{"title":"Editorial: The Critical Role of Very Long‐Term Studies in Ecology and Evolution","authors":"Stéphane Blanc, Peter H. Thrall","doi":"10.1111/ele.70049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70049","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142904796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecological interactions are foundational to our understanding of community composition and function. While interactions are known to change depending on the environmental context, it has generally been assumed that external environmental factors are responsible for driving these dependencies. Here, we derive a theoretical framework which instead focuses on how intrinsic environmental changes caused by the organisms themselves alter interaction values. Our central concept is the ‘instantaneous interaction’, which captures the feedback between the current environmental state and organismal growth, generating spatiotemporal context-dependencies as organisms modify their environment over time and/or space. We use small microbial communities to illustrate how this framework can predict time-dependencies in a toxin degradation system, and relate time- and spatial-dependencies in crossfeeding communities. By re-centring the relationship between organisms and their environment, our framework predicts the variations in interactions wherever intrinsic, organism-driven environmental change dominates over external drivers.
{"title":"Environment-Organism Feedbacks Drive Changes in Ecological Interactions","authors":"Oliver J. Meacock, Sara Mitri","doi":"10.1111/ele.70027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70027","url":null,"abstract":"Ecological interactions are foundational to our understanding of community composition and function. While interactions are known to change depending on the environmental context, it has generally been assumed that external environmental factors are responsible for driving these dependencies. Here, we derive a theoretical framework which instead focuses on how intrinsic environmental changes caused by the organisms themselves alter interaction values. Our central concept is the ‘instantaneous interaction’, which captures the feedback between the current environmental state and organismal growth, generating spatiotemporal context-dependencies as organisms modify their environment over time and/or space. We use small microbial communities to illustrate how this framework can predict time-dependencies in a toxin degradation system, and relate time- and spatial-dependencies in crossfeeding communities. By re-centring the relationship between organisms and their environment, our framework predicts the variations in interactions wherever intrinsic, organism-driven environmental change dominates over external drivers.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"326 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142905185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecological restoration is a leading approach to mitigating biodiversity decline. While restoration often leads to an immediate increase in species abundance or diversity, it is rarely clear whether it supports longer-term biodiversity gains at the landscape scale. To examine the impacts of urban restoration on pollinator biodiversity, we conducted a 3-year natural experiment in 18 parks across a large metropolitan area. We applied an occupancy model to our survey data to determine how restoration, woody plant density and pollinator specialisation impacted interannual pollinator metacommunity dynamics. Restoration drove a rapid increase in pollinator species occurrence that was maintained through a positive balance between colonisation and persistence, resulting in pollinator species richness gains that are retained. We conclude that urban restoration can effectively conserve pollinator biodiversity by influencing the processes that underlie long-term population stability. Our results highlight the need to study the long-term effects of restoration in different landscape contexts.
{"title":"Habitat Restorations in an Urban Landscape Rapidly Assemble Diverse Pollinator Communities That Persist","authors":"Jens Ulrich, Risa D. Sargent","doi":"10.1111/ele.70037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70037","url":null,"abstract":"Ecological restoration is a leading approach to mitigating biodiversity decline. While restoration often leads to an immediate increase in species abundance or diversity, it is rarely clear whether it supports longer-term biodiversity gains at the landscape scale. To examine the impacts of urban restoration on pollinator biodiversity, we conducted a 3-year natural experiment in 18 parks across a large metropolitan area. We applied an occupancy model to our survey data to determine how restoration, woody plant density and pollinator specialisation impacted interannual pollinator metacommunity dynamics. Restoration drove a rapid increase in pollinator species occurrence that was maintained through a positive balance between colonisation and persistence, resulting in pollinator species richness gains that are retained. We conclude that urban restoration can effectively conserve pollinator biodiversity by influencing the processes that underlie long-term population stability. Our results highlight the need to study the long-term effects of restoration in different landscape contexts.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142905189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xin Rui Ong, Belle Tan, Charlotte H. Chang, Nalini Puniamoorthy, Eleanor M. Slade
Insects represent most of terrestrial animal biodiversity, and multiple reports suggest that their populations are declining globally due to anthropogenic impacts. Yet, a high proportion of insect species remain undescribed and limited data on their population dynamics hamper insect conservation efforts. This is particularly critical in tropical biodiversity hotspots such as Southeast Asia. To identify knowledge and capacity gaps in Southeast Asian insect conservation, we performed a quantitative review of insect occurrence records, studies for the region and global ‘#conservation’ posts from Twitter. We found that occurrence records increased over time, and were dominated by butterflies. Overall, studies were largely focused on pest and vector groups, and insect conservation and ecology studies were lacking in many countries. Despite an increase in local authorships and funding sources over time, the majority of these were still located outside of Southeast Asia. In ‘#conservation’ posts, insects were highly under-represented and insect-related content was biased towards popular groups such as bees and butterflies. We suggest potential solutions to address these gaps, such as integrative taxonomic approaches, and increasing regional collaborations and public engagements. Crucially, we stress the need for political will and funding to overcome the impediments towards insect conservation efforts in Southeast Asia.
