Article
Ecology
Emily Grman, Chad R. Zirbel, Jonathan T. Bauer, Anna M. Groves, Tyler Bassett, Lars A. Brudvig
Summary: The presence of C-4 grasses in restored prairies negatively affects the abundance and diversity of sown forbs, with direct negative effects outweighing the indirect positive effects. Managers can promote the growth of sown forbs in restored prairies by increasing forb seeding density and reducing the abundance of C-4 grasses and weeds.
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Lucio Biancari, Gaston R. Onatibia, Juan J. Gaitan, Martin R. Aguiar
Summary: This study investigated the co-dominance of grasses and shrubs in Patagonian steppes and found that it is a general feature. It also found that, regardless of the precipitation, shrubs always have lower cover than grasses.
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Hao Gou, Jin Liao, Fan Du, Changliang Tang, Yali Lin, Dingjuan Li, Yulei Zhang, Yangyang Ning, Zihui Ye, Zheyao Xu, Cuiying Zhou, Zhen Liu
Summary: Soil erosion is a significant problem in subtropical gardens, and soil conservation and restoration are important topics of research. This study aims to improve soil conditions using high-performance ester materials to mitigate the impact of soil loss on subtropical landscapes. The results show that the addition of high-performance ester materials significantly reduces soil loss and promotes vegetation growth.
Article
Ecology
Kimberly O'Keefe, Seton Bachle, Rachel Keen, E. Greg Tooley, Jesse B. Nippert
Summary: Root structure is crucial for water-use strategies, as woody roots show higher hydraulic conductance and mechanical strength in different soil depths, while shallow grass roots have unique trait combinations enabling rapid water uptake and tolerance to dry soils under multiple fire regimes.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Lulu Zhang, Liuyi Yang, Huirong Zhou, Lifei Ren, Wenchao Li, Wenming Bai, Wen-Hao Zhang
Summary: The study found that mowing and N fertilization have different effects on C allocation priorities and C accumulation in different plant functional groups and species in a temperate grassland. Mowing enhances C accumulation in forbs, while N fertilization enhances C accumulation in grasses. These contrasting responses may explain the observation that mowing and N fertilization have no impacts on C accumulation at the community level.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Morodoluwa Akin-Fajiye, Laura W. Ploughe, Amber Greenall, Lauchlan H. Fraser
Summary: Warming and changing water amount can have different effects on facilitation and competition between native and exotic plants. Exotic plants may have better adaptability and may outcompete native plants. The study compared the competitive interactions and biomass of four plant species in response to warming and changing water conditions.
Article
Agronomy
Furong Niu, Nathan A. Pierce, Steven R. Archer, Gregory S. Okin
Summary: The transition from grassland to shrubland is a common form of land degradation in drylands, often attributed to changes in disturbance regimes such as overgrazing. This study tested the hypothesis that wind erosion affecting topsoil would promote shrub recruitment over grass. However, the results showed that the growth of grasses and shrubs on wind-eroded soils was comparable to that on non-wind-eroded soils under well-watered greenhouse conditions.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jiemin Ma, Chuan Yuan, Jiayu Zhou, Yan Li, Guangyao Gao, Bojie Fu
Summary: The study validated the effectiveness of using logistic model with limiting factor of carrying capacity for estimating biomass of dominant shrub species in Loess Plateau of China. This model not only showed statistical significance, but also provided more ecological meanings and insights into ecosystem functioning. Previous use of allometric model for biomass estimation might have biases and overfitting issues due to unrepresentative samples and random quirks of samples.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Michael Bunce
Summary: When it comes to ancient DNA, people usually think of extinct megafauna, but the study of small vertebrates is often overlooked. This study introduces a minimally destructive method to study the ancient DNA of small vertebrates, focusing on New Zealand geckos. The researchers reconstruct the evolutionary history of these geckos and provide insights into managing remnant populations. This work not only has implications for New Zealand geckos, but also opens up opportunities for biomolecular research on small vertebrate samples in museum collections.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kirrilly Pfitzner, Renee Bartolo, Tim Whiteside, David Loewensteiner, Andrew Esparon
Summary: The study used miniaturisation of hyperspectral sensors on drones to monitor non-native grass species, revealing subtle spectral differences that can be used to distinguish between species. The late dry season and end of the wet season provided the best timeframe for obtaining spectral data on non-native grass species.
Article
Ecology
Mitchell L. Coleman, C. Ellery Mayence, Michael D. White, Anna L. Jacobsen, R. Brandon Pratt
Summary: The study shows that competition from exotic annual grasses limits the growth of saltbush seedlings and impacts the population dynamics. The edaphic structure and water availability of a site are key factors affecting both grass invasion and saltbush recruitment success.
