Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yuru Li, Shuyang Ma, Caihong Fu, Jianchao Li, Yongjun Tian, Peng Sun, Peilong Ju, Shude Liu
Summary: This study explores the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF relationship) in overexploited ecosystems through seasonal surveys in the shelf sea of Shandong Province, China. It assesses the relative importance of environment and biodiversity on biomass variations and highlights the need for considering season-specific biodiversity indices.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Nicholas D. Antonson, Wendy M. Schelsky, Deryk Tolman, Rebecca M. Kilner, Mark E. Hauber
Summary: In the obligate brood parasitic brown-headed cowbird, chicks use a niche construction strategy by reducing larger, more competitive host broods to increase their own survival.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Noemie Deldicq, Dewi Langlet, Camille Delaeter, Gregory Beaugrand, Laurent Seuront, Vincent M. P. Bouchet
Summary: Heatwaves have led to increased intensity, duration and frequency in recent decades due to climate change. This study focused on how temperature affects the motion-behavior and metabolic traits of a dominant temperate foraminifera species. Results showed that individuals reduced their activity significantly under high temperature regimes but remained active under usual temperature conditions.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Jonas Glatthorn, Peter Annighoefer, Niko Balkenhol, Christoph Leuschner, Andrea Polle, Stefan Scheu, Andreas Schuldt, Bernhard Schuldt, Christian Ammer
Summary: Forest ecosystems are influenced by internal dynamics and external factors, with ecosystem functioning research providing tools for understanding ecosystem value. Interdisciplinary projects are necessary for holistic insights into ecosystem functioning, but differences in terminology and assumptions between disciplines may hinder integration. A common language is needed to facilitate communication and collaboration in ecosystem functioning research.
BASIC AND APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Stephen E. Osakpolor, Alessandro Manfrin, Shawn J. Leroux, Ralf B. Schaefer
Summary: The quantity and quality of subsidies between ecosystems can differ and affect ecosystem connections. While we have models to predict the effects of subsidy quantity changes, there is a lack of models for predicting the effects of subsidy quality changes on recipient ecosystem functioning. We developed a novel model to predict the effects of subsidy quality on recipient ecosystem biomass distribution, recycling, production, and efficiency, and found that subsidy quality can significantly impact the functioning of the recipient ecosystem.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jameal F. Samhouri, Andrew Olaf Shelton, Gregory D. Williams, Blake E. Feist, Shannon M. Hennessey, Krista Bartz, Ryan P. Kelly, James L. O'Donnell, Mindi Sheer, Adrian C. Stier, Phillip S. Levin
Summary: The impact of urbanization on coastal ecosystems is complex and varies across different water habitats. Urbanization leads to a decrease in freshwater biodiversity, but may result in an unexpected increase in coastal marine biodiversity. There is no significant association between urbanization and ecosystem functions in freshwater and coastal marine habitats. Integrated management of terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal marine systems is necessary for effective ecosystem-based management.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Peilong Ju, Mingru Chen, William W. L. Cheung, Yongjun Tian, Shengyun Yang, Peng Sun, Chengpu Jiang, Zhenbin Lu
Summary: A first mass balance food web model was developed to characterize the upwelling ecosystem in the Southern Taiwan Strait. Analysis of the model revealed structuring groups, keystone groups, maturity indicators, and control mechanisms within the ecosystem. The model provides basic information for stakeholders and policy-makers to implement ecosystem-based management.