{"title":"Identifying the Knowledge and Capacity Gaps in Southeast Asian Insect Conservation","authors":"Xin Rui Ong, Belle Tan, Charlotte H. Chang, Nalini Puniamoorthy, Eleanor M. Slade","doi":"10.1111/ele.70038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70038","url":null,"abstract":"Insects represent most of terrestrial animal biodiversity, and multiple reports suggest that their populations are declining globally due to anthropogenic impacts. Yet, a high proportion of insect species remain undescribed and limited data on their population dynamics hamper insect conservation efforts. This is particularly critical in tropical biodiversity hotspots such as Southeast Asia. To identify knowledge and capacity gaps in Southeast Asian insect conservation, we performed a quantitative review of insect occurrence records, studies for the region and global ‘#conservation’ posts from Twitter. We found that occurrence records increased over time, and were dominated by butterflies. Overall, studies were largely focused on pest and vector groups, and insect conservation and ecology studies were lacking in many countries. Despite an increase in local authorships and funding sources over time, the majority of these were still located outside of Southeast Asia. In ‘#conservation’ posts, insects were highly under-represented and insect-related content was biased towards popular groups such as bees and butterflies. We suggest potential solutions to address these gaps, such as integrative taxonomic approaches, and increasing regional collaborations and public engagements. Crucially, we stress the need for political will and funding to overcome the impediments towards insect conservation efforts in Southeast Asia.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142905194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nicholas A. J. Graham, Shaun K. Wilson, Cassandra E. Benkwitt, Rodney Bonne, Rodney Govinden, James P. W. Robinson
Ecosystems are substantially changing in response to ongoing climate change. For example, coral reefs have declined in coral dominance, with some reefs undergoing regime shifts to non‐coral states. However, reef responses may vary through multiple heat stress events, with the rarity of long‐term ecological datasets rendering such understanding uncertain. Assessing coral reefs across the inner Seychelles islands using a 28‐year dataset, we document faster coral recovery from the 2016 than the 1998 marine heatwave event. Further, compositions of benthic and fish communities were more resistant to change following the more recent heat stress, having stabilized in a persistent altered state, with greater herbivory, following the 1998 climate disturbance. Counter to predictions, a macroalgal‐dominated reef that had regime‐shifted following the 1998 disturbance is transitioning to a coral‐dominated state following the 2016 heat stress. Collectively, these patterns indicate that reef systems may be more resilient to repeat heatwave events than anticipated.
