Article
Ecology
Melanie Dickie, Robert Serrouya, Tal Avgar, Philip McLoughlin, R. Scott McNay, Craig DeMars, Stan Boutin, Adam T. Ford
Summary: This study examines how the interaction between resource density and exploitation efficiency influences home range size of wolves. The results show that exploitation efficiency plays a key role in determining home range size, with the impact of linear features diminishing in areas of higher resource density.
Article
Ecology
Robert J. P. Heathcote, Mark A. Whiteside, Christine E. Beardsworth, Jayden O. Van Horik, Philippa R. Laker, Sivan Toledo, Yotam Orchan, Ran Nathan, Joah R. Madden
Summary: The study shows that juvenile pheasants with better memory develop larger home ranges and are more successful in avoiding predation at the edges of their range. Spatial memory is linked to home range development and variation, and predation risk selects for spatial memory via experience-dependent spatial variation in mortality.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Zoology
S. M. Xirouchakis, C. Grivas, G. Andreou, E. Georgopoulou
Summary: The study of griffon vultures on Crete from 2005 to 2015 showed that immature vultures had larger winter ranges and core areas compared to adults, who were more restricted to breeding colonies and preferred sites away from urban areas. The home range overlap and utilization distribution between different age groups varied significantly between seasons.
JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Tomoko Sakiyama
Summary: In animal foraging, the optimal search strategy varies depending on the context. This study investigated how an agent can achieve flexible exploration by altering its directional rule based on the local resource distribution. The results showed that the agent can adaptively switch between diffusive properties depending on the resource density, leading to a more effective resource-searching performance.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Ellen E. Brandell, Nicholas M. Fountain-Jones, Marie L. J. Gilbertson, Paul C. Cross, Peter J. Hudson, Douglas W. Smith, Daniel R. Stahler, Craig Packer, Meggan E. Craft
Summary: The spatial organization of wildlife populations can be influenced by factors such as habitat quality, resource dispersion, and contact rates, which can impact the spread of information, behavior, and pathogens. Our study of Serengeti lions and Yellowstone wolves at the group level showed that group-level factors had a greater impact on spatial organization than population-level factors. Resource dispersion may play a more significant role in driving territory size and overlap for wolves compared to lions. Additionally, infectious disease epizootics can alter the spatial organization of wildlife populations, underscoring the importance of considering disease outbreaks in studies of behavioral ecology.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Florian Orgeret, Ryan R. Reisinger, Tegan Carpenter-Kling, Danielle Z. Keys, Alexandre Corbeau, Charles-Andre Bost, Henri Weimerskirch, Pierre A. Pistorius
Summary: Sexual competition is increasingly recognized as an important driver of species distribution patterns. This study investigated the relative importance of interpopulation versus intrapopulation competition in influencing sex-specific distribution and habitat preferences in two populations of wandering albatrosses. The results showed that intrapopulation sexual segregation was significant, indicating that historical intrapopulation competition may have led to sexual dimorphism and niche specialization, supporting the 'niche divergence' hypothesis.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Economics
Shi Xian, Zhixin Qi, Ngai-ming Yip
Summary: Recent studies have shown that socio-spatial segregation experiences vary among individuals in their daily lives. However, little is known about how this segregation changes over time. This study collected data from participants' mobile phone app for a week to analyze the spatial, temporal, mobility, and activity dimensions along with demographic information to assess segregation patterns at the individual level. The findings indicate that socio-spatial segregation decreases during the day and increases at night consistently throughout the week. However, there were no significant differences found between different age groups, occupations, housing types, and home neighborhood types. To improve data processing efficiency, decision tree algorithms and analysis of variance were used to identify meaningful mobility-activity patterns with significant differences between groups. This approach helps uncover temporal and spatial patterns of activity and mobility that connect residential segregation beyond just home neighborhoods.
JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT GEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Mathematics, Applied
Tao Feng, Zhipeng Qiu
Summary: Exploring foraging dynamics of social insect colonies using a three-dimensional framework based on stochastic differential equations shows that higher resource growth rate, lower noise intensity, and smaller colony size contribute to the sustainability of the foraging-resource system, as theoretically studied with stochastic analysis tools.
