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Logging response alters trajectories of reorganization after loss of a foundation tree species Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-03-15 Audrey Barker Plotkin, David A. Orwig, Meghan Graham MacLean, Aaron M. Ellison
Forest insect outbreaks cause large changes in ecosystem structure, composition, and function. Humans often respond to insect outbreaks by conducting salvage logging, which can amplify the immediate effects, but it is unclear whether logging will result in lasting differences in forest structure and dynamics when compared with forests affected only by insect outbreaks. We used 15 years of data from
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Plant responses to elevated CO2 under competing hypotheses of nitrogen and phosphorus limitations Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-03-12 Qing Zhu, William J. Riley, Jinyun Tang, Nicholas J. Bouskill
The future ecosystem carbon cycle has important implications for biosphere‐climate feedback. The magnitude of future plant growth and carbon accumulation depends on plant strategies for nutrient uptake under the stresses of nitrogen (N) versus phosphorus (P) limitations. Two archetypal theories have been widely acknowledged in the literature to represent N and P limitations on ecosystem processes:
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Widespread agrochemicals differentially affect zooplankton biomass and community structure: Comment Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Rebecca C. Rooney, Jose Luis Rodriguez‐Gil
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Biotic interactions in soil and dung shape parasite transmission in temperate ruminant systems: An integrative framework Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Christopher J. Boughton, Lesley T. Lancaster, Eric R. Morgan
Gastrointestinal helminth parasites undergo part of their life cycle outside their host, such that developmental stages interact with the soil and dung fauna. These interactions are capable of affecting parasite transmission on pastures yet are generally ignored in current models, empirical studies and practical management. Dominant methods of parasite control, which rely on anthelmintic medications
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Recolonization of secondary forests by a locally extinct Caribbean anole through the lens of range expansion theory Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Miguel A. Acevedo, Carly Fankhauser, Luis González, Marné Quigg, Bella Gonzalez, Riccardo Papa
Disturbance and recovery dynamics are characteristic features of many ecosystems. Disturbance dynamics are widely studied in ecology and conservation biology. Still, we know less about the ecological processes that drive ecosystem recovery. The ecological processes that mediate ecosystem recovery stand at the intersection of many theoretical frameworks. Range expansion theory is one of these complementary
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Eastern Canadian boreal forest soil and foliar chemistry show evidence of resilience to long‐term nitrogen addition Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Daniel Houle, Jean‐David Moore, Marie Renaudin
The boreal forest is one of the world's largest terrestrial biome and plays crucial roles in global biogeochemical cycles, such as carbon (C) sequestration in vegetation and soil. However, the impacts of decades of N deposition on N‐limited ecosystems, like the eastern Canadian boreal forest, remain unclear. For 13 years, N deposition was simulated by periodically adding ammonium nitrate on soils of
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Local and regional‐scale effects of hedgerows on grassland‐ and forest‐associated bird populations within agroecosystems Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Devin R. de Zwaan, Kevin C. Hannah, Niloofar Alavi, Greg W. Mitchell, David R. Lapen, Jason Duffe, Scott Wilson
Linear woody features (LWFs), like hedgerows along field edges, provide wildlife habitat and support biodiversity in agroecosystems. Assessments of LWFs usually focus on community‐level indices, such as species richness. However, effective conservation actions need to balance the contrasting habitat preferences of different wildlife species, necessitating a focus on population‐level effects in working
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Human access constrains optimal foraging and habitat availability in an avian generalist Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Nicholas M. Masto, Abigail G. Blake‐Bradshaw, Cory J. Highway, Allison C. Keever, Jamie C. Feddersen, Heath M. Hagy, Bradley S. Cohen
Animals balance costs of antipredator behaviors with resource acquisition to minimize hunting and other mortality risks and maximize their physiological condition. This inherent trade‐off between forage abundance, its quality, and mortality risk is intensified in human‐dominated landscapes because fragmentation, habitat loss, and degradation of natural vegetation communities is often coupled with artificially
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Natural vegetation biomass and the dimension of forest quality in tropical agricultural landscapes Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Renato Miazaki de Toledo, Vania Regina Pivello, Michael Philip Perring, Luciano Martins Verdade