{"title":"Increased resilience and a regime shift reversal through repeat mass coral bleaching","authors":"Nicholas A. J. Graham, Shaun K. Wilson, Cassandra E. Benkwitt, Rodney Bonne, Rodney Govinden, James P. W. Robinson","doi":"10.1111/ele.14454","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14454","url":null,"abstract":"Ecosystems are substantially changing in response to ongoing climate change. For example, coral reefs have declined in coral dominance, with some reefs undergoing regime shifts to non‐coral states. However, reef responses may vary through multiple heat stress events, with the rarity of long‐term ecological datasets rendering such understanding uncertain. Assessing coral reefs across the inner Seychelles islands using a 28‐year dataset, we document faster coral recovery from the 2016 than the 1998 marine heatwave event. Further, compositions of benthic and fish communities were more resistant to change following the more recent heat stress, having stabilized in a persistent altered state, with greater herbivory, following the 1998 climate disturbance. Counter to predictions, a macroalgal‐dominated reef that had regime‐shifted following the 1998 disturbance is transitioning to a coral‐dominated state following the 2016 heat stress. Collectively, these patterns indicate that reef systems may be more resilient to repeat heatwave events than anticipated.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"175 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142904989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jana W. E. Jeglinski, Holly I. Niven, Sarah Wanless, Robert T. Barrett, Mike P. Harris, Jochen Dierschke, Jason Matthiopoulos
Forecasting population responses to rapidly changing marine ecosystems requires mechanistic models integrating complex demographic processes, fitted to long time series, across large spatial scales. We used a Bayesian metapopulation model fit to colony census data and climatic covariates spanning 1900–2100 for all Northeast Atlantic colonies of an exemplar seabird, the Northern gannet (Morus bassanus) to investigate metapopulation dynamics under two climate scenarios. Fecundity varied non‐linearly with near‐surface air temperature and recruitment was depressed by sea surface temperature. We predict regime changes in density dependence as marine carrying capacities become constrained with increasing SST. Sensitivity to climate change varied across space and time, disadvantaging southwestern colonies whilst benefitting northern ones. Such sensitivity is noteworthy for a species previously assumed robust to climate change. We provide a spatial overview of climate sensitivities across a metapopulation to help with evidence‐based conservation management and open the way for similar mechanistic explorations for other colonial species.
{"title":"Past and future effects of climate on the metapopulation dynamics of a Northeast Atlantic seabird across two centuries","authors":"Jana W. E. Jeglinski, Holly I. Niven, Sarah Wanless, Robert T. Barrett, Mike P. Harris, Jochen Dierschke, Jason Matthiopoulos","doi":"10.1111/ele.14479","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14479","url":null,"abstract":"Forecasting population responses to rapidly changing marine ecosystems requires mechanistic models integrating complex demographic processes, fitted to long time series, across large spatial scales. We used a Bayesian metapopulation model fit to colony census data and climatic covariates spanning 1900–2100 for all Northeast Atlantic colonies of an exemplar seabird, the Northern gannet (<jats:italic>Morus bassanus</jats:italic>) to investigate metapopulation dynamics under two climate scenarios. Fecundity varied non‐linearly with near‐surface air temperature and recruitment was depressed by sea surface temperature. We predict regime changes in density dependence as marine carrying capacities become constrained with increasing SST. Sensitivity to climate change varied across space and time, disadvantaging southwestern colonies whilst benefitting northern ones. Such sensitivity is noteworthy for a species previously assumed robust to climate change. We provide a spatial overview of climate sensitivities across a metapopulation to help with evidence‐based conservation management and open the way for similar mechanistic explorations for other colonial species.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"134 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142908285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amanda H. Rawstern, Damian J. Hernandez, Michelle E. Afkhami
Microorganisms underpin numerous ecosystem processes and support biodiversity globally. Yet, we understand surprisingly little about what structures environmental microbiomes, including how to efficiently identify key players. Microbiome network theory predicts that highly connected hubs act as keystones, but this has never been empirically tested in nature. Combining culturing, sequencing, networks and field experiments, we isolated ‘central’ (highly connected, hub taxa), ‘intermediate’ (moderately connected), and ‘peripheral’ (weakly/unconnected) microbes and experimentally evaluated their effects on soil microbiome assembly during early succession in nature. Central early colonisers significantly (1) enhanced biodiversity (35%–40% richer communities), (2) reshaped trajectories of microbiome assembly and (3) increased recruitment of additional influential microbes by > 60%. In contrast, peripheral microbes did not increase diversity and were transient taxa, minimally affected by the presence of other microbes. This work elucidates fundamental principles of network theory in microbial ecology and demonstrates for the first time in nature that central microbes act as keystone taxa.
