Article
Ecology
Jakub Borkowski, Rafal Banul, Jolanta Jurkiewicz-Azab, Czeslaw Holdynski, Justyna Swieczkowska, Maciej Nasiadko, Dariusz Zaluski
Summary: Red deer and roe deer are the most common cervids in Europe, co-occurring in most regions. While roe deer were considered inferior competitors in the presence of fallow deer or muntjac, this study found that high red deer density negatively affected roe deer distribution and abundance in the Slowinski National Park in Poland. This impact was likely due to red deer's influence on food availability, resulting in higher roe deer densities and higher biomass of their staple foods in areas with lower red deer densities.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Michael A. Jenkins, Brenda S. Howard
Summary: The reduction of white-tailed deer population in Eagle Creek Park in Indiana has led to positive changes in vegetation communities, including an increase in native woody plant diversity and a decrease in twig browsing. However, one area also saw an increase in nonnative woody plants, indicating that deer population reductions can have complex effects on plant communities. Continued monitoring is needed to assess the long-term impacts of deer population management on the park's ecosystems.
NATURAL AREAS JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Ayano Ohtsu, Seiki Takatsuki
Summary: The study shows that takhi mainly foraged on grasses in the steppe, while red deer primarily consumed grasses and dicots in the forest. The percentage similarity of foods between them was 65% in summer and 58% in winter. Despite the differences in diets and habitat preferences, there appears to be no competition for food or habitat between the two species.
Article
Ecology
Anthony J. Mills, Tercia Strydom, Jessica L. Allen, Julia Baum
Summary: In the treeless grasslands of the central Kruger National Park in South Africa, the grassland's topsoil is significantly richer in nutrients compared to adjacent savannas, leading to a higher competitive strength and nutritive value of the herbaceous layer. This nutrient richness may result in greater herbivory pressure in the grassland, providing a plausible mechanism for the constraint of tree growth in these landscapes.
AFRICAN JOURNAL OF RANGE & FORAGE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
James Cant, Roberto Salguero-Gomez, Sun W. Kim, Carrie A. Sims, Brigitte Sommer, Maxime Brooks, Hamish A. Malcolm, John M. Pandolfi, Maria Beger
Summary: The study revealed that subtropical coral assemblages are significantly affected by thermal stress, with differential shifts in population growth rates and contrasting bleaching responses among taxa. Under high emissions scenarios, coral populations exhibited the lowest growth rates, potentially accelerating the loss of corals in subtropical regions.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Matthew H. Holden, Jian D. L. Yen, Natalie J. Briscoe, Jose J. Lahoz-Monfort, Roberto Salguero-Gomez, Peter A. Vesk, Gurutzeta Guillera-Arroita
Summary: The study evaluated the accuracy of demographic distribution models in predicting species range dynamics. It was found that density-independent DDMs accurately predicted species ranges under certain conditions, but overpredicted extinction in high population density locations. The findings suggest that DDMs are appropriate for applications prioritizing all potential sites where a species might occur.
Article
Ecology
Karen M. Foley, Karen H. Beard, Trisha B. Atwood, Bonnie G. Waring
Summary: Herbivory can have strong impacts on greenhouse gas fluxes in high-latitude ecosystems. Differences in trace gas fluxes between grazed and ungrazed areas may result both from herbivore-induced shifts in abiotic parameters and grazing-related alterations in microbial community structure.
Article
Ecology
Pol Capdevila, Iain Stott, James Cant, Maria Beger, Gwilym Rowlands, Molly Grace, Roberto Salguero-Gomez
Summary: This study investigates how the life history of 910 natural populations of animals and plants predicts their resilience. The researchers found that resilience of species is determined by their life history traits, such as pace of life and reproductive strategy. Species with longer generation times require longer recovery times post-disturbance, while those with greater reproductive capacity have greater resistance and compensation.
Article
Ecology
Sam C. Levin, Sanne Evers, Tomos Potter, Mayra Pena Guerrero, Dylan Z. Childs, Aldo Compagnoni, Tiffany M. Knight, Roberto Salguero-Gomez
Summary: Discrete time structured population projection models are important tools for studying population dynamics, with integral projection models (IPMs) being a popular method for studying populations structured by continuously distributed traits. Existing databases and software packages allow for the download, reconstruction, and extension of published IPMs, facilitating research in ecology and evolutionary biology.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bonnie Waring, Anna Gee, Guopeng Liang, Savannah Adkins
Summary: The taxonomic composition of soil microbial communities mediates biogeochemical process rates, with the influence of microbial community composition on litter decay being pervasive and strong, but no single environmental or experimental attribute was correlated with variation in the inoculum effect.
