Ecosphere最新文献

The derivation of biological information—abundance, diversity, movement of organisms—from dual-polarization weather surveillance radars (WSRs) presents an opportunity for novel large-scale biodiversity monitoring. This review takes a systematic approach to ask what degree of taxonomic resolution has so far been achieved in dual-polarization WSR observations. A range of methods are described that can be classified as observational, algorithmic, or modeling-based approaches. While progress toward finer taxonomic resolution (species, genus, family) so far has been limited, machine learning methods demonstrate that the information for at least some degree of taxonomic resolution is present in the data, and electromagnetic modeling provides a valuable research direction. A more systematic, interdisciplinary approach that incorporates zoological understanding, radar physics, and machine learning is recommended for future research.

Tree regeneration underpins forest resilience, but how pathways of postfire tree regeneration will unfold with future climate and fire regimes is difficult to anticipate. We conducted a simulation study in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE; United States) using a process-based model, iLand, to ask how rates, composition, and spatial patterns of postfire tree regeneration vary with 21st-century climate. Subalpine forest and fire dynamics were simulated through 2100 under four climate scenarios, 2 × 2 factorial of aridity (wet and dry) and temperature (warm and hot), in five GYE landscapes. We tallied postfire tree seedling density by species in simulated fires (>400 ha) at five years postfire. To assess changes in regeneration rates (total and by species) to 2100 in each landscape × climate scenario combination, we fit generalized linear models of regeneration versus time and estimated slope coefficients. To analyze spatial patterns of recovery, we compared regeneration to prefire forest state. Postfire regeneration rates were maintained through 2100 in wet scenarios but declined in the hot-dry scenario. Seedling composition was generally consistent throughout the simulations across wet scenarios, except for declines of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii). Regeneration of fire-sensitive species declined in the hot-dry scenario, with Engelmann spruce experiencing the steepest declines (−20% to −71%) and failing by late century. Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) declined in the hot-dry scenario, but regeneration never failed. Regeneration of fire-tolerant Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and aspen (Populus tremuloides) was sustained or increased in dry scenarios (+4% to +6%). The proportion of burned area where regeneration failed increased in all dry scenarios but never exceeded 20%. Declining tree regeneration and shifts in dominant tree species revealed that changes in forest structure and composition—and not a conversion to non-forest—are the dominant response to future climate across broad swaths of the simulation landscapes. Our results suggest that postfire reorganization may be widespread during the 21st century and enable forests to persist in a warming climate with more fire.

The relationship between a species' growth rate and its size—its growth function—represents essential biological information for supporting sustainable fisheries and wildlife management. Yet, growth functions are known for only a fraction of species. Progress is especially limited in marine invertebrates, including shellfish, due to challenges rearing early life stages in the lab and identifying statolith ring patterns indicative of individual age. We overcome these challenges by deriving a species' growth function using multi-year size-frequency population survey data collected from 71 subtidal sites over 35 years. We fit Gaussian mixture models to the data at each survey site and year to identify cohorts, then tracked cohorts between survey years to estimate cohort growth over time. We then used the estimates of growth to parameterize growth functions containing initial and asymptotic size constraints based on the survey data. We demonstrated our method with the kelp forest gastropod and commercial fisheries species, Kellet's whelk (Kelletia kelletii). The assembled survey data included 28,816 whelks, 9–180 mm in shell length. Through cohort tracking, we generated 297 estimates of cohort growth. We fit seven growth functions to the growth estimates and used information criterion and least squares to select the best-fit model; in this case the Richards, characterized by maximum initial growth at small size that initially declines exponentially and then linearly with size, reaching asymptotic growth by approximately 40 years of age. We also analyzed and compared select portions of the population survey data to test for biogeographic and fisheries management effects on growth. The method we developed can support research on species with size-frequency population survey data, and the function we derived for Kellet's whelk can inform research on its population biology and sustainable fisheries management.

Foraging plasticity provides a mechanism for long-lived species to adapt to rapidly changing environments. When shifts in food availability occur, individual variation in plasticity can lead to an increase in within-species trophic diversity. We tested for drivers of trophic diversity in Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) and common tern (Sterna hirundo) chicks across three years (2017, 2018, 2021) and five seabird breeding islands in the Gulf of Maine. We measured tern chick trophic diversity using two approaches: (1) the Shannon-Wiener diversity index of observed prey feeds and (2) the stable isotope standard ellipse area for blood cell and plasma samples. We hypothesized that individuals would vary in how they responded to declines in food availability and that individual-level dietary responses would influence fitness. Across contexts (islands and years), we predicted that tern trophic diversity would be correlated with sea surface temperature and with the percentage of preferred prey in the diet of tern chicks (P1), which we used as two indicators of food availability. Furthermore, we predicted that individuals would vary in the magnitude and direction of shifts in isotope values over a two-week period (P2) and that the magnitude of these shifts would be correlated with chick growth and survival (P3). Trophic diversity varied across islands, years, and species but was not correlated with either indicator of food availability (P1 Not Supported). Though tern chicks generally shifted to higher δ¹⁵N values and less-enriched δ¹³C values later in the season, the magnitude of these shifts varied across individuals (P2 Supported). Chicks that shifted to relatively high δ¹⁵N values also showed greater magnitude shifts to less-enriched δ¹³C values and, in Arctic terns, had a lower asymptotic mass (P3 Partially Supported). Our study suggests trade-offs in individual-level foraging and diet plasticity in seabirds that should be explored further.

