Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Benjamin L. Gottesman, Jack C. Olson, Soohyun Yang, Orlando Acevedo-Charry, Dante Francomano, Felix A. Martinez, Richard S. Appeldoorn, Doran M. Mason, Ernesto Weil, Bryan C. Pijanowski
Summary: This study demonstrates the use of soundscape methodologies to quantify elusive dimensions of animal community resilience in the face of natural disturbances, showing the importance of long-term data for accurately measuring trajectories of recovery and how biodiversity and ecosystem functioning will change under novel disturbance regimes.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Emily B. Graham, Joseph E. Knelman
Summary: Understanding the processes of microbial community assembly is crucial for comprehending the role of microorganisms in ecosystem restoration and for optimizing management strategies. Important factors to consider when evaluating microbial community structure in the context of ecosystem recovery include: variations in community assembly processes, linkages to ecosystem function, and measurable microbial community attributes.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Dante Francomano, Benjamin L. Gottesman, Bryan C. Pijanowski
Summary: This study investigated the impact of temporal sampling strategies on the representativeness of biodiversity conditions using passive acoustic monitoring, finding differences in sound landscape variability across different sites and times of day. The results suggest that for long-term, fine temporal resolution monitoring programs, evenly distributed durations of at least 1 minute should be recorded to ensure representativeness.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ashlee Lillis, T. Aran Mooney
Summary: The soundscape of the ocean plays a crucial role in marine ecosystems, providing sensory information and indicating biodiversity and habitat health. However, the impact of environmental changes such as temperature on ecoacoustic activity in marine habitats is not well understood. This study found that the snap production and sound pressure level (SPL) of snapping shrimp, which dominate coastal soundscapes worldwide, were closely correlated with water temperature. Controlled experiments showed that temperature had a significant effect on snap rates of snapping shrimp, indicating that temperature plays a role in altering the soundscape patterns of diverse habitats. This has ecological implications for signal detection, communication, and navigation in coastal ecosystems for various organisms, including humans.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biology
Zachary T. Wood, Eric P. Palkovacs, Brian J. Olsen, Michael T. Kinnison
Summary: Humans are dominant global drivers of ecological and evolutionary change, affecting the reshaping of ecosystems and natural selection. Human activities play a crucial role in shaping eco-evolutionary potential, influencing the stability and resilience of populations, communities, and ecosystems. Proper management of anthropogenic effects requires a science of human effects on eco-evolutionary potential.
Article
Microbiology
Angela M. Chilton, Suong T. T. Nguyen, Tiffanie M. Nelson, Leanne A. Pearson, Brett A. Neilan
Summary: This study provides the first detailed description of Australia's biocrust microbiome, revealing its distribution and correlation with climate factors. The dominant bacterial phyla are Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Bacteroidetes. The composition of microbes differs between northern and southern regions, which is related to seasonal temperatures and summer rainfall.
ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Jaimie R. West, Thea Whitman
Summary: The spatial heterogeneity of soil microhabitats plays a crucial role in ecological patterns and community assembly processes. Physical disturbance disrupts the spatial isolation of soil microhabitats and microbial communities, leading to reduced bacterial richness and increasing similarity in soil communities. Understanding the effects of spatial heterogeneity and disconnectivity on soil microbial communities provides insights into how anthropogenic disturbances impact soil functions.
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Lucille Chapuis, Ben Williams, Timothy A. C. Gordon, Stephen D. Simpson
Summary: The study evaluated the performance of two models of GoPro underwater action cameras as PAM recorders, finding that they can reliably capture underwater acoustic recordings. Although not directly comparable with hydrophone-derived values, metrics derived from GoPros can be valuably compared between recordings taken using the same model.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Maximiliano Costa, Barry Gardiner, Tommaso Locatelli, Luca Marchi, Niccolo Marchi, Emanuele Lingua
Summary: The risk of wind damage to European forests is expected to increase as a result of climate change. Research efforts have been focused on developing tools to evaluate and predict forest vulnerability to wind damage and inform forest management decisions. This study introduces a new parameterization of the ForestGALES wind risk model specifically designed for alpine scenarios and validates it using field and laboratory tests. The study also investigates wind vulnerability variations in a case study in the Italian Alps. Evaluation: 8/10.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Jason A. Rothman, Jenna L. Riis, Katrina R. Hamilton, Clancy Blair, Douglas A. Granger, Katrine L. Whiteson
Summary: Human oral microbial communities have significant implications for oral and systemic health due to their diversity. Understanding the differences between healthy and dysbiotic oral microbiomes is important, especially within and between families. This study investigates the changes in oral microbiome composition within individuals and the impact of factors such as environmental tobacco smoke exposure, metabolic regulation, inflammation, and antioxidant potential. The findings reveal differences in oral microbiomes between children and caregivers, with shared diversity but distinct differences, and highlight the associations between the oral microbiome and various salivary markers.
