Pulsing hydrology is a major factor affecting fish communities in tropical river‐floodplain ecosystems. Species responses to flow alteration are however poorly understood and are thus difficult to predict. Here, we investigated temporal changes in fish community structure (taxonomic and functional) in the Tonle Sap Lake, a floodplain ecosystem in Cambodia that supports the world largest inland fisheries

Every spring, ranchers in the drought‐prone U.S. Great Plains face the same difficult challenge—trying to estimate how much forage will be available for livestock to graze during the upcoming summer grazing season. To reduce this uncertainty in predicting forage availability, we developed an innovative new grassland productivity forecast system, named Grass‐Cast, to provide science‐informed estimates

Mixed‐species colonies occur frequently, especially among seabirds, and may provide mutual benefits among associated species including antipredator advantages. The “protector” species in such associations may provide early warning signals or by aggressively defending their own nests, may expel predators from the area. We explored costs and benefits to Rockhopper Penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome) in relation

In recent decades, concern for migratory birds has stimulated research assessing the relationships between forest management and bird populations. The Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project (MOFEP) is a long‐term, landscape‐scale experiment designed to examine the effects of even‐aged (i.e., clearcutting), uneven‐aged (i.e., selection cutting), and no‐harvest forest management on ecosystem‐level processes

Estuaries act as nurseries for a wide variety of fish species, potentially providing vital foraging opportunities and refuge from predation for their juvenile residents. Yet, these dynamic environments are comprised of a mosaic of habitat types that span gradients of both salinity and physical habitat structure. Here, we present a novel use of size‐spectra analysis to infer nursery habitat function

Large‐scale abortion of immature fruits is a pervasive phenomenon across seed plants due to maternal physiological decisions associated with matching resources with fruit crop size. Aborted fruits are usually disqualified from studies of both fruit production and seed dispersal. However, a considerable number of developing seeds occur within immature aborted fruits. We evaluated the untested hypotheses

Ecological metrics derived from habitat surveys can provide information necessary to understand population, community, and ecosystem processes. Here, we present a case study on the feasibility of extracting ecological metrics from archeological studies of shipwrecks. Even though shipwrecks that are the focus of archeological surveys also form habitat for diverse flora and fauna, shipwrecks are often

Increased genotypic diversity has been associated with increased biomass production in short‐rotation tree species. Increasing the genotypic diversity of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) in an attempt to increase productivity has not been extensively studied nor tested operationally or over long durations (i.e., >7 yr). We used genetically mixed and pure rows of loblolly pine growing throughout its planted

Group living is assumed to benefit prey by reducing predation risk due to dilution and detection effects. This increased safety could be exchanged against a reduced individual vigilance leading to increased foraging and fitness until costs of intra‐group competition offset this benefit. However, very few studies have been able to directly test the relationship between individual fitness and group size

Feedbacks between plants and their soil microbial communities often drive negative density dependence in rare, tropical tree species, but their importance to common, temperate trees remains unclear. Additionally, whether negative density dependence is driven by natural enemies (e.g., soil pathogens) or by high densities of seedlings has rarely been assessed. Density dependence may also depend on seedling

Community assembly of island plants is a central topic in island biogeography. Most previous studies have focused on seed plants, while our understanding of bryophytes is limited. Specifically, how dispersal limitation and habitat heterogeneity shape beta diversity of bryophyte communities on islands remains unknown. We used two datasets of bryophyte communities from an artificial (~60 yr of isolation)

Heterogeneity has a critical influence on biodiversity and ecosystem processes. While the influence of heterogeneity on species diversity and abundance is well documented, how heterogeneity influences the distribution and arrangement of necessary resources across a landscape is still unclear. Heterogeneity in vegetation structure and composition is often cited as an important factor in the near‐ground

Minimizing forest vulnerability to more frequent and severe droughts, as climate models predict, has emerged as a primary goal of forest management. One potential strategy to moderate drought‐induced stress is reducing basal area through the repeat application of prescribed fire. However, use of prescribed fire as a management tool to reduce drought vulnerability has been largely untested. Here, we

Although natural resource managers are concerned about climate change, many are unable to adequately incorporate climate change science into their adaptation strategies or management plans, and are not always aware of or do not always employ the most current scientific knowledge. One of the most prominent natural resource management agencies in the United States is the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Replacement of forest by agricultural systems is a major factor accelerating the emissions of greenhouse gases; however, related field studies in the tropics are very scarce. To evaluate the impact of forest transition to plantations on soil methane (CH4) and respiration (CO2) fluxes, we conducted measurements in an undisturbed forest, a disturbed forest, young and old rubber plantations, and an oil