Forest cover has been a pivotal indicator of biological conservation and carrying capacity for wildlife in forest ecoregions. Such a relationship underpins policies focused on the extension of protected lands. Here, we estimate aboveground biomass (AGB) as a proxy for habitat quality in seminatural rural patches and provide a comparison with approaches that only consider forest cover. We hypothesize
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The long shadow of woody encroachment: An integrated approach to modeling grassland songbird habitat Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-02-21 Katy M. Silber, Trevor J. Hefley, Henry N. Castro‐Miller, Zak Ratajczak, W. Alice Boyle
Animals must track resources over relatively fine spatial and temporal scales, particularly in disturbance‐mediated systems like grasslands. Grassland birds respond to habitat heterogeneity by dispersing among sites within and between years, yet we know little about how they make post‐dispersal settlement decisions. Many methods exist to quantify the resource selection of mobile taxa, but the habitat
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A meta‐analysis reveals increases in soil organic carbon following the restoration and recovery of croplands in Southwest China Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-02-21 Zihao Guo, Shuting Zhang, Lichen Zhang, Yangzhou Xiang, Jianping Wu
In China, the Grain for Green Program (GGP) is an ambitious project to convert croplands into natural vegetation, but exactly how changes in vegetation translate into changes in soil organic carbon remains less clear. Here we conducted a meta‐analysis using 734 observations to explore the effects of land recovery on soil organic carbon and nutrients in four provinces in Southwest China. Following GGP
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Optimal allocation of resources among general and species‐specific tools for plant pest biosecurity surveillance Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-02-21 Hoa‐Thi‐Minh Nguyen, Long Chu, Andrew M. Liebhold, Rebecca Epanchin‐Niell, John M. Kean, Tom Kompas, Andrew P. Robinson, Eckehard G. Brockerhoff, Joslin L. Moore
This paper proposes a surveillance model for plant pests that can optimally allocate resources among survey tools with varying properties. While some survey tools are highly specific for the detection of a single pest species, others are more generalized. There is considerable variation in the cost and sensitivity of these tools, but there are no guidelines or frameworks for identifying which tools
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Distinct latitudinal patterns and drivers of topsoil nitrogen and phosphorus across urban forests in eastern China Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-02-15 Nan Xia, Enzai Du, Xinhui Wu, Yang Tang, Hongbo Guo, Yang Wang
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are the two most important macronutrients supporting forest growth. Unprecedented urbanization has created growing areas of urban forests that provide key ecosystem services for city dwellers. However, the large-scale patterns of soil N and P content remain poorly understood in urban forests. Based on a systematic soil survey in urban forests from nine large cities across
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Sustaining eastern oak forests: Synergistic effects of fire and topography on vegetation and fuels Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-02-13 Todd F. Hutchinson, Bryce T. Adams, Matthew B. Dickinson, Maryjane Heckel, Alejandro A. Royo, Melissa A. Thomas-Van Gundy
Across much of the eastern United States, oak forests are undergoing mesophication as shade-tolerant competitors become more abundant and suppress oak regeneration. Given the historical role of anthropogenic surface fires in promoting oak dominance, prescribed fire has become important in efforts to reverse mesophication and sustain oaks. In 2000 we established the Ohio Hills Fire and Fire Surrogate
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Temporal dynamics in the composition of bird communities along a gradient of farmland restoration Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-02-02 Angie Haslem, Rohan H. Clarke, Alex C. Maisey, Alistair Stewart, James Q. Radford, Andrew F. Bennett
Revegetation plantings are a key activity in farmland restoration and are commonly assumed to support biotic communities that, with time, replicate those of reference habitats. Restoration outcomes, however, can be highly variable and difficult to predict; hence there is value in quantifying restoration success to improve future efforts. We test the expectation that, over time, revegetation will restore
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Concurrent threats and extinction risk in a long-lived, highly fecund vertebrate with parental care Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-02-01 George C. Brooks, William A. Hopkins, Holly K. Kindsvater
Detecting declines and quantifying extinction risk of long-lived, highly fecund vertebrates, including fishes, reptiles, and amphibians, can be challenging. In addition to the false notion that large clutches always buffer against population declines, the imperiled status of long-lived species can often be masked by extinction debt, wherein adults persist on the landscape for several years after populations
