Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jacek Olchowik, Dorota Hilszczanska, Marcin Studnicki, Tadeusz Malewski, Khalil Kariman, Zbigniew Borowski
Summary: The study compared the root ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal colonization in regenerated pines at burned and unburned sites, with significantly lower colonization in the burned site. However, species richness of ECM fungi did not differ between the sites.
Article
Forestry
Francisco J. Munoz-Galvez, Asier Herrero, M. Esther Perez-Corona, Enrique Andivia
Summary: The study found that the effects of mixed forests on tree growth vary depending on the tree species, with Quercus pyrenaica showing significantly higher growth in mixed stands in years without water limitations, while Pinus sylvestris exhibited better growth in mixed stands under dry conditions. Additionally, a trade-off between resistance and recovery was observed, with P. sylvestris showing higher resistance but lower recovery in mixed stands, while Q. pyrenaica demonstrated higher recovery but lower resistance.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Luka Krajnc, Polona Hafner, Jozica Gricar
Summary: The study found that pubescent oak had significantly higher wood density than black pine, and stand mixture had a positive effect on wood density. Diameter at breast height had a positive impact on wood density in pubescent oak and a negative or neutral impact in black pine, the effects varying by bedrock and species.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Sangyeop Jung, Jaeyeon Lee, Kyungeun Lee, Soyeon Cho, Byeongyoung Kim, Yeongseob Shin, Kyu Song Lee, Yeonsook Choung
Summary: The study tracked the regeneration process of Pinus densiflora forests in the East Coast area of Korea for 20 years after the large-scale fire in 2000. The research found that the fire activated sprouting and growth of trees, and the burn severity and initial regeneration greatly influenced the process. After 20 years, the canopy of the pine forests shifted and diverged into three different types. The characteristics of the initial stands were found to be good predictors for the structural development of later stands.
JOURNAL OF PLANT BIOLOGY
(2023)
Editorial Material
Genetics & Heredity
Shihui Niu, Wei Li, Yue Li
Summary: Pinus tabuliformis, a drought- and cold-tolerant conifer species widely distributed in China, has a large genome with long introns. Studies have shown that genes with ultra-long introns tend to be highly expressed, suggesting that intron length may play a role in the evolutionary process of gymnosperms.
TRENDS IN GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Heather M. Thompson, Mark R. Lesser, Luke Myers, Timothy B. Mihuc
Summary: Ecosystem recovery following wildfire is influenced by fire severity and frequency, as well as regional factors. Insects, often overlooked, play crucial roles in ecosystem services and their response to fire can impact the recovery process. A study in a jack pine barrens in New York found that insect groups had varying responses to a wildfire, with some increasing in abundance immediately after the disturbance and others showing a delayed positive response. Diversity, especially among Diptera, increased over time at the post-fire site. However, several taxa declined in response to fire disturbance. Further studies are needed to understand the recovery of this community and inform land management practices.
Article
Ecology
Bertrand D. Eardly, Mara Cloutier, Taejung Chung, Sofia Roitman, Fabricio R. Vieira, Mary Ann Bruns
Summary: This report summarizes the results of two observational studies conducted 5 years after the remediation treatment on the zinc smelters in Palmerton, Pennsylvania. The studies found that the treated sites had lower taxonomic diversity in their fungal communities and were dominated by the remediation inoculant. Additionally, certain fungal taxa had higher relative abundances on saplings growing directly above the smelters.
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Hwan-Su Hwang, Yi-Re Kim, Jung-Yeon Han, Yong-Eui Choi
Summary: Pitch pine has a strong resistance to pine wood nematodes, possibly due to the presence of unique phytochemicals in its resin.
Article
Forestry
Ricardo Silas Sanchez-Hernandez, Carmen Zulema Quinones-Perez, Jose Ciro Hernandez-Diaz, Jose Angel Prieto-Ruiz, Christian Wehenkel
Summary: Understanding hybridization is important for its impact on the success of natural regeneration and reforestation. The study found that hybrid trees exhibited similar or better growth and survival compared to pure species, and there was a significant correlation between stomatal density and growth.