Nonmajors (i.e., undergraduate students not majoring in the natural sciences) constitute a majority of United States college graduates and are a large potential audience for courses with ecology content. However, nonmajors may be unmotivated to learn about ecology because they perceive it to be uninteresting and irrelevant to their everyday lives or career goals. Although the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) framework can be adapted for nonmajors courses as a starting point to improve student engagement, we suggest that nonmajors ecology instructors also use ecology hooks as effective gateways to 4DEE that will motivate and deepen student learning. Selecting and developing meaningful ecology hooks requires knowing your audience, including their chosen majors. In this way, the audience should inform the hook, and the hook then helps to propel the audience's learning. In addition to being relevant to the audience, ecology hooks should be connected to student learning outcomes and multiple dimensions of 4DEE and supportive of inclusive classroom goals. We discuss how to identify and develop authentic ecology hooks and integrate them into 4DEE-aligned courses to engage students. For heterogeneous audiences that comprise a mix of many different majors, we suggest the use of three types of universal ecology hooks: “everyday,” “local,” and “wow” hooks. For specialized audiences of a single major or similar majors, we suggest the additional use of “major-specific” ecology hooks and provide examples for health professions, business, and visual and performing art majors. Although ecology hooks alone are unlikely to be a panacea for all challenges of engaging nonmajors, they are an important teaching tool that can bring new relevance, energy, creativity, thought-provoking ideas, and connections into nonmajors courses.

Disturbances modify the three-dimensional (3D) physical structure of forest canopies, which cascades to influence numerous ecosystem functions. The capacity to model the structural outcomes of disturbance may aid in predicting ecosystem functional responses, especially for novel disturbance types and regimes. Disturbance characteristics, such as severity and spatial patterning, influence 3D canopy structure, but our understanding of structure–disturbance relationships is limited to a small number of empirical studies and experiments that investigate a narrow range of disturbance variables with limited or no replication. We conducted a novel coupled field-modeling experiment using 3D forest canopy models derived from terrestrial laser scanning to evaluate how three different disturbance characteristics interact to affect canopy structure: disturbance severity (proportion basal area removed) and the horizontal and vertical distribution of canopy removal. Our analysis suggested that initial stand structure and the vertical and horizontal distribution of disturbance have an equivalent or greater influence on canopy structure relative to severity. Disturbances affecting smaller stems and with more uniform spatial patterns of stem removal had the most consistently positive effects on structural complexity. The simulation framework developed here is broadly applicable to other forest or vegetation types and could be used to further evaluate the structural effects of a range of disturbances, including novel disturbance types and interactions, across a variety of sites and ecosystem types in a manner that is infeasible through field manipulations alone. In addition, this approach could facilitate opportunities to improve disturbance detection, predictive ecosystem modeling, and assessment and design of forest management approaches in an era of uncertainty and rapid environmental change.

Set-aside fields are widely considered effective measures for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, although their ecological value depends on specific management and landscape context. Here, we assessed a multidimensional index of the ecological value of plant communities in 16 set-aside fields representing four different management types in northwest Saxony, Germany. Moreover, we used interview data to explore how farmers in the same study region perceive the ecological, economic, and social aspects of set-aside fields. Annual and perennial self-vegetated fallows had a higher ecological value than annual or perennial sown flowering areas. In most cases, perennial set-asides (self-vegetated or sown) had higher species richness, greater species diversity, and higher total abundance than the corresponding annual set-asides. Differences in soil parameters or landscape diversity were small, and differences in the ecological value were primarily driven by the management type and not by the landscape context. Farmers highlighted the value of perennial set-asides as habitat for wildlife and acknowledged their economic and social value, especially in areas with low soil productivity. However, farmers' overall confidence in the broader ecological value of set-asides remained limited. Our case study illustrates the inherent complexity of evaluating the success of conservation measures, which depends not only on the biodiversity outcomes but also on farmers' perceptions of these measures and thus their willingness to implement them and their ways of managing them.

