Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tanmay Bera, Leihong Wu, Hongjian Ding, Howard Semey, Amy Barnes, Zhichao Liu, Himansu Vyas, Weida Tong, Joshua Xu
Summary: Identifying the exact species of pantry beetles responsible for food contamination is crucial, as each species has unique elytral patterns through which they can be identified. Standardizing imaging methods is essential for developing automated species identification systems, which may improve taxonomical classification and enhance food contamination management and ecological conservation efforts.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Paul E. Bellamy, Elisabeth C. Charman, Neil Riddle, Will B. Kirby, Alice C. Broome, Gavin M. Siriwardena, Philip Grice, Will J. Peach, Richard D. Gregory
Summary: This study assessed the medium-term effects of woodland management on bird species and found that bespoke management supported through government agri-environment incentives can have a positive impact on target woodland birds.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shuzhe Zhao, Yijie Tong, Bei Teng, Xin Chen, Xingke Yang, Jing Li, Ming Bai
Summary: This paper presents a dataset based on beetle collection from a sample site in Tei Tong Tsai, Hong Kong. The dataset contains various statistical tables and photos, aiming to evaluate beetle species diversity in Hong Kong and the effectiveness of passive acquisition techniques in beetle collection.
Article
Mathematics, Applied
Chenxiao Song, Reiichiro Kawai
Summary: We develop and analyze a dynamic finite-budget allocation scheme for stratified sampling on the unit hypercube with adaptive variance reduction. By batching parallelized tasks, the scheme updates the budget allocation occasionally while considering decreasing stratum variances and estimating means. The scheme accommodates various existing algorithms for parameter search, and provides optimal batchwise learning rates for stochastic approximation.
SIAM JOURNAL ON SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Oskar Gran, Frank Gotmark
Summary: Understanding the biodiversity effects of treatments in even-aged clear-cutting forestry is crucial for proper forest management and conservation. A study on saproxylic beetles in young spruce stands after pre-commercial thinning showed that thinned stands hosted many species, including some red-listed ones, but had lower species numbers on deciduous wood and red-listed species compared to semi-natural woodland key habitats. While pre-commercially thinned spruce forests provide habitat for a diverse range of saproxylic beetle species, woodland key habitats are important for the conservation of a more variable fauna, especially for beetle groups of conservation concern.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Tom Radomski, David Beamer, Alan Babineau, Christa Wilson, Joseph Pechmann, Kenneth H. Kozak
Summary: One limitation of species distribution models (SDMs) is the difficulty in modeling species with low sample sizes. This study compared different methods for predicting the geographic ranges of species with very low sample sizes. The researchers recommend using Maxent with species-specific model settings when sample sizes are low.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
A. D. Trigilio, Y. W. Marien, M. Edeleva, P. H. M. Van Steenberge, D. R. D'hooge
Summary: Monte Carlo modeling is a powerful tool for describing system state variations in engineering systems, and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations show promise in dealing with distributed species. This study compares different search methods and their suitability for different system sizes. The results demonstrate that the optimal search method varies depending on the size of the system.
COMPUTERS & CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Frederic Sorbe, Tobias Graenzig, Michael Foerster
Summary: As globalization continues, it is crucial to understand the geographical distribution pattern of invasive species in order to effectively manage and minimize their impact on native biodiversity. In this study, the Maxent model was used to predict the potential spatial distribution of U. europaeus, and three bias correction methods were applied. The study found that U. europaeus is primarily distributed in the coastal and central regions of Zona Sur in south-central Chile, with temperature, precipitation, and precipitation seasonality being the most important factors affecting its distribution.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Pablo M. Vergara, Andres Fierro, Mario A. Carvajal, Alberto J. Alaniz, Madelaine Quiroz
Summary: This study used remote sensing techniques to evaluate the sensitivity of beetle species to environmental changes in Patagonian temperate forests, and found that different environmental factors had varying effects on ground-dwelling and canopy beetles.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Biology
Yoshihiro Inatomi, Hiroyuki Uno, Mayumi Ueno, Hino Takafumi, Yuichi Osa
Summary: This study found that the grazing intensity of Dryopteris crassirhizoma was sensitive to changes in deer density and positively related to spatial variation in deer density within regions. Dryopteris crassirhizoma can be a useful indicator species for assessing the impact of deer on forest vegetation.
Article
Entomology
Denis A. Demidko, Natalia N. Demidko, Pavel V. Mikhaylov, Svetlana M. Sultson
Summary: Biological invasions by bark beetles and borers pose a significant threat to ecosystems, with species utilizing four main invasion strategies: inbred, polyphagous, intermediate, and aggressive. These invaders exhibit traits like high fecundity, polyvoltinism, association with plant pathogens, and long-range or aggregation pheromones, contributing to their success in invaded areas and potential harm to native plant species.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Tomasz H. Szymura, Henok Kassa, Grzegorz Swacha, Magdalena Szymura, Adam Zajac, Zygmunt Kacki
Summary: This study compared two different data sources and found that the vegetation plot database underestimated species richness but provided additional information. This underestimation could result from limited sampling effort or focusing on particular vegetation types.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Richard Inman, Janet Franklin, Todd Esque, Kenneth Nussear
Summary: The assumption of unbiased sampling in species distribution modeling with presence-background methods is often not met when relying on museum records, leading to inherent sampling bias. Three correction methods have varying effectiveness in accounting for this bias, with FactorBiasOut generally showing the greatest improvement in recreating known distributions but not necessarily performing better in identifying environmental covariates or species-environment relationships compared to G-Filter or E-Filter methods. Biased calibration datasets can pose challenges, particularly for narrow niche species.