Article
Ecology
Damien R. Farine
Summary: Evidence suggests that organisms can adapt their interactions with others in response to declining population sizes, with the proposed 'second-degree rewiring' rule serving as a biologically plausible regulatory mechanism to maintain network stability and promote assortativity. Empirical data confirms the effectiveness of this regulatory mechanism in maintaining network properties in shrinking populations.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Marina D. A. Scarpelli, Benoit Liquet, David Tucker, Susan Fuller, Paul Roe
Summary: Researchers address the challenge of analyzing ecoacoustic data through time-series motif discovery and random forest classification. Their semi-automated workflow achieved over 70% accuracy in labeling sounds in unfiltered recordings, categorizing them based on their main source. This approach is expected to greatly assist researchers in rapidly processing and labeling large datasets for biodiversity monitoring or bioacoustics research.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
D. A. Nieto-Mora, Susana Rodriguez-Buritica, Paula Rodriguez-Marin, J. D. Martinez-Vargaz, Claudia Isaza-Narvaez
Summary: Soundscape ecology is a promising field that studies landscape patterns based on the acoustic composition. Researchers analyze recordings from Acoustic Recording Units (ARUs) to understand the distribution of biotic and abiotic sounds at different frequencies and their relationship with ecosystem health metrics. Traditional machine learning methods have been commonly used for data processing, but there is a growing interest in using unsupervised deep learning methods to improve results and diversify the assessed attributes.
Editorial Material
Microbiology
Jimmy H. W. Saw
Summary: Microbial communities are often dominated by a few species, with a long tail of rare biosphere microorganisms that are highly diverse but found in low abundance. They play important roles in maintaining community integrity and resilience, and their phylogenetic diversity is crucial for understanding microbial diversity and evolution. Further efforts should be made to study these poorly understood microbial lineages that hold vast potential for advancing our understanding of microbial diversity, ecology, and evolution on Earth.
Article
Ecology
Oliver C. Metcalf, Jos Barlow, Christian Devenish, Stuart Marsden, Erika Berenguer, Alexander C. Lees
Summary: Acoustic indices play a crucial role in soundscape analysis, but signal masking may affect their sensitivity and fidelity. Calculating acoustic indices at ecologically appropriate time and frequency bins can reduce masking effects and improve the efficacy of the indices.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Review
Ecology
Francisco E. Fonturbel, Lida M. Franco, Francisco Bozinovic, Julian F. Quintero-Galvis, Carlos Mejias, Guillermo C. Amico, M. Soledad Vazquez, Pablo Sabat, Juan C. Sanchez-Hernandez, David M. Watson, Pablo Saenz-Agudelo, Roberto F. Nespolo
Summary: The arboreal marsupial monito del monte is a key species in the temperate rainforest, as it acts as the main seed disperser for endemic plants. It is also one of the few hibernating mammals in South America, able to reduce energy expenditure during winter. Despite low reproductive rates, this marsupial shows high densities due to its unique habitat. However, immediate actions are needed to protect the species from habitat destruction and climate change.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Melinda Cook, Andy Leigh, David M. Watson
Summary: Fruiting mistletoes provide a valuable model for studying foraging decisions made by animals when searching for food. This article introduces a novel experimental approach to manipulate the occurrence of food plants and measure the response of wild animals, offering insights into the evolutionary origins and ecological implications of seed dispersal. By examining the factors influencing foraging decisions and their consequences for both plants and animals, valuable information can be obtained about search image formation, spatial learning, interspecific differences in foraging strategies, and the effectiveness of seed dispersal. The article also discusses potential modifications to address other questions related to foraging ecology, plant-animal interactions, and coevolution.
JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS
(2022)
Review
Ecology
David M. Watson, Richard C. McLellan, Francisco E. Fonturbel
Summary: This article synthesizes the recent research findings on the responses of parasitic plants to environmental changes and their significant impacts on ecosystems, particularly their interactions with animal communities.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Ross Crates, David M. Watson, Gregory F. Albery, Timothee Bonnet, Liam Murphy, Laura Rayner, Dejan Stojanovic, Chris Timewell, Beau Meney, Mick Roderick, Dean Ingwersen, Robert Heinsohn
Summary: Mistletoes, as hemiparasitic plants, play a crucial role in moderating drought impacts on community structure. Their survival depends on host vascular flows and they are susceptible to mortality during drought. A study conducted in southeastern Australia found that mistletoe abundance is influenced by tree species composition, land use, and the presence of mistletoe birds. Mistletoe mortality is associated with high temperatures, low rainfall, and the interaction between temperature and rainfall. Interestingly, mistletoes can moderate drought impacts on woodland birds, particularly during the peak drought breeding seasons.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Richard C. McLellan, David M. Watson
Summary: One-third of the world's trees are at risk of extinction, with large, old, long-lived trees among the most vulnerable. The sandalwood population in Australia is declining and consists mostly of very old trees in advanced states of senescence.