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Wetlands as a potential multifunctioning tool to mitigate eutrophication and brownification Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-01-29 Anna Borgström, Lars-Anders Hansson, Clemens Klante, Johanna Sjöstedt
Eutrophication and brownification are ongoing environmental problems affecting aquatic ecosystems. Due to anthropogenic changes, increasing amounts of organic and inorganic compounds are entering aquatic systems from surrounding catchment areas, increasing both nutrients, total organic carbon (TOC), and water color with societal, as well as ecological consequences. Several studies have focused on the
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Long-term efficacy of fuel reduction and restoration treatments in Northern Rockies dry forests Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-01-11 Sharon M. Hood, Justin S. Crotteau, Cory C. Cleveland
Fuel and restoration treatments seeking to mitigate the likelihood of uncharacteristic high-severity wildfires in forests with historically frequent, low-severity fire regimes are increasingly common, but long-term treatment effects on fuels, aboveground carbon, plant community structure, ecosystem resilience, and other ecosystem attributes are understudied. We present 20-year responses to thinning
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Ecologically informed priors improve Bayesian model estimates of species richness and occupancy for undetected species Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-01-07 Emily M. Beasley
Detection error can bias observations of ecological processes, especially when some species are never detected during sampling. In many communities, the probable identity of these missing species is known from previous research and natural history collections, but this information is rarely incorporated into subsequent models. Here, I present prior aggregation as a method for including information
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The following article for this Special Feature was published in an earlier Issue Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2024-01-02
Gu, D., T. Jia, H. Wei, M. Fang, F. Yu, L. Shu, X. Wang, G. Li, X. Cai, X. Mu, M. Xu, J. Wang and Y. Hu. 2023. “Biotic Resistance to Fish Invasions in Southern China: Evidence from Biomass, Habitat, and Fertility Limitation.” Ecological Applications 33(8): e2819. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2819. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.2819
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Thresholds and alternative states in a Neotropical dry forest in response to fire severity Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-12-10 H. Raúl Peinetti, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Claudia C. Chirino, Florencia L. Vivalda, Alicia G. Kin
Neotropical xerophytic forest ecosystems evolved with fires that shaped their resilience to disturbance events. However, it is unknown whether forest resilience to fires persists under a new fire regime influenced by anthropogenic disturbance and climate change. We asked whether there was evidence for a fire severity threshold causing an abrupt transition from a forest to an alternative shrub thicket
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Microgeographic variation in demography and thermal regimes stabilize regional abundance of a widespread freshwater fish Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-12-10 Brian K. Gallagher, Dylan J. Fraser
Predicting the persistence of species under climate change is an increasingly important objective in ecological research and management. However, biotic and abiotic heterogeneity can drive asynchrony in population responses at small spatial scales, complicating species-level assessments. For widely distributed species consisting of many fragmented populations, such as brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)
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Mapping multiscale breeding bird species distributions across the United States and evaluating their conservation applications Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-12-10 Kathleen A. Carroll, Anna M. Pidgeon, Paul R. Elsen, Laura S. Farwell, David Gudex-Cross, Benjamin Zuckerberg, Volker C. Radeloff
Species distribution models are vital to management decisions that require understanding habitat use patterns, particularly for species of conservation concern. However, the production of distribution maps for individual species is often hampered by data scarcity, and existing species maps are rarely spatially validated due to limited occurrence data. Furthermore, community-level maps based on stacked
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Wildflower plantings enhance nesting opportunities for soil-nesting bees Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-12-10 Neal M. Williams, Andrew Buderi, Logan Rowe, Kimiora Ward
Ongoing declines of bees and other pollinators are driven in part by the loss of critical floral resources and nesting substrates. Most conservation/restoration efforts for bees aim to enhance floral abundance and continuity but often assume the same actions will bolster nesting opportunities. Recent research suggests that habitat plantings may not always provide both forage and nesting resources.
