Markgraf, Rudiger Doyon, Frédérik Delagrange, Sylvain Kneeshaw, Daniel
Published in
Ecology and evolution
In forested ecosystems, shrubs must succeed in persisting in low-light environments, while simultaneously having the ability to rapidly expand and occupy newly created canopy openings, yet little is known about the traits that make this possible. We hypothesize that shrub species that are abundant in the understory exhibit a specific set of functio...
Tarugara, Allan Mandinyenya, Bob Clegg, Bruce W
Published in
Ecology and evolution
The larvae of speckled emperor moths (Gynanisa maja) are important plant defoliators in savanna ecosystems of southern Africa and a valuable food resource for indigenous communities. Population explosions of G. maja larvae can negatively impact an area's primary productivity thereby altering herbivory patterns and associated ecosystem processes. Ha...
Yuan, Wenrui Chen, Lingkang Chen, Haixia Deng, Shaofu Ji, Hong Liang, Fenshuo
Published in
Ecology and evolution
Poyang Lake is an essential natural wetland in the Yangtze River basin and plays a vital role in maintaining the ecosystem function and ecological security in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. However, the relative importance and spatial heterogeneity of the impacts of human activities and land use changes on ecological security ne...
Gübert, Jennifer Schneider, Gaby Hahn-Klimroth, Max Dierkes, Paul W
Published in
Ecology and evolution
Currently, most studies on ungulates' behavior are conducted during the daylight hours, but their nocturnal behavior patterns differ from those shown during day. Therefore, it is necessary to observe ungulates' behavior also overnight. Detailed analyses of nocturnal behavior have only been conducted for very prominent ungulates such as Giraffes (Gi...
de Souza Ferreira Neto, Gilson Baccaro, Fabricio Beggiato Phillips, Matthew J Massara, Rodrigo Lima
Published in
Ecology and evolution
Medium to large rainforest mammals are key conservation flagship groups that offer non-redundant ecosystem functions, but anthropic pressures, such as illegal hunting, may strongly affect their occupancy in Amazonia. We combined camera traps and occupancy models to assess the influence of distance from human settlements, the number of families per ...
Stelling-Wood, Talia P Poore, Alistair G B Hughes, A Randall Everett, Jason D Gribben, Paul E
Published in
Ecology and evolution
Habitat-forming organisms provide three-dimensional structure that supports abundant and diverse communities. Variation in the morphological traits of habitat formers will therefore likely influence how they facilitate associated communities, either via food and habitat provisioning, or by altering predator-prey interactions. These mechanisms, howe...
Ronquillo, Cristina Stropp, Juliana Medina, Nagore G Hortal, Joaquin
Published in
Ecology and evolution
Biodiversity data records contain inaccuracies and biases. To overcome this limitation and establish robust geographic patterns, ecologists often curate records keeping those that are most suitable for their analyses. Yet, this choice is not straightforward and the outcome of the analysis may vary due to a trade-off between data quality and volume....
Claar, Danielle C Faiad, Sara M Mastick, Natalie C Welicky, Rachel L Williams, Maureen A Sasser, Kristofer T Weber, Jesse N Wood, Chelsea L
Published in
Ecology and evolution
Parasites are ubiquitous, yet their effects on hosts are difficult to quantify and generalize across ecosystems. One promising metric of parasitic impact uses the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) to calculate energy flux, an estimate of energy lost to parasites. We investigated the feasibility of using metabolic scaling rules to compare the energe...
Matthews, Stephanie A Blanco-Bercial, Leocadio
Published in
Ecology and evolution
Due to historical under-sampling of the deep ocean, the distributional ranges of mesopelagic zooplankton are not well documented, leading to uncertainty about the mechanisms that shape midwater zooplankton community composition. Using a combination of DNA metabarcoding (18S-V4 and mtCOI) and trait-based analysis, we characterized zooplankton divers...
Garrick, Ryan C
Published in
Ecology and evolution
Accurate interpretation of the genetic signatures of past demographic events is crucial for reconstructing evolutionary history. Lineage fusion (complete merging, resulting in a single panmictic population) is a special case of secondary contact that is seldom considered. Here, the circumstances under which lineage fusion can be distinguished from ...
