Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Claire Celine Devos, Mikael Ohlson, Erik Naesset, Ole Martin Bollandsas
Summary: This study sampled soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in forest-tundra ecotones in northern Norway to examine the differences between forest and tundra soils and the factors influencing SOC stock sizes. The results showed that forest soils had higher SOC stocks than tundra soils, but SOC storage varied greatly within and between study sites. The study also found that an upward forest expansion did not necessarily lead to changes in SOC storage at all sites.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Helge-Ansgar Giebel, Carol Arnosti, Thomas H. Badewien, Insa Bakenhus, John Paul Balmonte, Sara Billerbeck, Leon Dlugosch, Rohan Henkel, Birgit Kuerzel, Jens Meyerjuergens, Felix Milke, Daniela Voss, Gerrit Wienhausen, Matthias Wietz, Holger Winkler, Mathias Wolterink, Meinhard Simon
Summary: The study investigated microbial and geochemical variables in the upper 200 m of the water column along a transect from the subantarctic to the subarctic Pacific. The results revealed distinct patterns among different regions and close covariations between microbial variables and chlorophyll a, POC, and PON, contributing to a better understanding of microbial organic matter processing in the large areas of the epipelagic Pacific.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Limnology
Winifred M. Johnson, Melissa Kido C. Soule, Krista Longnecker, Maya P. Bhatia, Steven J. Hallam, Michael W. Lomas, Elizabeth B. Kujawinski
Summary: Metabolites, the small organic molecules synthesized during cell metabolism, form a complex and dynamic carbon pool in the ocean. Understanding the distribution of metabolites inside microbial cells and dissolved in seawater is crucial for understanding their production and fate, as well as their role in shaping marine microbial food webs.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Andrea Paz, Leyla Hernandez, Lilian S. O. Melo, Mariana Lyra, Celio F. B. Haddad, Ana C. Carnaval
Summary: This study investigates the role of environmental filtering and biotic interactions in shaping the communities of tree frogs in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. The researchers find that functional richness is high along the forest, potentially driven by niche partitioning, while environmental filtering becomes more important in extreme environments. Trait overdispersion is found in areas of vegetation contact or adjacent biomes. Considering multiple dimensions of biodiversity and environmental variation provides a more comprehensive understanding of amphibian community assembly.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Bryan N. Shuman, Ioana C. Stefanescu, Laurie D. Grigg, David R. Foster, W. Wyatt Oswald
Summary: Changes in vegetation in North America indicate shifts in the latitudinal temperature gradient along the western margin of the North Atlantic during the Holocene. The distribution of tree taxa, such as oak and birch, changed in opposite directions across different latitudes, consistent with changes in temperature gradient steepness. Pollen-inferred temperatures from 34 sites show a long-term northward steepening in summer and southward steepening in winter. An oscillation in tree distributions disrupted the long-term trends from 4.8 to 3.8 ka, as a steep temperature gradient developed north of 43.5(degrees)N. This shift likely limited cold outbreaks to the south, resulting in anomalously high summer temperatures at 42-43.5(degrees)N and the expansion of oak forests northward. The changes in vegetation and temperature gradient are consistent with orbital and ice sheet forcing as well as millennial variability in the North Atlantic pressure field comparable to the North Atlantic Oscillation on interannual time scales.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Claire Celine Devos, Mikael Ohlson, Erik Naesset, Kari Klanderud, Ole Martin Bollandsas
Summary: Due to climate warming, forests are expanding into tundra areas, but the effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks are uncertain. To investigate the consequences of tree encroachment into tundra, we sampled SOC stocks across 36 forest-tundra ecotones in Norway. Our results suggest that SOC stocks show significant variation within and among treeline ecotones, and are influenced by temperature, slope steepness, slope aspect, and soil parent material. Overall, our findings indicate that tree encroachment into tundra is unlikely to have immediate consequences for SOC stocks.