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Facilitating the recovery of insect communities in restored streams by increasing oviposition habitat Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-12-10 Samantha Dilworth, Brad W. Taylor
Recruitment limitation is known to influence species abundances and distributions. Recognition of how and why it occurs both in natural and in designed environments could improve restoration. Aquatic insects, for instance, rarely reestablish in restored streams to levels comparable to reference streams even years after restoration. We experimentally increased oviposition habitat in five out of 10 restored
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Natural habitat connectivity and organic management modulate pest dispersal, gene flow, and natural enemy communities Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-12-10 Danyelle R. Novaes, Patricia S. Sujii, Camila A. Rodrigues, Karen M. N. B. Silva, Amanda F. P. Machado, Alice K. Inoue-Nagata, Erich Y. T. Nakasu, Pedro H. B. Togni
The simplification and fragmentation of agricultural landscapes generate effects on insects at multiple spatial scales. As each functional group perceives and uses the habitat differently, the response of pest insects and their associated natural enemies to environmental changes varies. Therefore, landscape structure may have consequences on gene flow among pest populations in space. This study aimed
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Bird species responses to rangeland management in relation to their traits: Rio de la Plata Grasslands as a case study Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-11-20 Joaquín Aldabe, Teresa Morán-López, Pablo Soca, Oscar Blumetto, Juan Manuel Morales
Areas used for livestock production and dominated by native grasses represent a unique opportunity to reconcile biodiversity conservation and livestock production. However, limited knowledge of individual species’ responses to rangeland management restricts our capacity to design grazing practices that favor endangered species and other priority birds. In this work, we applied Hierarchical Modelling
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Landscape-wide pulse events predict trait-based responses among wetland birds in perennial channels of a dryland wetland Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-11-11 Frowin K. Becker, Rutledge S. Boyes, Heiko U. Wittmer, Victoria Inman, Stephen Marsland
Wetlands in arid or semiarid zones are vital for maintaining biodiversity but face growing threats. Flooding regime variability is a key driver of ecological dynamism in these systems, dictating primary productivity on a large spatial scale. The functional composition or diversity of wetland-dependent bird species has been found to be sensitive to fluctuations in hydrological regimes and can thus be
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Forest restoration and fuels reduction work: Different pathways for achieving success in the Sierra Nevada Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-11-10 Scott L. Stephens, Daniel E. Foster, John J. Battles, Alexis A. Bernal, Brandon M. Collins, Rachelle Hedges, Jason J. Moghaddas, Ariel T. Roughton, Robert A. York
Fire suppression and past selective logging of large trees have fundamentally changed frequent-fire-adapted forests in California. The culmination of these changes produced forests that are vulnerable to catastrophic change by wildfire, drought, and bark beetles, with climate change exacerbating this vulnerability. Management options available to address this problem include mechanical treatments (Mech)
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Climate change causes declines and greater extremes in wetland inundation in a region important for wetland birds Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-11-09 David W. Londe, Craig A. Davis, Scott R. Loss, Ellen P. Robertson, David A. Haukos, Torre J. Hovick
Wetland ecosystems are vital for maintaining global biodiversity, as they provide important stopover sites for many species of migrating wetland-associated birds. However, because weather determines their hydrologic cycles, wetlands are highly vulnerable to effects of climate change. Although changes in temperature and precipitation resulting from climate change are expected to reduce inundation of
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Establishing peat-forming plant communities: A comparison of wetland reclamation methods in Alberta's oil sands region Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-11-09 Andrea Borkenhagen, David J. Cooper, Melissa House, Dale H. Vitt
The Sandhill Wetland (SW) and Nikanotee Fen (NF) are two wetland research projects designed to test the viability of peatland reclamation in the Alberta oil sands post-mining landscape. To identify effective approaches for establishing peat-forming vegetation in reclaimed wetlands, we evaluated how plant introduction approaches and water level gradients influence species distribution, plant community
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Prescribed fire increases plant–pollinator network robustness to losses of rare native forbs Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-10-24 Susan M. Waters, Rachel M. Mitchell, Emily R. Brown, Ethan M. Taber