Article
Ecology
Christie Le Coeur, Nigel G. Yoccoz, Roberto Salguero-Gomez, Yngvild Vindenes
Summary: This study decomposes stochastic growth rate into components arising from nonlinear responses and demographic parameters, to study the joint effects of buffering and lability. Results suggest that faster-living species are more responsive to environmental fluctuations and have a higher potential for adaptive demographic lability, while slower-living species predominantly rely on demographic buffering strategy.
Editorial Material
Ecology
Roberto Salguero-Gomez, Darren M. Evans, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Lesley Lancaster, Nathan J. Sanders, Kirsty Scandrett, Jennifer Meyer
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Arnaud Guyennon, Bjorn Reineking, Roberto Salguero-Gomez, Jonas Dahlgren, Aleksi Lehtonen, Sophia Ratcliffe, Paloma Ruiz-Benito, Miguel A. Zavala, Georges Kunstler
Summary: This study focuses on the link between local population dynamics and species distributions in Europe and finds that population constraints at the edges are influenced by mean fitness, demographic stochasticity, and resilience. The results show that warm edges and harsh climates impose stronger demographic constraints on species, while cold edges limit the species' ability to recover. Additionally, it is found that demographic stochasticity and recovery capacity contribute to constraints at the edges rather than just mean fitness.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
James Cant, Pol Capdevila, Maria Beger, Roberto Salguero-Gomez
Summary: We tested 2242 populations of 369 animal and plant species and found that recent environmental stochasticity does not predict the resistance and recovery potential of natural populations. Instead, phylogenetic relatedness and developmental investments are strong predictors of demographic resilience.
Article
Ecology
Charlotte de Vries, Connor Bernard, Roberto Salguero-Gomez
Summary: Keyfitz' entropy is a widely used metric to quantify the shape of survivorship curves. A new discrete-time formula for Keyfitz' entropy is proposed, which preserves the relationship with mortality rates. It is suggested that researchers use this new metric or other survivorship shape metrics applicable to discrete-time data to avoid biases when classifying life histories.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Connor Bernard, Gabriel Silva Santos, Jacques A. Deere, Roberto Rodriguez-Caro, Pol Capdevila, Erik Kusch, Samuel J. L. Gascoigne, John Jackson, Roberto Salguero-Gomez
Summary: MOSAIC is an open-access trait database that integrates 14 trait fields and species-level phylogenies from existing databases. It provides rich species data to improve our understanding of species traits and demographics.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Guopeng Liang, Sasha C. Reed, John M. Stark, Bonnie G. Waring
Summary: This study investigated the mechanisms of the effects of rewetting cycles on soil carbon (C) cycling in drylands. The results showed that rewetting inhibited aggregate formation (physical mechanism) and suppressed soil respiration by inducing soil microbial metabolic stress (biological mechanism), ultimately leading to lower soil C loss under rewetting.
Article
Soil Science
Jessica Murray, A. Peyton Smith, Myrna Simpson, Keylor Munoz Elizondo, Jacqueline A. Aitkenhead-Peterson, Bonnie Waring
Summary: Canopy soils are crucial for forest nutrient cycling, hydrology, and biodiversity, but the factors influencing their distribution and properties remain unclear. This study investigated canopy soils in six primary forests in Costa Rica across temperature and precipitation gradients. The results showed that climate, particularly fog, played a major role in determining the abundance of canopy soils across forests, while tree size determined abundance within a forest. Additionally, temperature and fog were found to impact the chemical composition of canopy soil organic matter. This study provides valuable insights into the drivers of canopy soil abundance and composition, highlighting the vulnerability of canopy soil stocks to climate and land use change.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Guopeng Liang, John Stark, Bonnie Grace Waring
Summary: Root exudates can regulate the stability of soil organic carbon by interacting with minerals, promoting the formation of stable carbon in high-activity clays.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)