JOURNAL OF MARINE SYSTEMS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jakob Runge
Summary: Detecting and quantifying causal relations in ecosystem functioning is challenging and involves reasoning about underlying assumptions. A global study on grasslands highlights the importance of considering confounding, nonlinearity, and determinism in modern causal inference approaches in ecology.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ruixue Zhang, Ting Chen, Yuanxin Zhang, Zeyu Wang
Summary: This study uses a data-driven approach to evaluate the level of construction innovation in China. The results show that the overall level of construction innovation is not high and the regional distribution is uneven. Additionally, the level of construction innovation is consistent with local economic strength and is most sensitive to innovation output at the regional level. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of construction innovation in China is shown, which is similar to the characteristics of geographical location. The measurement system in this study represents breakthroughs over traditional methods and can be applied to other research fields.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xiaoyu Fang, Francesco Cozzoli, Sven Smolders, Antony Knights, Tom Moens, Karline Soetaert, Carl Van Colen
Summary: This study combined species populations' impact on ecosystem functioning to predict a decrease in ragworm biomass and sediment oxygen uptake in the Western Scheldt estuary, mainly driven by hydrodynamic and geomorphological changes. Local gains or losses in ecosystem functioning were primarily influenced by changes in maximum current velocities and inundation regimes.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Mara A. Freilich, Glenn Flierl, Amala Mahadevan
Summary: This study investigates the factors influencing the nutrient supply rate for new phytoplankton production in the subtropical gyres. It shows that the vertical nutrient flux is dependent on the vertical motion within the eddying flow and varies nonlinearly with the phytoplankton growth rate. The flux is maximized when the growth rate matches the inverse of the decorrelation timescale for vertical motion. The findings suggest that phytoplankton productivity is maximized at a growth rate of 1/3 day(-1), corresponding to the timescale of submesoscale dynamics. Variability in the frequency of vertical motion across different physical features of the flow promotes phytoplankton production with different growth rates. This growth-transport feedback can contribute to diversity in the phytoplankton community structure and enhance net productivity in the presence of community diversity.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Review
Ecology
Gianalberto Losapio, Luisa Genes, Christopher J. Knight, Tyler N. McFadden, Lucas Pavan
Summary: Biodiversity is vital for ecosystem functioning, and ecosystem engineers are species that have a significant impact on ecological processes. However, their role is often overlooked and difficult to measure. Understanding ecosystem engineers is crucial for mitigating biodiversity loss and maintaining healthy ecosystems.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
S. Bayuzick, D. Guarin, J. Benavides, A. Bonhage, F. Hirsch, D. R. Diefenbach, M. McDill, T. Raab, P. J. Drohan
Summary: Hearths used for charcoal manufacturing in the 19th and 20th centuries have been found to have unique plant communities and growth characteristics. Soil stratigraphy analysis of charcoal hearths near Greenwood Furnace in the northcentral Appalachians showed that hearth use resulted in unique ecological niches and changes in soil fertility characteristics. These findings suggest that hearths may play a role in enhancing forest biodiversity.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kevin Lopez-Reyes, Luis Osorio-Olvera, Octavio Rojas-Soto, Xavier Chiappa-Carrara, Carlos Patron-Rivero, Carlos Yanez-Arenas
Summary: Modeling units based on phylogenetic relationships and including occurrence records of related species can improve the predictive capacity of niche models for estimating the invasion area of target species, particularly for species in non-environmental pseudo-equilibrium and with geographical constraints.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Qian Xu, Ren Yang, Dachang Zhuang, Zongliang Lu
Summary: This study analyzed the impact of urban and rural spatial gradients, landscape gradients, and urban development planning on ecosystem services supply and demand in the Pearl River Delta region. It found significant differences in the ES supply function among different cities, with regulating services being the most important function type. The study also observed a gradual increase in ES value within cities and complex variations in ES values between cities.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Sebastian J. Schreiber, Jonathan M. Levine, Oscar Godoy, Nathan J. B. Kraft, Simon P. Hart
Summary: Contemporary studies of species coexistence are often based on deterministic models that do not accurately reflect the complexities found in nature. This study used experimental field data to test the efficacy of deterministic coexistence metrics on the duration of species coexistence in a finite world. The results highlight the importance of integrating information on both invasion growth rates and species' equilibrium population sizes in understanding the variation in species coexistence times.
Article
Ecology
Thu Zar Nwe, Nadia I. Maaroufi, Eric Allan, Santiago Soliveres, Anne Kempel
Summary: Nitrogen enrichment can affect soil communities and their functioning through changes in nutrient availability and stoichiometry, as well as by altering plant communities and consumer abundance. However, the relative importance of these mechanisms, and the drivers of intra-annual stability in soil functioning, are not well understood. This study examined the effects of nitrogen enrichment, plant functional composition and diversity, and foliar pathogen presence on soil functioning using two enzymes as indicators. The results showed that nitrogen enrichment had a slight impact on one enzyme, while plant diversity and fungicide application were important drivers of the other enzyme. The study highlights the need to consider temporal dynamics and the interactions between plants and pathogens when studying soil functioning under environmental changes.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Rodrigo R. R. Granjel, Eric Allan, Oscar Godoy
Summary: Changes in resources and enemies drive plant diversity and composition. We conducted a grassland experiment to examine the effects of nitrogen addition and pathogen suppression on niche and fitness differences. We found that nitrogen and pathogens modified species interaction strengths and intrinsic growth rates, leading to reduced multispecies fitness differences. These modifications also promoted stabilising niche differences, which predicted major changes in community composition. Indirect interactions between species explained community changes in smaller assemblages, but direct pairwise interactions became more important with more species involved.