Article
Plant Sciences
Juanjuan Zhao, Jing Chen, Chundi Chen, Shijun Lu, Chenchen Song, Shiyan Liu, Jian Li, Chunxiao Zhuang
Summary: Determining adequate sample size (ASS) and minimum plot size (MPS) are crucial issues in urban vegetation investigations. This study introduced sampling completeness to calculate the MPS based on 54 samples in Chongqing, China. The results showed that the species-area accumulation curve with sampling completeness and the CVJack1 curve extrapolation method were promising approaches for determining the MPS and ASS of urban plants.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Christos G. Athanassiou, Nickolas G. Kavallieratos, Frank H. Arthur, Christos T. Nakas
Summary: This study evaluated the knockdown and mortality rates of two contact insecticides on adult red flour beetles and confused flour beetles. Cyfluthrin showed immediate knockdown but some individuals did not die eventually, while chlorfenapyr had poor initial knockdown but most beetles died after 7 days. These trends were consistent during the entire 5-week testing period. Illumination conditions did not affect the insecticidal effect of either insecticide. The results can contribute to the development of a lethality index as a quick indicator of knockdown and mortality rates caused by insecticide exposure.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Stephanie J. Law, Tom R. Bishop, Paul Eggleton, Hannah Griffiths, Louise Ashton, Catherine Parr
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2020)
Editorial Material
Ecology
Roger L. Kitching, Cecilia A. L. Dahlsjo, Paul Eggleton
Article
Ecology
Anna E. Goldman, Timothy C. Bonebrake, Toby P. N. Tsang, Theodore A. Evans, Luke Gibson, Paul Eggleton, Hannah M. Griffiths, Catherine L. Parr, Louise A. Ashton
Editorial Material
Ecology
Cecilia A. L. Dahlsjo, Paul Eggleton, Roger Kitching
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Hannah M. Griffiths, Paul Eggleton, Nicole Hemming-Schroeder, Tom Swinfield, Joel S. Woon, Steven D. Allison, David A. Coomes, Louise A. Ashton, Catherine L. Parr
Summary: Tree mortality rates are increasing in tropical rainforests due to global environmental change, accelerating the rate of wood decay, particularly in canopy gaps where termites play a major role. Through experiments and modeling, it was found that accelerated decomposition in canopy gaps leads to an increase in regional wood decay rate, which is not currently considered in carbon budgets.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Olivia Scholtz, Mairi E. Knight, Paul Eggleton
Summary: Termites in old growth rainforest in Africa and Asia exhibit differences in spatial distribution patterns based on feeding groups, with varying environmental influences and associations with predatory ants. Further studies are needed to fully understand these ecological interactions and their implications on ecosystem processes.
Article
Ecology
Paul Eggleton, Jo Smith, Sholto Holdsworth, Kelly Inward, Dan Carpenter
Summary: This study found that extrapolative nonparametric estimators tend to overestimate species richness when applied to dispersive taxa. Therefore, caution should be taken when using these estimators for estimating actual species density of dispersive taxa in ecological studies.
Review
Plant Sciences
Hannah M. Griffiths, Louise A. Ashton, Catherine L. Parr, Paul Eggleton
Summary: This article discusses the role of soil invertebrates in the decomposition of dead plant material, highlighting that they are not just facilitators of microbial decomposition, but can also break down organic matter with their own enzymes, impacting the soil environment and plants directly and indirectly. It recommends considering the synergistic effects of invertebrates and microbes in decomposition process, to provide ecological services that support plant growth and survival.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mark E. Hodson, Ron Corstanjeb, David T. Jones, Jo Witton, Victoria J. Burton, Tom Sloan, Paul Eggleton
Summary: Research suggests that the distribution of earthworms in agricultural fields is not directly related to their edaphic environment, indicating that the use of earthworms as indicators of ecological quality should be approached with caution. Sampling should take into account variability in earthworm populations that is unrelated to soil chemical and physical properties.
Article
Ecology
Joel S. Woon, David Atkinson, Stephen Adu-Bredu, Paul Eggleton, Catherine L. Parr
Summary: Savanna termite species have wider thermal limits than forest species, which may be one of the physiological differences that enable them to cope with the more extreme conditions in savanna environments.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Gabriel Willie Quansah, Stephen Adu-Bredu, Vincent Logah, Yadvinder Malhi, Paul Eggleton, Catherine L. Parr
Summary: This study explores how termites respond to land-use change in Kakum National Park and surrounding cocoa farms in Ghana. While termite species richness and abundance differ across different land-use types and distance from the forest edge, termite communities are robust to land-use change. Cocoa trees play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and environmental quality in agricultural landscapes.