I studied how breeding and wintering forest bird communities across Connecticut responded to variation in habitat characteristics, particularly landscape attributes such as forest fragmentation. I surveyed birds at 1815 points along 121 transects that traversed approximately 400 km of forest. I also made 12,705 habitat measurements at survey points and computed areas of forest, non-forest, core forest, and perimeter/area ratios of forest for 31,550 ha of study area. I computed sampled species richness and community density as well as individual species' population densities for each transect. Moreover, I classified species encountered as to their nest site selection, macrohabitat use, microhabitat use, migratory strategy, and trophic affiliation. Based on observations of 36,702 summering individuals of 123 species and 13,742 wintering individuals of 63 species, declines in community density occurred with increasing fragmentation, although species richness was often more closely associated with habitat measures. Among landscape measures, forest fragmentation had the closest association with summer community measures 81% of the time, strongly suggesting that fragmentation effects were the predominant driver of such community patterns. However, short-distance migrant density and richness, foraging generalist density and richness, edge/successional species density and richness, habitat generalist density, and Brown-headed Cowbird density showed little relationship to landscape measures. The effects of fragmentation appeared to predominate over those of simply forest extent in predicting summer and winter bird community characteristics even in the comparatively extensive forests of southern New England. Despite the importance of fragmentation effects, community and individual species measures often tended to be more closely associated with habitat measures than with fragmentation. In addition, few summer or winter community measures or species patterns showed any significant relationship to natural forest breaks. Winter community and species density patterns showed a limited relationship to landscape measures, although increasing fragmentation showed some association with increasing species richness and community density.

Benthic community structure on present-day coral reefs is often described as rapidly degrading, yet such summative statements do not capture the effects of spatial heterogeneity in communities. We focus on Moorea, French Polynesia, where the fore reef has shown high ecological resilience in recent decades, and ask whether the adjacent fringing reefs show different dynamics as a result of local environmental conditions. Communities on fringing reefs (~4-m depth) were quantified at six sites from 2005 to 2022, and their community dynamics were tested for association with environmental conditions. Unlike the fore reef, most fringing reefs became degraded with respect to hard coral cover and showed low resilience, and their benthic communities differed more among sites than over time at any one site. The sites were each characterized by different temperature regimes, geomorphology, algal cover, and runoff of rainfall from the land. When pooled among sites and times, variation in coral community structure was most strongly associated with distance from the nearest reef pass and macroalgal cover, while benthic community structure was most strongly associated with the distance from the nearest reef pass and the area of building coverage (i.e., a development index). These findings underscore the strong effects of spatial structuring of anthropogenic disturbances, local-scale spatial heterogeneity in reef communities, and the limitations of categorical descriptions of reef condition. Together with evidence of resilient fore-reef communities around Moorea, these results reveal the potential for among-habitat community asynchrony to mediate island-scale coral reef community resilience and show that the community dynamics of fringing reefs are important components of holistic summaries of reef condition. While these fringing reefs exhibit degradation and varied resilience, these community trends were more strongly associated with local anthropogenic impacts than climate change. Modifications to local environmental management actions therefore have the potential to alter trajectories of coral community change at the same spatial scale.

Invasive species management is a significant challenge and often involves herbicides. Herbicides, however, can have significant nontarget effects and often need to be reapplied to maintain control, which may amplify negative effects. Effects on plant communities are well documented, but less is known about herbicide effects on rangeland soils with respect to application frequency. Given strengthening plant community effects with repeated application, we should see concurrent changes in soil microbiomes and soil functioning. To explore how application frequency affects rangeland plants and soils, we focused on leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) invasion. Leafy spurge is invasive in North America and causes widespread changes in rangeland ecosystems, with herbicides often the control method of choice. We applied a common broadleaf-specific herbicide containing aminocyclopyrachlor and metsulfuron-methyl (Navius FLEX; Envu) either never, once, or in two consecutive years in both invaded and uninvaded areas. We then measured plant biomass and composition, and soil microbial composition, carbon, and nitrogen for 2 or 3 years. One application reduced leafy spurge nearly 90% for two growing seasons, declining to 60% by the third. One application also caused approximately 50% declines in forb biomass and broadleaf species richness, and a 300% increase in nitrate, with limited other soil effects. By year 3, the plots recovered; however, there was also a 45% increase in secondary invasion by exotic grasses. A second application worsened most plant community effects and caused an 85% loss of shrubs. Further, the second application caused changes in the soil microbiome, with a 22% decline in fungal abundances and increased stress in bacteria. The changes in the microbiome are likely due to the loss of good mycorrhizal hosts and belowground carbon allocation, which is supported by a concurrent 25% decline in labile carbon. Conversely, we found no significant differences in plant and soil properties between invaded and uninvaded areas. Herbicide can thus have frequency-dependent detrimental effects on rangeland ecosystems that become more pronounced with a second application. Overuse of herbicides for invasive control thus has the potential to significantly alter biodiversity and ecosystem structure and may have worse effects than the invasive species themselves.