Correction
Biology
Serguei Saavedra, Ignasi Bartomeus, Oscar Godoy, Rudolf P. Rohr, Pengjuan Zu
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Gaetane Le Provost, Noelle Schenk, Caterina Penone, Jan Thiele, Catrin Westphal, Eric Allan, Manfred Ayasse, Nico Bluthgen, Runa S. Boeddinghaus, Andrea Larissa Boesing, Ralph Bolliger, Verena Busch, Markus Fischer, Martin M. Gossner, Norbert Hoelzel, Kirsten Jung, Ellen Kandeler, Valentin H. Klaus, Till Kleinebecker, Sophia Leimer, Sven Marhan, Kathryn Morris, Sandra Mueller, Felix Neff, Margot Neyret, Yvonne Oelmann, David J. Perovic, Sophie Peter, Daniel Prati, Matthias C. Rillig, Hugo Saiz, Deborah Schaefer, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael Schloter, Ingo Schoening, Marion Schrumpf, Juliane Steckel, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Marco Tschapka, Juliane Vogt, Christiane Weiner, Wolfgang Weisser, Konstans Wells, Michael Werner, Wolfgang Wilcke, Peter Manning
Summary: This study examines the impact of biodiversity on the supply of ecosystem services in European agricultural grasslands. The results show that plant diversity at both plot-level and surrounding areas plays a significant role in the provision of cultural and aboveground regulating services. In contrast, provisioning and belowground regulating services are more influenced by field-level management and abiotic factors. The findings also highlight the positive influence of biodiversity on different stakeholder groups.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
David Garcia-Callejas, Oscar Godoy, Lisa Buche, Maria Hurtado, Jose B. Lanuza, Alfonso Allen-Perkins, Ignasi Bartomeus
Summary: This study examines the role of biotic interactions in multi-trophic communities and finds that species self-regulation and niche partitioning contribute to maintaining species persistence and coexistence.
Article
Agronomy
Gemma Rutten, Eric Allan
Summary: Plant-soil feedbacks play a crucial role in ecological processes, but there is variation in feedback strength between species and predicting this variation is challenging. A new concept is proposed to predict plant-soil feedback outcomes by considering the proportion of pathogens and mutualists cultured by plants with different root traits. Two gradients in root traits are identified, and the dissimilarity between species along these gradients determines the strength and direction of the biotic feedback.
Article
Agronomy
Maria Dolores Hidalgo-Galvez, Luis Matias, Jesus Cambrolle, Eduardo Gutierrez, Ignacio Manuel Perez-Ramos
Summary: This study explores the impacts of climate change and overgrazing on the sustainability of dehesas, highlighting the role of scattered trees in maintaining pasture quality. The findings highlight the importance of moderate grazing and the potential mitigation effects of tree canopy in agroforestry ecosystems.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Raquel Martins-Noguerol, Luis Matias, Ignacio M. Perez-Ramos, Xoaquin Moreira, Marta Francisco, Justo Pedroche, Cristina DeAndres-Gil, Eduardo Gutierrez, Joaquin J. Salas, Antonio J. Moreno-Perez, Anthony J. Davy, Sara Munoz-Valles, Manuel Enrique Figueroa, Jesus Cambrolle
Summary: There is increasing interest in consumption of halophytes due to their nutritional value and antioxidant properties. However, the effects of growing conditions on the properties of these plants are not well understood. This study investigated the influence of soil properties on the growth, reproductive performance, and nutritional traits of C. maritimum.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Soil Science
Pablo Homet, Jean-Marc Ourcival, Eduardo Gutierrez, Jara Dominguez-Begines, Luis Matias, Oscar Godoy, Lorena Gomez-Aparicio
Summary: Climate change has significant impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, but little is known about its effects on soil communities, particularly their resistance to changes in temperature and precipitation. This study examined the impact of predicted reductions in rainfall on soil food webs using nematodes as bioindicators, and found that rainfall reduction had negative effects on nematode abundance, community composition, and indicators of soil food web structure. These results suggest a low resistance of soil food webs to climate change-induced rainfall reductions.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Alfonso Allen-Perkins, David Garcia-Callejas, Ignasi Bartomeus, Oscar Godoy