Article
Ecology
Robert K. Booth, Gregor W. Schuurman, Elizabeth A. Lynch, Matthew G. Huff, Julia A. Bebout, Nisogaabokwe Melonee Montano
Summary: In fire-prone ecosystems, understanding the relationship between vegetation, fire, and climate is essential to manage fire as a tool, especially with the rapidly changing climate. On Stockton Island, the cessation of Indigenous cultural burning and fire-suppression policies led to structural changes in the pine-dominated natural area. Palaeoecological records showed that fire has been a crucial part of Stockton Island ecology for at least 6000 years. The composition and structure of pine forest and barrens were relatively stable due to regular low-severity surface fires, though higher severity fire episodes occurred during droughts.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Cristina Valeriano, Antonio Gazol, Michele Colangelo, Jesus Julio Camarero
Summary: The study reveals that drought constrains tree growth in regions like the western Mediterranean Basin, leading to tree mortality. Living and dead trees display significant differences in growth trends and responses to drought, particularly after the climate shifted towards warmer and drier conditions in the 1980s.
Article
Forestry
Francisco M. Azcarate, Javier Seoane, Mariola Silvestre
Summary: This study provides a comprehensive overview of factors influencing the susceptibility of pine forests to the pine processionary moth (PPM) in Central Spain. It finds that pine species and grazing pressure are important determinants of vulnerability to PPM. The occurrence of structurally simple pine forests with abundant open spaces is associated with higher incidences of PPM.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Ahmad Khalid Nayab, Lubomr Valik, Pavel Ac
Summary: Modified forms of the Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer model (mGAB), Halsey model (mHAL), Henderson model (mHEN) and Oswin model (mOSW) with temperature term were used to describe the sorption isotherm experimental data of pine nuts at different temperatures. Goodness-of-fit indices were examined to evaluate the moisture sorption models, and the mGAB model showed the best performance at individual temperatures. Furthermore, the mHEN and mOSW models were able to differentiate the temperature effect effectively with the lowest AICc values in one-step modeling.
LWT-FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Sarah J. Smith, Brian C. McCarthy, Todd F. Hutchinson, Rebecca S. Snell
Summary: Masting is a reproductive strategy in which individuals synchronize intermittent seed production. This study examined the individual differences in reproductive effort and variability among chestnut oak and black oak. The results showed that diameter at breast height (DBH) was the most consistent variable for explaining intraspecific variation in reproduction. Other influential factors included elevation, clay content, and slope. Thinning treatment did not have a significant effect on acorn production.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Mathieu Santonja, Susana Pereira, Thierry Gauquelin, Elodie Quer, Guillaume Simioni, Jean-Marc Limousin, Jean-Marc Ourcival, Ilja M. Reiter, Catherine Fernandez, Virginie Baldy
Summary: Forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean region are important carbon reservoirs, but their contribution to global carbon and nitrogen stocks is often overlooked and poorly quantified. This study quantified the soil carbon and nitrogen stocks in Mediterranean forests and examined how an experimental reduction in precipitation affected these stocks and litter decomposition efficiency. The results showed that the shallowness and stoniness of these forests limited the carbon and nitrogen stocks. Further investigation is needed to understand the impacts of climate change on soil carbon stocks in these forests.
Article
Ecology
Susannah B. Lerman, Desiree L. Narango, Meghan L. Avolio, Anika R. Bratt, Jesse M. Engebretson, Peter M. Groffman, Sharon J. Hall, James B. Heffernan, Sarah E. Hobbie, Kelli L. Larson, Dexter H. Locke, Christopher Neill, Kristen C. Nelson, Josep Padulles Cubino, Tara L. E. Trammell
Summary: Urbanization has a homogenizing effect on biodiversity, but land management by residents can help mitigate this impact, especially through preserving natural areas, reducing impervious surfaces, and increasing tree canopy cover. Yard management has a positive impact on breeding bird diversity, especially wildlife-friendly yards, which support diverse bird communities with high public interest.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Meghan L. Avolio, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Scott L. Collins, Emily Grman, Sally E. Koerner, Andrew T. Tredennick, Kevin R. Wilcox, Sara Baer, Elizabeth H. Boughton, Andrea J. Britton, Bryan Foster, Laura Gough, Mark Hovenden, Forest Isbell, Anke Jentsch, David S. Johnson, Alan K. Knapp, Juergen Kreyling, J. Adam Langley, Christopher Lortie, Rebecca L. McCulley, Jennie R. McLaren, Peter B. Reich, Eric W. Seabloom, Melinda D. Smith, Katharine N. Suding, K. Blake Suttle, Pedro M. Tognetti
Summary: Global change is impacting plant community composition through various mechanisms, such as changes in evenness and richness, reordering, species gains and losses. The study found that the majority of communities were affected by global change treatments, especially those exposed to multiple global change drivers. All mechanisms of community change were equally likely to be affected by global change treatments, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach to measuring community changes.