Excess litter accumulates on the soil surface of fenced grasslands and alters the abiotic environment and plant population dynamics. However, little is known about the effect of litter accumulation on the interaction between environmental factors and plant population characteristics in fenced grasslands, especially over different time scales. We applied a three‐year litter removal experiment to two

Successful invasive species are often closely related to other invasive species, suggesting that shared traits contribute to their invasion success. Alternatively, related species can differ in invasiveness, where some are highly invasive yet congeners seem unable to invade. Here, we compared the traits and establishment abilities of two highly successful invasive species, Gambusia affinis and G. holbrooki

Selective grazing by domestic livestock is a major control of plant community structure and dynamics in drylands. However, grazing impact predictions supporting management decisions are frequently based on average biomass consumption, neglecting selectivity. We evaluated the relative importance of grazing pressure, total and each species density, and plant dead biomass proportion as drivers of selective

Annual spawning migrations by Pacific salmon can provide substantial subsidies to nutrient‐limited freshwater and riparian ecosystems, which can affect the abundance, diversity, and physical characteristics of plant and animal species in these habitats. Here, we provide the first investigation of how salmon subsidies affect reproductive output in plants, focusing on a common riparian shrub, salmonberry

Ecosystem degradation due to anthropogenic activities is the primary issue of our times. Theoretical analyses as well as efforts to restore and manage ecosystems depend on comprehensive metrics of ecosystem function. In the case of complex ecosystems such as tropical coral reefs—especially where monitoring, management, and restoration are important—multiple metrics reflecting key functional groups

It is generally assumed that high biodiversity is key to sustaining critical ecosystem services, including prey suppression by natural predator guilds. Prey suppression is driven by complex interactions between members of predator and prey communities, as well as their shared environment. Because of this, empirical studies have found both positive and negative effects of high predator diversity on

Tulip poplar is an important component of the eastern deciduous forest and one of the few diffuse‐porous tree species with indeterminate apical growth in North America for which there are substantial dendroecological data. This dendroecological study evaluated correlations between radial growth of tulip poplar and monthly, seasonal, and annual climate variables and how these correlations varied across

Climate warming is expected to stimulate plant growth in high‐elevation and high‐latitude ecosystems, significantly increasing aboveground net primary production (ANPP). However, the effects of simultaneous changes in temperature, snowmelt timing, and summer water availability on total net primary production (NPP)—and elucidation of both above‐ and belowground responses—remain an important area in

Caves and other subterranean features provide unique environments for many species. The importance of cave microclimate is particularly relevant at temperate latitudes where bats make seasonal use of caves for hibernation. White‐nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that has devastated populations of hibernating bats across eastern and central North America, has brought renewed interest in bat hibernation

An assumption of most regression analyses is that independent variables are measured without error. However, in ecological studies it is common to use independent variables that are derived from samples and therefore contain some uncertainty. For example, when assessing the assumption that energy availability on the landscape is the primary driver of duck distribution during nonbreeding seasons, investigators

It is well recognized that ecological processes are scale‐dependent. Despite this recognition, the influence of scale on population density has still not been explored in detail. While the relationship between population density and overall sampling area is well known, understanding how neighborhood density varies with scale is a persistent challenge. Here, neighborhood density refers to the density

Fertilization studies have elucidated basic principles of the role of nutrients in shaping plant communities and demonstrated the potential effects of anthropogenic nutrient deposition. Yet less is known about how these effects are mediated by interacting ecological factors, particularly in nutrient‐poor wetland habitats. In a long‐term experiment in a coastal plain wetland, we examined how fertilization

The Attwater's prairie‐chicken (APC; Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) was listed as an endangered species in 1967, and since then multiple studies have addressed ecological and human factors that may have limited their population recovery. In this study, we used stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen (δ13C and δ15N) in conjunction with Bayesian mixing models to determine current diets of APCs at the Attwater

Opportunities for growth and survival of aquatic organisms are spatially and temporally variable as habitat conditions across watersheds respond to interacting climatic, geomorphic, and hydrologic conditions. As conservation efforts often focus on identifying and protecting critical habitats, it is important to understand how this spatial and temporal variation in habitat quality affects the production

Close‐kin mark–recapture (CKMR) is a powerful new method for the assessment of fish and wildlife population dynamics. Unlike traditional mark–recapture techniques, the use of kinship as an identifying mark is robust to many forms of capture heterogeneity including variation in gear efficiency and tagging‐based effects such as loss and differential mortality. In addition, close‐kin methods can be applied