Summary: A universal feature of ecological systems is that species do not interact with others with the same sign and strength. Yet, the consequences of this asymmetry in biotic interactions for the short- and long-term persistence of individual species and entire communities remains unclear. Here, we develop a set of metrics to evaluate how asymmetric interactions among species translate to asymmetries in their individual vulnerability to extinction under changing environmental conditions.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Lourdes Morillas, Maria Jose Leiva, Ignacio M. Perez-Ramos, Jesus Cambrolle, Luis Matias
Summary: Current global climate change is causing increasingly severe drought conditions, posing a threat to many plant species. This study assessed the effects of different drought intensities on the survival and morphological traits of cork oak seedlings. The results showed that seedlings from southern latitudes had larger drought-resistant traits but lower survival under extreme drought conditions. Root development played a crucial role in the functioning of cork oak after damage caused by reduced water availability. These findings can guide restoration actions under a warmer climate.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Iva Franic, Eric Allan, Simone Prospero, Kalev Adamson, Fabio Attorre, Marie-Anne Auger-Rozenberg, Sylvie Augustin, Dimitrios Avtzis, Wim Baert, Marek Barta, Kenneth Bauters, Amani Bellahirech, Piotr Boron, Helena Braganca, Tereza Brestovanska, May Bente Brurberg, Treena Burgess, Daiva Burokiene, Michelle Cleary, Juan Corley, David R. Coyle, Gyoergy Csoka, Karel Cerny, Kateryna Davydenko, Maarten de Groot, Julio Javier Diez, H. Tugba Dogmus Lehtijaervi, Rein Drenkhan, Jacqueline Edwards, Mohammed Elsafy, Csaba Bela Eoetvoes, Roman Falko, Jianting Fan, Nina Feddern, Agnes Fuerjes-Miko, Martin M. Gossner, Bartlomiej Grad, Martin Hartmann, Ludmila Havrdova, Miriam Kadasi Horakova, Marketa Hrabetova, Mathias Just Justesen, Magdalena Kacprzyk, Marc Kenis, Natalia Kirichenko, Marta Kovac, Volodymyr Kramarets, Nikola Lackovic, Maria Victoria Lantschner, Jelena Lazarevic, Marianna Leskiv, Hongmei Li, Corrie Lynne Madsen, Chris Malumphy, Dinka Matosevic, Iryna Matsiakh, Tom W. May, Johan Meffert, Duccio Migliorini, Christo Nikolov, Richard O'Hanlon, Funda Oskay, Trudy Paap, Taras Parpan, Barbara Piskur, Hans Peter Ravn, John Richard, Anne Ronse, Alain Roques, Beat Ruffner, Alberto Santini, Karolis Sivickis, Carolina Soliani, Venche Talgo, Maria Tomoshevich, Anne Uimari, Michael Ulyshen, Anna Maria Vettraino, Caterina Villari, Yongjun Wang, Johanna Witzell, Milica Zlatkovic, Rene Eschen
Summary: Non-native pests, climate change, and their interactions can alter relationships between trees and tree-associated organisms, with consequences for forest health. Factors such as mean annual temperature, phylogenetic distance between hosts, and geographic distance between locations play a crucial role in shaping tree-associated communities. The increasing importance of high temperatures suggests that climate change may directly and indirectly affect tree-associated organisms. Furthermore, host range shifts and human-mediated transport contribute to the emergence and spread of new pests. It is vital to limit the establishment of tree pests and enhance the resilience of forest ecosystems to climate change.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Maria Hurtado, Oscar Godoy, Ignasi Bartomeus
Summary: The spatial aggregation of plants can both reduce seed production through competition and increase plant fitness through attracting pollinators. This study found that crowded neighborhoods decreased individual seed production but increased visitation rates and plant fitness by certain pollinator guilds. The balance between these forces varied depending on the focal species and spatial scale.
Article
Plant Sciences
Pablo Homet, Luis Matias, Oscar Godoy, Lorena Gomez-Aparicio
Summary: This study experimentally investigated the effects of increasing drought and soil-borne pathogens on tree regeneration in mixed oak forests. The results showed that neutral or positive drought effects dominated over negative effects in the tree community. Moreover, positive drought effects on the dominant species Q. suber were indirectly mediated by soil-borne pathogens, as shown by the disappearance of these effects with fungicide application.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)