Article
Plant Sciences
Andrea Ganthaler, Andreas Baer, Birgit Daemon, Adriano Losso, Andrea Nardini, Christian Dullin, Giuliana Tromba, Georg von Arx, Stefan Mayr
Summary: The study reveals a high proportion of persistent xylem dysfunctions in unstressed Alpine dwarf shrubs, occurring in various but species-specific cross-sectional patterns. These dysfunctions reduce the specific hydraulic conductivity and are only partially reversible, indicating the importance of understanding the nature and prevalence of such dysfunctions in assessing plant hydraulic strategies.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Qiuying Tian, Peng Lu, Pengfei Ma, Huirong Zhou, Ming Yang, Xiufeng Zhai, Mengmeng Chen, Hong Wang, Wenchao Li, Wenming Bai, Hans Lambers, Wen-Hao Zhang
Summary: The study found that nitrogen enrichment had differential effects on the absorption of phosphorus, calcium, and manganese by grassland plants, primarily by promoting different responses in the below-ground processes at the soil-root interface for forbs and grasses. Soil acidification aggravated the responses of these elements, particularly calcium and manganese, to long-term nitrogen enrichment.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Bulent Tutmez
Summary: An uncertainty-based Bayesian strategy was developed and tested among environmental laboratories to address the interlaboratory agreement problem. The proposed hybrid approach showed no sensitivity to outliers and had a transparent and robust agreement structure. The algorithmic procedure can explore both laboratory performances and conformity between independent samples.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
B. Adriaan Grobler, Janet Franklin, Curtis W. Marean, Claudine Gravel-Miguel, Richard M. Cowling
Summary: The Greater Cape Floristic Region in Southern Africa is a hotspot of biological diversity and evidence for human evolution. The region's complex climate influences the importance of different plant photosynthetic types. By analyzing vegetation data and photosynthetic type affinities, researchers have created models to predict the distribution of different photosynthetic types in the region's past and present climates.
QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Corey A. Moffet, J. Bret Taylor, D. Terrance Booth
JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS
(2015)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Jeremy Joshua Pittman, Daryl Brian Arnall, Sindy M. Interrante, Corey A. Moffet, Twain J. Butler
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Peter R. Robichaud, Joseph W. Wagenbrenner, Fredrick B. Pierson, Kenneth E. Spaeth, Louise E. Ashmun, Corey A. Moffet
Article
Ecology
Patrick E. Clark, C. Jason Williams, Patrick R. Kormos, Frederick B. Pierson
JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS
(2018)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Chakradhar Mattupalli, Corey A. Moffet, Kushendra N. Shah, Carolyn A. Young
Review
Ecology
C. Jason Williams, Frederick B. Pierson, Osama Z. Al-Hamdan, Patrick R. Kormos, Stuart P. Hardegree, Patrick E. Clark
Article
Geography, Physical
Peter J. Olsoy, Nancy F. Glenn, Patrick E. Clark, DeWayne R. Derryberry
ISPRS JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING
(2014)
Article
Ecology
Patrick E. Clark, Jaechoul Lee, Kyungduk Ko, Ryan M. Nielson, Douglas E. Johnson, David C. Ganskopp, Joe Chigbrow, Fredrick B. Pierson, Stuart P. Hardegree
JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS
(2014)
Article
Ecology
Peter J. Olsoy, Nancy F. Glenn, Patrick E. Clark
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2014)
Article
Ecology
K. Colton Flynn, Yuting Zhou, Prasanna H. Gowda, Corey A. Moffet, Pradeep Wagle, Vijaya G. Kakani
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2020)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Matthew R. Beck, Stacey A. Gunter, Corey A. Moffet, R. Ryan Reuter
Summary: The experiment aimed to determine if dosing titanium dioxide through an automated head chamber system is an acceptable method to measure fecal output. Results showed that the fecal output estimates by hand feeding and GreenFeed methods were similar, but there was a difference in variability between the dosing methods due to varying dosing times-of-day for the GreenFeed heifers. Future experimental designs should consider the increased variability in fecal output estimates when using a GreenFeed system configured with multiple feed hoppers.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Andrew M. Cunliffe, Karen Anderson, Fabio Boschetti, Richard E. Brazier, Hugh A. Graham, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Thomas Astor, Matthias M. Boer, Leonor G. Calvo, Patrick E. Clark, Michael D. Cramer, Miguel S. Encinas-Lara, Stephen M. Escarzaga, Jose M. Fernandez-Guisuraga, Adrian G. Fisher, Katerina Gdulova, Breahna M. Gillespie, Anne Griebel, Niall P. Hanan, Muhammad S. Hanggito, Stefan Haselberger, Caroline A. Havrilla, Phil Heilman, Wenjie Ji, Jason W. Karl, Mario Kirchhoff, Sabine Kraushaar, Mitchell B. Lyons, Irene Marzolff, Marguerite E. Mauritz, Cameron D. McIntire, Daniel Metzen, Luis A. Mendez-Barroso, Simon C. Power, Jiri Prosek, Enoc Sanz-Ablanedo, Katherine J. Sauer, Damian Schulze-Bruninghoff, Petra Simova, Stephen Sitch, Julian L. Smit, Caiti M. Steele, Susana Suarez-Seoane, Sergio A. Vargas, Miguel Villarreal, Fleur Visser, Michael Wachendorf, Hannes Wirnsberger, Robert Wojcikiewicz