Article
Ecology
Alice E. L. Walker, Mark P. Robertson, Paul Eggleton, Katherine Bunney, Candice Lamb, Adam M. Fisher, Catherine L. Parr
Summary: Understanding the factors controlling decomposition is crucial for predicting changes in the carbon cycle with global change. Ants exert significant top-down control on decomposition by preying on termites, leading to increased termite-mediated decomposition at a large scale.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Amy E. Zanne, Habacuc Flores-Moreno, Jeff R. Powell, William K. Cornwell, James W. Dalling, Amy T. Austin, Aimee T. Classen, Paul Eggleton, Kei-Ichi Okada, Catherine L. Parr, E. Carol Adair, Stephen Adu-Bredu, Md Azharul Alam, Carolina Alvarez-Garzon, Deborah Apgaua, Roxana Aragon, Marcelo Ardon, Stefan K. Arndt, Louise A. Ashton, Nicholas A. Barber, Jacques Beauchene, Matty P. Berg, Jason Beringer, Matthias M. Boer, Jose Antonio Bonet, Katherine Bunney, Tynan J. Burkhardt, Dulcineia Carvalho, Dennis Castillo-Figueroa, Lucas A. Cernusak, Alexander W. Cheesman, Taina M. Cirne-Silva, Jamie R. Cleverly, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen, Timothy J. Curran, Andre M. D'Angioli, Caroline Dallstream, Nico Eisenhauer, Fidele Evouna Ondo, Alex Fajardo, Romina D. Fernandez, Astrid Ferrer, Marco A. L. Fontes, Mark L. Galatowitsch, Grizelle Gonzalez, Felix Gottschall, Peter R. Grace, Elena Granda, Hannah M. Griffiths, Mariana Guerra Lara, Motohiro Hasegawa, Mariet M. Hefting, Nina Hinko-Najera, Lindsay B. Hutley, Jennifer Jones, Anja Kahl, Mirko Karan, Joost A. Keuskamp, Tim Lardner, Michael Liddell, Craig Macfarlane, Cate Macinnis-Ng, Ravi F. Mariano, M. Soledad Mendez, Wayne S. Meyer, Akira S. Mori, Aloysio S. Moura, Matthew Northwood, Roma Ogaya, Rafael S. Oliveira, Alberto Orgiazzi, Juliana Pardo, Guille Peguero, Josep Penuelas, Luis I. Perez, Juan M. Posada, Cecilia M. Prada, Tomas Privetivy, Suzanne M. Prober, Jonathan Prunier, Gabriel W. Quansah, Victor Resco De Dios, Ronny Richter, Mark P. Robertson, Lucas F. Rocha, Megan A. Rua, Carolina Sarmiento, Richard P. Silberstein, Mateus C. Silva, Flavia Freire Siqueira, Matthew Glenn Stillwagon, Jacqui Stol, Melanie K. Taylor, Francois P. Teste, David Y. P. Tng, David Tucker, Manfred Turke, Michael D. Ulyshen, Oscar J. Valverde-Barrantes, Eduardo Van den Berg, Richard S. P. Van Logtestijn, G. F. (Ciska) Veen, Jason G. Vogel, Timothy J. Wardlaw, Georg Wiehl, Christian Wirth, Michaela J. Woods, Paul-Camilo Zalamea
Summary: Deadwood is a significant global carbon store, with its size influenced by biotic decay. Termites, as important decomposers in the tropics, show higher sensitivity to temperature changes than microbes in terms of wood consumption. As the climate warms and shifts towards tropical climates, termites are likely to have a greater impact on wood decay.
Article
Soil Science
Victoria J. Burton, Andres Baselga, Adriana De Palma, Helen R. P. Phillips, Christian Mulder, Paul Eggleton, Andy Purvis
Summary: Land-use change and habitat degradation have significant impacts on soil biodiversity, but their effects are not well understood globally. This study combined multiple global datasets and found that soil organism abundance and taxon richness were reduced in all land uses except pasture, compared to undisturbed vegetation. Soil properties mediated the response of soil biota, but the effect varied across different land uses.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Barbara M. Smith, Dan Carpenter, John Holland, Felicity Andruszko, Alfred Gathorne-Hardy, Paul Eggleton
Summary: Lowland heath is an important habitat for biodiversity conservation. Prescribed burning has historically been the main management tool, but there is increasing interest in using cutting. Our study in the New Forest National Park compared prescribed burning with cutting to evaluate their impacts on biodiversity for up to 20 years after management. We found that burning provided better habitat condition, higher heather cover, lower bracken cover, and more bare ground compared to cutting. Swiping cutting supported high invertebrate diversity and provided food resources for specific heathland bird species.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