APPLIED MATHEMATICS LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Clement Le Priol, Pierre Le Doussal, Alberto Rosso
Summary: A study on disordered elastic interfaces reveals avalanche dynamics at the depinning transition, showing different characteristics for short-range and long-range interactions. The scaling properties of clusters were determined and linked to the roughness exponent of the interface. The analysis identified a Bienayme-Galton-Watson process describing the statistics of cluster numbers, which is important for experimental applications in studying avalanche dynamics.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Rachel P. Hickcox, Thomas Mattern, Mariano Rodriguez-Recio, Melanie J. Young, Yolanda van Heezik, Philip J. Seddon
Summary: Yellow-eyed penguins, an endangered species, exhibit regional variation in foraging habitat selection and are influenced by oceanographic characteristics and proximity to breeding areas. Prey availability and environmental variables play important roles in their habitat selection during different seasons.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Marc Naguib, Mieke Titulaer, Joseph R. Waas, Kees van Oers, Philipp Sprau, Lysanne Snijders
Summary: Territorial animals use signals to advertise territorial occupancy, and their responses to territorial intrusions can predict their future responses and overall spatial behavior. However, singing activity does not have predictability in their responses to future intrusions.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Paul Kinsler
Summary: The author discusses how the spatial properties of a wave propagation medium can lead to dispersion, emphasizing the importance of understanding the specific spatial properties that generate spatially dispersive behavior, including geometry, structure, and dynamics.
PHOTONICS AND NANOSTRUCTURES-FUNDAMENTALS AND APPLICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
David J. Augustine, Sean P. Kearney, Edward J. Raynor, Lauren M. Porensky, Justin D. Derner
Summary: Sustainable management of grazinglands requires understanding how management practices affect livestock movements. An experiment was conducted to compare the foraging behavior of cattle in a collaborative, adaptive rangeland management (CARM) system and a traditional rangeland management (TRM) system. CARM cattle showed more linear grazing pathways, slower grazing speed, and longer grazing bouts early in the season compared to TRM cattle.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Naven Narayanan, Allison K. Shaw
Summary: Mutualisms, or mutually beneficial interspecific interactions, play a crucial role in shaping population dynamics of species in ecological communities. This study investigates the impact of mutualistic dependence on the speed of range expansion and spatial distribution of species. The research findings highlight the importance of considering mutualisms and dependence in a spatial context for understanding species' distributions and range limits.
Article
Biophysics
Abhishek K. Singh, Chengyuan Wen, Shengfeng Cheng, Nguyen Q. Vinh
Summary: DNA functions only in aqueous environments and adopts different conformations depending on the hydration level. Investigating the impact of hydration on DNA dynamics and the spectral features of water molecules influenced by DNA is challenging. The dynamics of water molecules in a DNA solution is heterogeneous, with four distinct relaxation times ranging from -8 ps to 1 ns, and the hydration structure of a DNA chain can extend to as far as -18 Å from its surface.
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Frederic Barraquand, Coralie Picoche, Matteo Detto, Florian Hartig
Summary: Linear Granger causality and convergent cross mapping (CCM) show surprisingly similar performance in uncovering interactions in nonlinear ecological networks, regardless of the degree of nonlinearity in dynamics. The choice between GC and CCM can be based on the specific aims and details of the analysis.
THEORETICAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Frederic Barraquand, Olivier Gimenez
Summary: This study suggests that interaction data may be essential for obtaining identifiable dynamic models for multiple species under process stochasticity in interaction rates, especially when dealing with attractors as fixed points. Noisy limit cycle attractors can be identified directly from population count data, but adding kill rate data can improve the precision of estimates.