Restoration efforts often focus on changing the composition and structure of invaded plant communities, with two implicit assumptions: (1) functional interactions with species of other trophic levels, such as pollinators, will reassemble automatically when native plant diversity is restored and (2) restored communities will be more resilient to future stressors. However, the impact of restoration activities
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Perspectives of invasive alien species management in China Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-10-21 Xuan Liu, Wei Huang, Yanjie Liu, Aibin Zhan
INTRODUCTION Biological invasions pose a significant threat to ecosystems, resulting in substantial negative ecological, environmental, and economic impacts globally (Diagne et al., 2021; Pyšek et al., 2020). China is one of the countries significantly affected by invasive alien species (IAS) and, unfortunately, the impacts of biological invasions have not shown any signs of decline due to increasing
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Forest restoration treatments indirectly diversify pollination networks via floral- and temperature-mediated effects Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-10-21 Cora B. Davies, Thomas Seth Davis, Terry Griswold
In North American conifer forests, a variety of federally initiated thinning programs are implemented to restore pre-European settlement forest structures, but these changes may impact ecosystem function via impacts on sensitive biotic communities. Across the wildland–urban interface of the Front Range region of Colorado, agencies associated with the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program
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Bayesian areal disaggregation regression to predict wildlife distribution and relative density with low-resolution data Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-10-07 Kilian J. Murphy, Simone Ciuti, Tim Burkitt, Virginia Morera-Pujol
For species of conservation concern and human–wildlife conflict, it is imperative that spatial population data be available to design adaptive-management strategies and be prepared to meet challenges such as land use and climate change, disease outbreaks, and invasive species spread. This can be difficult, perhaps impossible, if spatially explicit wildlife data are not available. Low-resolution areal
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Joint species distribution modeling reveals a changing prey landscape for North Pacific right whales on the Bering shelf Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-10-04 Dana L. Wright, David G. Kimmel, Nancy Roberson, David Strausz
The eastern North Pacific right whale (NPRW) is the most endangered population of whale and has been observed north of its core feeding ground in recent years with low sea ice extent. Sea ice and water temperature are important drivers for zooplankton dynamics within the whale's core feeding ground in the southeastern Bering Sea, seasonally forming stable fronts along the shelf that give rise to distinct
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Effects of vehicle traffic on space use and road crossings of caribou in the Arctic Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-10-03 John P. Severson, Timothy C. Vosburgh, Heather E. Johnson
Assessing the effects of industrial development on wildlife is a key objective of managers and conservation practitioners. However, wildlife responses are often only investigated with respect to the footprint of infrastructure, even though human activity can strongly mediate development impacts. In Arctic Alaska, there is substantial interest in expanding energy development, raising concerns about
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Testing the hierarchy of predictability in grassland restoration across a gradient of environmental severity Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-09-29 Diana Bertuol-Garcia, Emma Ladouceur, Lars A. Brudvig, Daniel C. Laughlin, Seth M. Munson, Michael F. Curran, Kirk W. Davies, Lauren N. Svejcar, Nancy Shackelford
Ecological restoration is critical for recovering degraded ecosystems but is challenged by variable success and low predictability. Understanding which outcomes are more predictable and less variable following restoration can improve restoration effectiveness. Recent theory asserts that the predictability of outcomes would follow an order from most to least predictable from coarse to fine community
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Metabarcoding reveals that mixed forests mitigate negative effects of non-native trees on canopy arthropod diversity Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-09-29 Benjamin Wildermuth, Carlo L. Seifert, Martin Husemann, Andreas Schuldt
Averting climate change-induced forest diebacks increasingly relies on tree species planted outside of their natural range and on the addition of non-native tree species to mixed-species forests. However, the consequences of such changes for associated biodiversity remain poorly understood, especially for the forest canopy as a largely understudied forest stratum. Here, we used flight interception