Summary: This study developed a new protocol for photogrammetric height using UAV images to standardized measurements of biomass across a globally distributed field experiment. Canopy height inferred from UAV photogrammetry was found to strongly predict aboveground biomass across different plant species, providing accurate estimates. The photogrammetric approach proved to be sensitive to wind speed but robust in providing generalizable measurements across different growth forms and environments, demonstrating its potential for accurately estimating biomass in various ecosystems.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Stella M. Copeland, Kirk W. Davies, Stuart P. Hardegree, Corey A. Moffet, Jonathan D. Bates
Summary: This study investigated the effects of seasonal weather and plant associations on herbaceous production dynamics in sagebrush steppe. The results showed that spring precipitation was the most consistent predictor of production.
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Patrick E. Clark, Benjamin A. Porter, Mike Pellant, Kathryn Dyer, Tyler P. Norton
Summary: Invasive and highly flammable annual grasses have been altering wildfire regimes in the western United States. Existing fuel management strategies are struggling to keep up with this growing threat. Targeted livestock grazing can reduce fine fuels effectively while avoiding adverse effects on ecosystems.
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Geography
Chuan Liao, Patrick E. Clark, Stephen D. DeGloria, Christopher B. Barrett
Article
Ecology
Joaquin Aldabe, Ana Ines Sanchez-Iriarte, Mercedes Rivas, Oscar Blumetto
Summary: Success in conserving biodiversity in rangelands depends on effectively managing the systems to achieve positive economic outcomes while preserving biodiversity. This study found that managing grass height can increase forage mass without replacing native vegetation. However, the impact on grassland bird populations remains unclear. The findings suggest that maintaining grassland bird specialists and potentially increasing livestock production is feasible, but longer time frames may be needed to support endangered tall grass specialists.
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2024)
Article
Ecology
Timothy H. Parker, Alex Gerber, Erin Campbell, Molly Simonson, Robert K. Shriver, Lyman Persico
Summary: Many perennial plants in semiarid rangelands have experienced population declines. Solar radiation may be the primary factor causing high seedling mortality on south-facing slopes.
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2024)
Article
Ecology
Amin Ghasemi, Mahmoud-Reza Hemami, Sorour Karimi, Majid Iravani, Josef Senn
Summary: Seed dispersal is of great importance in plant ecology. This study examines the role of the onager in the endozoochoric seed dispersal of various plant species in an Iranian national park. The findings highlight the significance of conserving this threatened subspecies to maintain seed dispersal in arid habitats.
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2024)
Article
Ecology
Nicki Frey, Jeffrey L. Beck, Loretta Singletary, Laura Snell, Derek Scasta, Jessie Hadfield
Summary: This article presents a survey on public knowledge of wild free-roaming horse populations. The results indicate that the public has limited understanding of the ecology and management of these horses, which may affect their ability to support management efforts and distinguish fact from propaganda.
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2024)
Article
Ecology
Seyedeh Khadijeh Mahdavi, Mohammadreza Shahraki, Mohsen Sharafatmandrad
Summary: This study aimed to analyze the impact of Turkmen pastoralists' participation in rangeland restoration practices in Aqqala County. The results showed that pastoralists' age, annual income, number of animals, and animal husbandry experience had positive relationships with participatory behavior. Pastoralists who were members of rangeland management cooperatives and participated in training courses performed better in implementation. By identifying the consequences of participatory behavior, barriers to participation in restoration practices can be overcome.
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2024)
Article
Ecology
Corinna M. Holfus, Chad S. Boyd, Roxanne C. Rios, Kirk W. Davies, Stella M. Copeland, Ricardo Mata-Gonzalez
Summary: The distribution of Wyoming big sagebrush has decreased due to its interaction with invasive annual grasses and increased wildfire frequency. Traditional seeding methods have low success rates, while transplanting sagebrush has a higher success rate. Planting younger transplants and controlling invasive annual grasses before planting can increase transplant survival and canopy volume.
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2024)