Article
Ecology
Meghan L. Avolio, Christopher Swan, Diane E. Pataki, G. Darrel Jenerette
Summary: Human behaviors have complex impacts on the distribution and persistence of plant and wildlife in urban areas, necessitating the incorporation of human factors into urban community assembly theories. By integrating human behaviors into traditional filter frameworks and developing testable hypotheses, we can predict patterns of urban diversity and guide future research on urban biodiversity in the face of environmental, social, and land use change.
Review
Ecology
Kaitlin Kimmel, Laura E. Dee, Meghan L. Avolio, Paul J. Ferraro
Summary: Ecologists face challenges in inferring causal relationships and lack a general framework to address them. By reviewing causal assumptions and providing solutions, they can design better experiments and bridge the gap between experimental and observational research in ecology.
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Nancy F. Sonti, Peter M. Groffman, David J. Nowak, Jason G. Henning, Meghan L. Avolio, Emma J. Rosi
Summary: Given the expanding urban land use on Earth, accurately assessing the net primary productivity (NPP) of urban ecosystems is crucial. However, the complexity and diversity of urban landscapes pose challenges to measuring NPP, and few studies have attempted to use field-based methods to measure urban aboveground NPP (ANPP). In this study, the ANPP of Baltimore over a 15-year period was estimated, revealing lower ANPP compared to forested areas in the eastern United States and highlighting the significance of accurate assessment of primary productivity in urban ecosystems for future research.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
J. Adam Langley, Emily Grman, Kevin R. Wilcox, Meghan L. Avolio, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Scott L. Collins, Sally E. Koerner, Melinda D. Smith, Andrew H. Baldwin, William Bowman, Nona Chiariello, Anu Eskelinen, Harry Harmens, Mark Hovenden, Kari Klanderud, Rebecca L. McCulley, Vladimir G. Onipchenko, Clare H. Robinson, Katharine N. Suding
Summary: Plants may hinder optimal growth in one condition while adapting to optimal growth in another. A plant species that responds positively to one global change treatment is likely to have a lower likelihood of responding positively to another treatment.
Article
Ecology
Allison Blanchette, Tara L. E. Trammell, Diane E. Pataki, Joanna Endter-Wada, Meghan L. Avolio
Summary: Most residents in the Salt Lake Valley prefer plant variety in their yards rather than biodiversity specifically; higher income households have more plant diversity, but lower lawn species biodiversity.
LANDSCAPE AND URBAN PLANNING
(2021)
Review
Biology
Mary I. O'Connor, Akira S. Mori, Andrew Gonzalez, Laura E. Dee, Michel Loreau, Meghan Avolio, Jarrett E. K. Byrnes, William Cheung, Jane Cowles, Adam T. Clark, Yann Hautier, Andrew Hector, Kimberly Komatsu, Tim Newbold, Charlotte L. Outhwaite, Peter B. Reich, Eric Seabloom, Laura Williams, Alexandra Wright, Forest Isbell
Summary: Feedbacks between biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human wellbeing are not fully accounted for in global policy efforts, leading to exacerbated uncertainty in future projections and hindering sustainability. Addressing scientific research challenges and integrating feedbacks can help policy and conservation efforts to account for ecosystem and societal consequences of biodiversity change effectively.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Forest Isbell, Patricia Balvanera, Akira S. Mori, Jin-Sheng He, James M. Bullock, Ganga Ram Regmi, Eric W. Seabloom, Simon Ferrier, Osvaldo E. Sala, Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramirez, Julia Tavella, Daniel J. Larkin, Bernhard Schmid, Charlotte L. Outhwaite, Pairot Pramual, Elizabeth T. Borer, Michel Loreau, Taiwo Crossby Omotoriogun, David O. Obura, Maggie Anderson, Cristina Portales-Reyes, Kevin Kirkman, Pablo M. Vergara, Adam Thomas Clark, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Owen L. Petchey, Sarah R. Weiskopf, Laura J. Williams, Scott L. Collins, Nico Eisenhauer, Christopher H. Trisos, Delphine Renard, Alexandra J. Wright, Poonam Tripathi, Jane Cowles, Jarrett E. K. Byrnes, Peter B. Reich, Andy Purvis, Zati Sharip, Mary O'Connor, Clare E. Kazanski, Nick M. Haddad, Eulogio H. Soto, Laura E. Dee, Sandra Diaz, Chad R. Zirbel, Meghan L. Avolio, Shaopeng Wang, Zhiyuan Ma, Jingjing Liang, Hanan C. Farah, Justin Andrew Johnson, Brian W. Miller, Yann Hautier, Melinda D. Smith, Johannes M. H. Knops, Bonnie J. E. Myers, Zuzana Harmackova, Jorge Cortes, Michael B. J. Harfoot, Andrew Gonzalez, Tim Newbold, Jacqueline Oehri, Marina Mazon, Cynnamon Dobbs, Meredith S. Palmer