Article
Ecology
Michael N. Callan, Alexander Johnson, David M. Watson
Summary: Declining hollow-dependent fauna worldwide due to tree clearing has prompted the development of artificial nest boxes. This study explores the use of plastic materials to create nest boxes that resemble natural tree hollows more closely. The researchers found that a double-walled plastic nest box with an internal timber-lined chamber performed best in buffering temperature fluctuations and maintaining high levels of relative humidity, showing potential in improving the design and functionality of artificial hollows.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Slade Allen-Ankins, Donald T. McKnight, Eric J. Nordberg, Sebastian Hoefer, Paul Roe, David M. Watson, Paul G. McDonald, Richard A. Fuller, Lin Schwarzkopf
Summary: Effective monitoring tools are crucial for tracking biodiversity loss and informing management strategies. Passive acoustic monitoring has the potential to be a cheap and effective method for monitoring biodiversity, but extracting useful information from long audio recordings is still difficult.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Thomas J. Matthews, Joseph P. Wayman, Robert J. Whittaker, Pedro Cardoso, Julian P. Hume, Ferran Sayol, Konstantinos Proios, Thomas E. Martin, Benjamin Baiser, Paulo A. V. Borges, Yasuhiro Kubota, Luiz dos Anjos, Joseph A. Tobias, Filipa C. Soares, Xingfeng Si, Ping Ding, Chase D. Mendenhall, Yong Chee Keita Sin, Frank E. Rheindt, Kostas A. Triantis, Francois Guilhaumon, David M. Watson, Lluis Brotons, Corrado Battisti, Osanna Chu, Francois Rigal
Summary: Research on island species-area relationships (ISAR) has expanded to incorporate functional (IFDAR) and phylogenetic (IPDAR) diversity. However, we lack comprehensive global analyses of how these categories of island diversity-area relationship (IDAR) vary. In this study, we provide the first comparative evaluation of IDARs at the global scale using avian data sets from 51 archipelagos. Our results show that increasing richness with area drives the non-richness corrected IPDAR and IFDAR. We also find that archipelagos with steeper ISARs have larger differences in slope between IDARs, indicating increased redundancy on larger islands in these archipelagos.
Article
Ecology
Lin Schwarzkopf, Paul Roe, Paul G. Mcdonald, David M. Watson, Richard A. Fuller, Slade Allen-Ankins
Summary: Observatories, such as the Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O), have the potential to monitor threatened species by collecting environmental sound data. The A2O has the ability to detect a significant number of threatened species at its sites, including birds, amphibians, and mammals. By applying technology to search the audio data, the A2O could serve as an important tool for monitoring these species.
Article
Plant Sciences
David M. Watson, Melinda Cook, Rodney Van der Ree, Lee Harrison
Summary: Mistletoes, once considered toxic weeds, have been found to have a positive impact on biodiversity and community structure. In areas where they have been traditionally removed, there is now a question of whether they should be reintroduced. Research showed that the size and orientation of trees had no effect on mistletoe germination and seedling emergence, but trees with restricted access to possums were more likely to host seedlings. Mistletoe restoration not only enhances habitat values, but also helps educate the community about the functional roles of these parasitic plants.
Article
Ecology
Caio S. Ballarin, Felipe W. Amorim, David M. Watson, Francisco E. Fonturbel
Summary: Keystone plant species are important for restoring degraded terrestrial sites, but their demographic characteristics and interactions with other species need to be considered. Replanting at low densities can re-establish food webs, while high-density restoration may affect the establishment and survival of sympatric plant species.
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Kyle E. Harms, David M. Watson, Luis Y. Santiago-Rosario, Sarah Mathews
Summary: This passage discusses the resemblance between some mistletoe species and their host plants, and explores the developmental origins and adaptive phenotypic evolution of this similarity. It also criticizes Calder's group selectionist seed-dispersal hypothesis for its logical flaws in explaining the mistletoe resemblance to hosts.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Elizabeth Znidersic, Michael W. Towsey, Christine Hand, David M. Watson
Summary: Combining long-duration false-color spectrograms with a machine-learned recognizer can efficiently detect and infer the presence of Eastern Black Rails. This approach automates the scanning and analysis of acoustic data, particularly useful for species with unpredictable vocalization patterns and occurrence.
AVIAN CONSERVATION AND ECOLOGY
(2021)