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Transgenerational plasticity in morphological characteristics and biomass of the invasive plant Xanthium strumarium Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-09-26 Xinyue Liu, Xiaozhen Man, Meishan Chen, Changxin Zhao, Chuang Liu, Jialin Tong, Fanqi Meng, Meini Shao, Bo Qu
Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) allows a plant to acclimate to external variable environments and is a potential mechanism that explains the range expansion and invasion success of some exotic plants. Most studies explored the traits of TGP associated with the success of exotic plant invasions by comparison studies among exotic, native, invasive, and noninvasive species. However, studies on the
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Substituting space for time: Bird responses to forest loss in space provide a general picture of responses over time Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-09-09 Kayla Attinello, Lenore Fahrig, Adam C. Smith, Scott Wilson
The practice of space-for-time substitution assumes that the responses of species or communities to land-use change over space represents how they will respond to that same change over time. Space-for-time substitution is commonly used in both ecology and conservation, but whether the assumption produces reliable insights remains inconclusive. Here, we tested space-for-time substitution using data
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Avoiding bias in estimates of population size for translocation management Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-09-09 Katherine T. Bickerton, John G. Ewen, Stefano Canessa, Nik C. Cole, Fay Frost, Rouben Mootoocurpen, Rachel McCrea
Mark–recapture surveys are commonly used to monitor translocated populations globally. Data gathered are then used to estimate demographic parameters, such as abundance and survival, using Jolly–Seber (JS) models. However, in translocated populations initial population size is known and failure to account for this may bias parameter estimates, which are important for informing conservation decisions
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Pollen carryover, pollinator movement, and spatial context impact the delivery of pollination services in apple orchards Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-09-03 Keng-Lou James Hung, Sophia L. Fan, Caroline G. Strang, Mia G. Park, James D. Thomson
Assessing the relative contributions of different pollinator taxa to pollination services is a central task in both basic eco-evolutionary research and applied conservation and agriculture. To that end, many studies have quantified single-visit pollen deposition and visitation frequency, which together determine a pollinator species' rate of conspecific pollen delivery. However, for plant species that
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Quantifying impacts of an environmental intervention using environmental DNA Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-28 Elizabeth Andruszkiewicz Allan, Ryan P. Kelly, Erin R. D'Agnese, Maya N. Garber-Yonts, Megan R. Shaffer, Zachary J. Gold, Andrew O. Shelton
Environmental laws around the world require some version of an environmental-impact assessment surrounding construction projects and other discrete instances of human development. Information requirements for these assessments vary by jurisdiction, but nearly all require an analysis of the biological elements of ecosystems. Amplicon-sequencing—also called metabarcoding—of environmental DNA (eDNA) has
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Using social-ecological models to explore stream connectivity outcomes for stakeholders and Yellowstone cutthroat trout Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-28 Elizabeth Jossie, Travis Seaborn, Colden V. Baxter, Morey Burnham
Despite growing interest in conservation and re-establishment of ecological connectivity, few studies have explored its context-specific social–ecological outcomes. We aimed to explore social and ecological outcomes to changing stream connectivity for both stakeholders and native fish species impacted by habitat fragmentation and nonnative species. We (1) investigated stakeholder perceptions of the
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Trucks versus treks: The relative influence of motorized versus nonmotorized recreation on a mammal community Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-28 Kelsey M. Gump, Daniel H. Thornton
Outdoor recreation is increasing rapidly on public lands, with potential consequences for wildlife communities. Recreation can induce shifts in wildlife activity and habitat use, but responses vary widely even within the same species, suggesting mitigating factors that remain poorly understood. Both the type of recreation—motorized or nonmotorized—and the distance of wildlife from human disturbance
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Improving coral cover using an integrated pest management framework Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-24 Jacob G. D. Rogers, Éva E. Plagányi, Russell C. Babcock, Cameron S. Fletcher, David A. Westcott