Summary: Despite progress in understanding global biodiversity loss, there are still taxonomic and geographic knowledge gaps. Decision makers often rely on expert judgement, but cannot engage with large and diverse groups of specialists. A survey of biodiversity experts worldwide revealed consensus and differences in perspectives and estimates, with underrepresented groups recommending different conservation priorities and providing higher estimates of biodiversity loss.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Melinda D. Smith, Sally E. Koerner, Meghan L. Avolio, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Stephanie Eby, Elisabeth J. Forrestel, Scott L. Collins, Kevin R. Wilcox, Rodrigo Ahumada, John W. Morgan, Gabriel Oliva, Gaston R. Onatibia, Gerhard E. Overbeck, Guadalupe Peter, Emiliano Quiroga, Mahesh Sankaran, Jianshuang Wu, Laura Yahdjian, Qiang Yu
Summary: This study aimed to understand the impact of water availability on richness and evenness and found different relationships between water availability and richness/evenness at regional and global scales. The results suggest that different factors determine patterns of richness and evenness in grassy biomes, leading to varying relationships between richness and evenness at different scales. These findings have implications for understanding how grassy ecosystems may respond to anthropogenic changes such as climate change.
Article
Ecology
Karin T. T. Burghardt, Meghan L. L. Avolio, Dexter H. H. Locke, J. Morgan Grove, Nancy F. F. Sonti, Christopher M. M. Swan
Summary: This study found that neighborhoods in Baltimore that were redlined in the past have lower street tree diversity and higher proportion of young trees, which heavily rely on a single tree species. However, recent investments in tree planting activities have been observed in these redlined neighborhoods.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Timothy Ohlert, Kaitlin Kimmel, Meghan Avolio, Cynthia Chang, Elisabeth Forrestel, Benjamin Gerstner, Sarah E. Hobbie, Kimberly Komastu, Peter Reich, Kenneth Whitney
Summary: The use of trait-based approaches has increased in understanding ecological communities, but important properties of commonly-used trait metrics remain unexamined. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of the number of traits and the correlation between traits on functional diversity metrics in real plant communities.
Article
Ecology
Meghan L. Avolio, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Sally E. Koerner, Emily Grman, Forest Isbell, David S. Johnson, Kevin R. Wilcox, Juha M. Alatalo, Andrew H. Baldwin, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Andrea J. Britton, Bryan L. Foster, Harry Harmens, Christel C. Kern, Wei Li, Jennie R. McLaren, Peter B. Reich, Lara Souza, Qiang Yu, Yunhai Zhang
Summary: This study investigates the impact of global change treatments on ecological communities by integrating dissimilarity metrics and rank abundance curves. The findings show that when there is no difference in community composition, there are rarely differences in species ranks or species identities, but more often differences in richness or evenness alone. However, when there are differences between community compositions, it is often associated with differences in ranks either alone or together with richness, evenness, or species identities.
Article
Ecology
Sally E. Koerner, Meghan L. Avolio, John M. Blair, Alan K. Knapp, Melinda D. Smith
Summary: Ecosystems are facing multiple global change drivers, which can have additive, antagonistic, or synergistic effects. This study examines the long-term effects of altered precipitation patterns and warming on plant communities and ecosystem functioning in a grassland ecosystem. The results show that precipitation variability affects plant community composition, while warming affects aboveground net primary productivity. Surprisingly, there were no interactive effects between precipitation and warming treatments.
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Kevin R. Wilcox, Anping Chen, Meghan L. Avolio, Ethan E. Butler, Scott Collins, Rosie Fisher, Trevor Keenan, Nancy Y. Kiang, Alan K. Knapp, Sally E. Koerner, Lara Kueppers, Guopeng Liang, Eva Lieungh, Michael Loik, Yiqi Luo, Ben Poulter, Peter Reich, Katherine Renwick, Melinda D. Smith, Anthony Walker, Ensheng Weng, Kimberly J. Komatsu
Summary: This article discusses the shortcomings of herbaceous plant community representation in predictive models, pointing out that the model representation of grassland and herbaceous ecosystems lags behind tree communities and forests. The article identifies two important knowledge gaps: incomplete understanding of the principles governing herbaceous vegetation dynamics and limitations in the current model structure and parameterization of grass and other herbaceous plant functional types. The article provides directions for improving the representation of herbaceous communities within models through empirical research and model improvements.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)