{"title":"Central Taxa Are Keystone Microbes During Early Succession","authors":"Amanda H. Rawstern, Damian J. Hernandez, Michelle E. Afkhami","doi":"10.1111/ele.70031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70031","url":null,"abstract":"Microorganisms underpin numerous ecosystem processes and support biodiversity globally. Yet, we understand surprisingly little about what structures environmental microbiomes, including how to efficiently identify key players. Microbiome network theory predicts that highly connected hubs act as keystones, but this has never been empirically tested in nature. Combining culturing, sequencing, networks and field experiments, we isolated ‘central’ (highly connected, hub taxa), ‘intermediate’ (moderately connected), and ‘peripheral’ (weakly/unconnected) microbes and experimentally evaluated their effects on soil microbiome assembly during early succession in nature. Central early colonisers significantly (1) enhanced biodiversity (35%–40% richer communities), (2) reshaped trajectories of microbiome assembly and (3) increased recruitment of additional influential microbes by > 60%. In contrast, peripheral microbes did not increase diversity and were transient taxa, minimally affected by the presence of other microbes. This work elucidates fundamental principles of network theory in microbial ecology and demonstrates for the first time in nature that central microbes act as keystone taxa.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"178 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142905184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Modelling the dynamics of biological processes is ubiquitous across the ecological and evolutionary disciplines. However, the increasing complexity of these models poses a challenge to the dissemination of model-derived results. Often only a small subset of model results are made available to the scientific community, with further exploration of the parameter space relying on local deployment of code supplied by the authors. This can be technically challenging, owing to the diversity of frameworks and environments in which models are developed. To address this issue, we developed a platform that serves as an interactive repository of biological models, called modelRxiv. To facilitate adding models to modelRxiv, we utilise large-language models (LLMs) to make the platform language-agnostic. The platform provides a unified interface for the analysis of models that do not require any technical understanding of the model implementation, thus improving the accessibility, reproducibility and validation of ecological and evolutionary models.
{"title":"modelRxiv: A Platform for the Dissemination and Interactive Display of Models","authors":"Keith D. Harris, Guy Hadari, Gili Greenbaum","doi":"10.1111/ele.70042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70042","url":null,"abstract":"Modelling the dynamics of biological processes is ubiquitous across the ecological and evolutionary disciplines. However, the increasing complexity of these models poses a challenge to the dissemination of model-derived results. Often only a small subset of model results are made available to the scientific community, with further exploration of the parameter space relying on local deployment of code supplied by the authors. This can be technically challenging, owing to the diversity of frameworks and environments in which models are developed. To address this issue, we developed a platform that serves as an interactive repository of biological models, called modelRxiv. To facilitate adding models to modelRxiv, we utilise large-language models (LLMs) to make the platform language-agnostic. The platform provides a unified interface for the analysis of models that do not require any technical understanding of the model implementation, thus improving the accessibility, reproducibility and validation of ecological and evolutionary models.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142905196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Justus Hennecke, Leonardo Bassi, Cynthia Albracht, Angelos Amyntas, Joana Bergmann, Nico Eisenhauer, Aaron Fox, Lea Heimbold, Anna Heintz-Buschart, Thomas W. Kuyper, Markus Lange, Yuri Pinheiro Alves de Souza, Akanksha Rai, Marcel Dominik Solbach, Liesje Mommer, Alexandra Weigelt
Trait-based approaches have been increasingly used to relate plants to soil microbial communities. Using the recently described root economics space as an approach to explain the structure of soil-borne fungal communities, our study in a grassland diversity experiment reveals distinct root trait strategies at the plant community level. In addition to significant effects of plant species richness, we show that the collaboration and conservation gradient are strong drivers of the composition of the different guilds of soil fungi. Saprotrophic fungi are most diverse in species-rich plant communities with ‘slow’ root traits, whereas plant pathogenic fungi are most diverse and abundant in communities with ‘fast’ and ‘DIY’ root traits. Fungal biomass is strongly driven by plant species richness. Our results illustrate that the root economics space and plant species richness jointly determine the effects of plants on soil fungal communities and their potential role in plant fitness and ecosystem functioning.