Integrated pest management (IPM) leverages our understanding of ecological interactions to mitigate the impact of pest species on economically and/or ecologically important assets. It has primarily been applied in terrestrial settings (e.g., agriculture), but has rarely been attempted for marine ecosystems. The crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS), Acanthaster spp., is a voracious coral predator throughout
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Gene drives for invasive wasp control: Extinction is unlikely, with suppression dependent on dispersal and growth rates Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-24 Philip J. Lester, David O'Sullivan, George L. W. Perry
Gene drives offer a potentially revolutionary method for pest control over large spatial extents. These genetic modifications spread deleterious variants through a population and have been proposed as methods for pest suppression or even eradication. We examined the influence of local dispersal, long-distance and/or human-mediated dispersal, and variation in population growth on the success of a gene
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Landscape-scale floral resource discontinuity decreases bumble bee occurrence and alters community composition Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-21 Jeremy Hemberger, Olivia M. Bernauer, Hannah R. Gaines-Day, Claudio Gratton
Agricultural practices and intensification during the past two centuries have dramatically altered the abundance and temporal continuity of floral resources that support pollinating insects such as bumble bees. Long-term trends among bumble bees within agricultural regions suggest that intensive agricultural conditions have created inhospitable conditions for some species, while other species have
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Introducing desirable patches to initiate ecosystem transitions and accelerate ecosystem restoration Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-21 Maarten B. Eppinga, Theo K. Michaels, Maria J. Santos, James D. Bever
Meeting restoration targets may require active strategies to accelerate natural regeneration rates or overcome the resilience associated with degraded ecosystem states. Introducing desired ecosystem patches in degraded landscapes constitutes a promising active restoration strategy, with various mechanisms potentially causing these patches to become foci from which desired species can re-establish throughout
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Long-term livestock exclusion increases plant richness and reproductive capacity in arid woodlands Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-21 Ayesha I. T. Tulloch, Al Healy, Jennifer Silcock, Glenda M. Wardle, Christopher R. Dickman, Anke S. K. Frank, Helene Aubault, Kyle Barton, Aaron C. Greenville
Herbivore exclusion is implemented globally to recover ecosystems from grazing by introduced and native herbivores, but evidence for large-scale biodiversity benefits is inconsistent in arid ecosystems. We examined the effects of livestock exclusion on dryland plant richness and reproductive capacity. We collected data on plant species richness and seeding (reproductive capacity), rainfall, vegetation
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Logging, linear features, and human infrastructure shape the spatial dynamics of wolf predation on an ungulate neonate Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-21 Sean M. Johnson-Bice, Thomas D. Gable, Austin T. Homkes, Steve K. Windels, Joseph K. Bump, John G. Bruggink
Humans are increasingly recognized as important players in predator–prey dynamics by modifying landscapes. This trend has been well-documented for large mammal communities in North American boreal forests: logging creates early seral forests that benefit ungulates such as white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), while the combination of infrastructure development and resource extraction practices
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Landscape heterogeneity provides co-benefits to predator and prey Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-21 Corbin C. Kuntze, Jonathan N. Pauli, Ceeanna J. Zulla, John J. Keane, Kevin N. Roberts, Brian P. Dotters, Sarah C. Sawyer, M. Zachariah Peery
Predator populations are imperiled globally, due in part to changing habitat and trophic interactions. Theoretical and laboratory studies suggest that heterogeneous landscapes containing prey refuges acting as source habitats can benefit both predator and prey populations, although the importance of heterogeneity in natural systems is uncertain. Here, we tested the hypothesis that landscape heterogeneity
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Waterfowl show spatiotemporal trends in influenza A H5 and H7 infections but limited taxonomic variation Ecol. Appl. (IF 5.0) Pub Date : 2023-07-31 Cody M. Kent, Sarah N. Bevins, Jennifer M. Mullinax, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Diann J. Prosser
Influenza A viruses in wild birds pose threats to the poultry industry, wild birds, and human health under certain conditions. Of particular importance are wild waterfowl, which are the primary reservoir of low-pathogenicity influenza viruses that ultimately cause high-pathogenicity outbreaks in poultry farms. Despite much work on the drivers of influenza A virus prevalence, the underlying viral subtype