Article
Ecology
Ida Marielle Mienna, Kari Klanderud, Hans Ole Orka, Anders Bryn, Ole Martin Bollandsas
Summary: This study evaluates the potential of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for mapping treeline ecotones. The results show that UAVs can efficiently map treeline ecotones and accurate land cover maps can be obtained regardless of timing within a growing season and geographical region, overcoming the constraints of a short field-season or low-resolution remote sensing data.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ivan Monclaro Carneiro, Paulo Cesar Paiva, Iacopo Bertocci, Maria Lucia Lorini, Maria Teresa Menezes de Szechy
Summary: This study projected the current and future distributions of the benthic Sargassum natans species in the Western Atlantic Ocean, and found that their occurrence will be threatened by increased seawater temperature. The study emphasizes the importance of considering different depth ranges when building and interpreting predictive models of habitat-forming subtidal macroalgae under climate change.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ricardo A. Scrosati, Matthew J. Freeman, Julius A. Ellrich, Willy Petzold
Summary: This study documents the biogeographic variation at mid-to-high intertidal elevations in wave-exposed rocky habitats on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia. It found that northern locations are severely disturbed by ice scour, while southern locations exhibit higher species richness and abundance. Temperature and pelagic food supply were found to be the main factors influencing the biogeographic patterns.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Denis Benito, Dragana Palecek, Xabier Lekube, Urtzi Izagirre, Ionan Marigomez, Benat Zaldibar, Manu Soto
Summary: Histopathological examination in mussels is important for diagnosing ecosystem health status. Environmental factors and parasite distribution can affect both parasitic burden and associated pathologies in mussels. Additionally, latitude and settlement patterns of mussels on the shore play a significant role in mussel health condition.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Fisheries
Rodrigo Marin-Nahuelpi, Jose M. Yanez, Selim S. Musleh, Diego Canas-Rojas, Juan Carlos Quintanilla, Sergio Contreras-Lynch, Gonzalo Gajardo, Maritza Sepulveda, Chris Harrod, Daniel Gomez-Uchida
Summary: Efforts to introduce Atlantic salmon into Chilean rivers and streams were unsuccessful in the past century. The aquaculture industry in the 1980s led to the escape of Atlantic salmon, posing ecological risks to native species. The origin of these free-living salmon, whether from commercial aquaculture strains or self-sustaining populations, remains unclear.
AQUACULTURE ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Rodrigues Santos de Andrade Alessandra, Elmo Borges de Azevedo Koch, Andre do Amaral Nogueira, Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha, Cibele Bragagnolo, Everton Lorenzo, Marcio Bernardino DaSilva, Hubert Charles Delabie Jacques
Summary: This study evaluates the use of substitute taxonomic resolutions to assess the richness and composition of harvestmen. The results show that genus and intermediate resolution are good substitutes for species richness, while indicator taxa and subfamily can also adequately replace species composition.
Article
Ecology
Kyle R. Millar, Patrick Gagnon
MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES
(2018)
Article
Ecology
Anne P. St-Pierre, Hali R. Moreland, Patrick Gagnon
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MARINE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
(2018)
Article
Zoology
Nicholas A. W. Brown, David R. Wilson, Patrick Gagnon
Article
Ecology
Anne P. St-Pierre, Patrick Gagnon
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MARINE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Laura Teed, David Belanger, Patrick Gagnon, Evan Edinger
ESTUARINE COASTAL AND SHELF SCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Ecology
David Belanger, Patrick Gagnon
MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES
(2020)
Article
Ecology
David Belanger, Patrick Gagnon
Summary: The study showed that growth of subarctic rhodoliths is mainly controlled by irradiance, with temperature effects possibly overriding irradiance during the coldest months of the year. Rhodoliths at 25 m appeared to utilize light nearly twice as efficiently as rhodoliths at 15 m, enabling similar growth at both depths despite the lower irradiance at 25 m. Subarctic L. glaciale rhodoliths are resilient to changes in sea temperature over a relatively broad range, showing sustained growth even at temperatures above those normally observed during most of the year in Newfoundland coastal waters.
MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Viviana Pena, David Belanger, Patrick Gagnon, Joseph L. Richards, Line Le Gall, Jeffery R. Hughey, Gary W. Saunders, Sandra C. Lindstrom, Eli Rinde, Vivian Husa, Hartvig Christie, Stein Fredriksen, Jason M. Hall-Spencer, Robert S. Steneck, Kathryn M. Schoenrock, Janne Gitmark, Ellen Sofie Grefsrud, Marc B. Angles D'Auriac, Erwann Legrand, Jacques Grall, Thomas F. Mumford, Nicholas A. Kamenos, Paul W. Gabrielson
Summary: The study analyzed DNA sequences of Arctic and Subarctic coralline red algae, confirming the existence of four Lithothamnion species and correcting previous taxonomical errors based on morpho-anatomy. The importance of sequencing historical type specimens was demonstrated, and the distributions and ecology of these species were updated based on sequenced specimens.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Cassidy L. Arnold, David Belanger, Patrick Gagnon
Summary: The study confirmed that growth of Lithothamnion glaciate rhodoliths is not inhibited at temperatures near 0.5 degrees Celsius, and that cumulative irradiance is a better predictor of growth variation than cumulative thermal index.
JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Kyle Matheson, Patrick Gagnon
Summary: The experiment showed that green sea urchins are relatively insensitive to their visible-light environment, with light quantity and quality having minimal impact on their growth and feeding. Food quality and availability were found to have a greater influence on somatic and gonadic growth and feeding in the species.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sean Hacker Teper, Christopher C. Parrish, Patrick Gagnon
Summary: By studying a rhodolith bed in southeastern Newfoundland, Canada, we found that the species composition and rhodolith morphology of the bed indicated high temporal stability. Our nutritional analysis showed that most species fed on a shared resource, diatoms, and that macroalgal detritus is an important food source within rhodolith communities. Stable isotope analysis revealed the simultaneous operation of bottom-up forcing and benthic-pelagic coupling in subarctic rhodolith beds.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Julia Mackin-McLaughlin, Shreya Nemani, Benjamin Misiuk, Adam Templeton, Patrick Gagnon, Evan Edinger, Katleen Robert
Summary: This study uses habitat mapping to establish a baseline for the spatial distribution of benthic organisms along the western coast of Placentia Bay in Newfoundland, Canada. The study finds that fine-scale substrate information improves the accuracy of predictive models, which suggest a species-rich epifaunal assemblage dominated by ophiuroids, porifera, and hydrozoans, as well as prominent coverage by Agarum clathratum and non-geniculate crustose coralline algae. These findings are important for monitoring and conserving the biodiversity and ecosystem services of Placentia Bay.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Fernando Tuya, Nadine Schubert, Julio Aguirre, Daniela Basso, Eduardo O. Bastos, Flavio Berchez, Angelo F. Bernardino, Nestor E. Bosch, Heidi L. Burdett, Fernando Espino, Cindy Fernandez-Garcia, Ronaldo B. Francini-Filho, Patrick Gagnon, Jason M. Hall-Spencer, Ricardo Haroun, Laurie C. Hofmann, Paulo A. Horta, Nicholas A. Kamenos, Line Le Gall, Rafael A. Magris, Sophie Martin, Wendy A. Nelson, Pedro Neves, Irene Olive, Francisco Otero-Ferrer, Viviana Pena, Guilherme H. Pereira-Filho, Federica Ragazzola, Ana Cristina Rebelo, Claudia Ribeiro, Eli Rinde, Kathryn Schoenrock, Joao Silva, Marina N. Sissini, Frederico T. S. Tamega
Summary: Global marine conservation is hindered by an imbalance in research efforts and policy actions, which limits progress towards sustainability. Rhodolith beds, despite their global ecological importance and numerous ecosystem functions, remain disproportionately understudied compared to other coastal ecosystems. The lack of information about these habitats and their ecosystem services hampers effective conservation measures, especially considering the severe pressures and threats they face. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize research on rhodolith beds, combat degradation, and protect biodiversity for the future.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jasmin M. Schuster, A. Kurt Gamperl, Patrick Gagnon, Amanda E. Bates, Mark Mallory
Summary: Overgrazing of habitat-forming kelps by sea urchins can affect the physiology of consumers and their response to climate warming.
Article
Ecology
Siobhan Williams, Walter Adey, Jochen Halfar, Andreas Kronz, Patrick Gagnon, David Belanger, Merinda Nash