{"title":"Plant Species Richness and the Root Economics Space Drive Soil Fungal Communities","authors":"Justus Hennecke, Leonardo Bassi, Cynthia Albracht, Angelos Amyntas, Joana Bergmann, Nico Eisenhauer, Aaron Fox, Lea Heimbold, Anna Heintz-Buschart, Thomas W. Kuyper, Markus Lange, Yuri Pinheiro Alves de Souza, Akanksha Rai, Marcel Dominik Solbach, Liesje Mommer, Alexandra Weigelt","doi":"10.1111/ele.70032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70032","url":null,"abstract":"Trait-based approaches have been increasingly used to relate plants to soil microbial communities. Using the recently described root economics space as an approach to explain the structure of soil-borne fungal communities, our study in a grassland diversity experiment reveals distinct root trait strategies at the plant community level. In addition to significant effects of plant species richness, we show that the collaboration and conservation gradient are strong drivers of the composition of the different guilds of soil fungi. Saprotrophic fungi are most diverse in species-rich plant communities with ‘slow’ root traits, whereas plant pathogenic fungi are most diverse and abundant in communities with ‘fast’ and ‘DIY’ root traits. Fungal biomass is strongly driven by plant species richness. Our results illustrate that the root economics space and plant species richness jointly determine the effects of plants on soil fungal communities and their potential role in plant fitness and ecosystem functioning.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142905205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mahtab Yazdanian, Tuomas Kankaanpää, Thomas Merckx, Ida‐Maria Huikkonen, Juhani Itämies, Jukka Jokimäki, Aleksi Lehikoinen, Reima Leinonen, Juha Pöyry, Pasi Sihvonen, Anna Suuronen, Panu Välimäki, Sami M. Kivelä
Insect declines are raising alarms regarding cascading effects on ecosystems, especially as many insectivorous bird populations are also declining. Here, we leveraged long‐term monitoring datasets across Finland to investigate trophic dynamics between functional groups of moths and birds in forested habitats. We reveal a positive association between the biomass of adult‐ or egg‐overwintering moths and the biomasses of resident and long‐distance migrant birds reliant on caterpillars as breeding‐season food in the north‐boreal zone. Contrary to expectations, similar signs of moth bottom‐up effects on insectivorous birds were not observed in other Finnish regions or for moths overwintering in other life stages. In fact, some negative associations between moths and birds were even detected, possibly attributable to opposite abundance trends. While supporting the existence of bottom‐up effects in the north‐boreal zone, our study emphasizes the need for further investigation to elucidate moth‐mediated trophic dynamics in areas characterized by the insect decline.
{"title":"Evidence for bottom‐up effects of moth abundance on forest birds in the north‐boreal zone alone","authors":"Mahtab Yazdanian, Tuomas Kankaanpää, Thomas Merckx, Ida‐Maria Huikkonen, Juhani Itämies, Jukka Jokimäki, Aleksi Lehikoinen, Reima Leinonen, Juha Pöyry, Pasi Sihvonen, Anna Suuronen, Panu Välimäki, Sami M. Kivelä","doi":"10.1111/ele.14467","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14467","url":null,"abstract":"Insect declines are raising alarms regarding cascading effects on ecosystems, especially as many insectivorous bird populations are also declining. Here, we leveraged long‐term monitoring datasets across Finland to investigate trophic dynamics between functional groups of moths and birds in forested habitats. We reveal a positive association between the biomass of adult‐ or egg‐overwintering moths and the biomasses of resident and long‐distance migrant birds reliant on caterpillars as breeding‐season food in the north‐boreal zone. Contrary to expectations, similar signs of moth bottom‐up effects on insectivorous birds were not observed in other Finnish regions or for moths overwintering in other life stages. In fact, some negative associations between moths and birds were even detected, possibly attributable to opposite abundance trends. While supporting the existence of bottom‐up effects in the north‐boreal zone, our study emphasizes the need for further investigation to elucidate moth‐mediated trophic dynamics in areas characterized by the insect decline.","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"2 2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142908182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：