer susceptibility, subalpine snow-gum forests may be subject to an increased risk of severe borer-mediated forest dieback under warmer and drier future climates. Identifying traits contributing to species' distribution limits and biotic-agent vulnerability remains critical for predicting, monitoring and possibly mitigating forest and vegetation declines under future climates.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"49 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.13508","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140145815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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}