THEORETICAL POPULATION BIOLOGY
(2021)
Book Review
Biology
Frederic Barraquand
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STATISTICS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Bouwe R. Reijenga, David J. Murrell, Alex L. Pigot
Summary: The study found that local priority effects promote the survival of rare species, leading to higher metacommunity diversity and significant disparities in richness among evolutionary lineages. However, classic macroevolutionary patterns of niche incumbency are not influenced by local priority effects.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Benjamin J. Burgess, Drew Purves, Georgina Mace, David J. Murrell
Summary: The ongoing challenge for ecology is to understand how various environmental stressors interact to impact biodiversity and ecosystem services. While progress has been made through meta-analyses of empirical studies, there is limited generalization on the detection of non-additive interactions among stressors. The sensitivity of statistical tools to data uncertainty remains unexplored, raising concerns about the accuracy of empirical results in reflecting true stressor interactions.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Juliette Archambeau, Marta Benito Garzon, Frederic Barraquand, Marina de Miguel, Christophe Plomion, Santiago C. Gonzalez-Martinez
Summary: By incorporating both climatic and genomic data, this study aimed to predict height growth variation of maritime pine at different geographical scales. Plastic and genetic components play different roles in height growth variation, with models combining climate of origin, gene pool, and height-associated positive-effect alleles (PEAs) showing better predictive ability for new provenances.
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2022)
Article
Biology
Coralie Picoche, Frederic Barraquand
Summary: Seed formation is an important part of the reproductive cycle and can contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity. This study examines the role of seed banks in phytoplankton communities and finds that they can help sustain species coexistence and facilitate the reseeding of coastal and oceanic regions. The presence of seed banks also enables populations to tolerate stronger interactions within the community and cope with environmental changes.
JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Frederic Barraquand, Coralie Picoche, Christelle Aluome, Laure Carassou, Claude Feigne
Summary: Compensatory dynamics, where community composition shifts despite a near-constant total community size, are usually rare in natural communities. This study extended the analysis of community-level synchrony to wetland birds and found that abundance and biomass compensation were rare, likely due to the synchronizing influence of climate on birds. The rare cases where compensation appeared consistently were between rather than within functional groups.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Benjamin J. Burgess, Michelle C. Jackson, David J. Murrell
Summary: The current sample sizes in experiments may not be sufficient to detect important stressor interactions, suggesting a need for increasing experimental replicates to improve detection accuracy.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biology
Gael Bardon, Frederic Barraquand
Summary: We studied structured competition models that allow life history parameters to depend on adult or juvenile population densities. We found that stage structure can promote coexistence, but this mechanism is not common in diverse ecosystems with multiple species.
BULLETIN OF MATHEMATICAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Juliette Archambeau, Marta Benito Garzon, Marina de Miguel, Benjamin Brachi, Frederic Barraquand, Santiago C. Gonzalez-Martinez
Summary: This study empirically tested the effects of environmental selection and population admixture on genetic variation in maritime pine populations. The results showed that populations experiencing colder winters had lower genetic variation for early height growth, while within-population genetic variation was not influenced by environmental heterogeneity or admixture. These findings provide insights into the adaptive potential of populations to changing environments.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Shawn Dove, Monika Bohm, Robin Freeman, Louise McRae, David J. Murrell
Summary: Global biodiversity crisis necessitates effective policies and conservation efforts. Reliable indicators are crucial for guiding research and decision making, but incomplete and biased data pose challenges. Using a modeling approach, we found that many trends in the Living Planet Index require more data to be considered reliable.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Bouwe R. Reijenga, Benjamin G. Freeman, David J. Murrell, Alex L. Pigot
Summary: The turnover of bird species across elevation can be explained by the displacement of elevation ranges upon contact, while the overlap of species along elevation gradients is primarily explained by conservatism of elevational ranges.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Frederic Barraquand
Summary: The classic Rosenzweig-MacArthur predator-prey model exhibits sensitivity to model structure, resulting in different community dynamics depending on the mathematical expressions used. However, this sensitivity seems to be specific to ordinary differential equations (ODEs) or stochastic systems with weak noise, as stochastic differential equations (SDEs) with strong environmental noise produce similar fluctuation patterns regardless of the mathematical formula. The eigenvalues of linearized predator-prey models can be used to analyze structural sensitivity, but their magnitude and presence of imaginary parts are not sensitive, suggesting noise-driven oscillations for a wide range of carrying capacities.
JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Shawn Dove, Monika Bohm, Robin Freeman, Sean Jellesmark, David J. Murrell
Summary: Distance measures are commonly used in ecology for various time-series-related tasks, but the selection of appropriate measures remains a challenge. This study introduces a selection method for choosing suitable distance measures, demonstrated on real-world data, and discusses common challenges and solutions. The results should enhance the understanding and application of distance measures in ecology, aiding in addressing new ecological questions.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)