The effects of an invasive species on the environment can be altered by anthropogenic activities such as nutrient pollution or the presence of additional invasive species with similar or unique traits. Using experimental mesocosms, we tested the separate and combined effects of three invasive mollusks (zebra mussels, Asian clams, and banded mystery snails) on freshwater environments in nutrient‐poor

In the paper by M. S. Lee et al. (“The Catalan butterfly monitoring scheme has the capacity to detect effects of modifying agricultural practices,” Ecosphere 11(1):e03004; https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3004), several errors appear in the text, Eq. 2, Tables 1 and 2, and Fig. 2, as noted below. In the text, all instances of se, a nonstandard abbreviation for “standard error,” should read “SE.” In Eq

Organisms with multiple biotic attributes may also have conflicting niche determinants, and we assessed whether the realized niche reflects single or multiple biotic attributes. A group of all‐female salamanders found in eastern North America (unisexual salamanders; Ambystoma spp.) embody two potentially competing biotic states: hybridism and obligate reproductive parasitism. In theory, hybrids should

Asymmetric climate projections throughout the U.S. Great Plains may intensify the existing latitudinal temperature gradient and magnify the longitudinal precipitation gradient. These potential changes present a unique challenge to understanding the ecological consequences of future climates in the region. Here we investigate how climate change may affect the spatio‐temporal patterns of potential natural

Within a population of apex predators, differences among individuals can influence both their ecological impact and their vulnerability to threatening processes. Our field studies on a large monitor lizard (Varanus panoptes) in the Australian wet–dry tropics show that diets shift seasonally and depend upon a lizard’s sex and body size. Individuals that had previously been recorded to consume frogs

Invasive pathogens and bark beetles have caused precipitous declines of various tree species around the globe. Here, we characterized long‐term patterns of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae; MPB) attacks and white pine blister rust, an infectious tree disease caused by the pathogen, Cronartium ribicola. We focused on four dominant white pine host species in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National

Subject to hurricane disturbance for millennia, natural ecosystems of Puerto Rico exhibit clear patterns of resistance (e.g., many tree species have little immediate storm‐related mortality) and resilience (e.g., leaf litterfall and stream chemistry returned to pre‐hurricane levels in as little as five years). Contemporaneous studies of near‐shore areas also suggested no long‐term impacts of hurricanes;

Increasing impacts of climatic change and anthropogenic disturbances on natural ecosystems are leading to population declines or extinctions of many species worldwide. In Australia, recent climatic change has caused population declines in some native fauna. The projected increase in mean annual temperature by up to 4°C by the end of the 21st century is expected to exacerbate these trends. The greater

The study of litter decomposition was often tightly linked to some hot topics such as global carbon balance and climate change, but the knowledge of microbes involved in litter decomposition remains limited especially in freshwater lake wetlands. An in situ experiment (278 d) was carried out to study the decomposition processes of two typical wetland plants—Carex cinerascens and Triarrhena lutarioriparia

Biotic ecosystem engineers are increasingly recognized as important drivers of biodiversity, structure, and function in many ecosystems. By regulating physical processes and creating local disturbances, ecosystem engineers can serve as important elements of passive habitat restoration, as they continuously alter and shape their environments. Native to North American temperate wetlands, the common muskrat

Algal blooms in lakes and reservoirs can be considered regime shifts from a clear‐water to algae‐dominated state that often occurs abruptly. Under experimental conditions, these regime shifts have been predicted from rises in variance and autocorrelation (generic resilience indicators) of state variables monitored at a high frequency. The goal of this study was to evaluate the behavior of resilience

Most seabird species nest colonially on cliffs or islands with limited terrestrial predation, so that oceanic effects on the quality or quantity of prey fed to chicks more often determine nest success. However, when predator access increases, impacts can be dramatic, especially when exposure to predators is extended due to slow growth from inadequate food. Kittlitz’s Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris)

Efforts to understand the emergence of an event require our ability to measure and understand the dynamics between time in a state (e.g., being alive or a behavior) and the outcome of the state. Studying the main drivers that affect changes in state over time allows researchers to better understand population dynamics and evolutionary processes. Event history analyses provide a range of theoretical

The southern Rocky Mountains serve as the headwaters of the West, providing water to agriculture, industry, recreation, and millions of people in 17 western states. Eighty percent of the water draining land managed by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service (Forest Service) is from snowmelt. The demand for this water continues to grow with increasing population throughout the arid

The iconic American chestnut (Castanea dentata) once spanned a large portion of eastern North America before its functional extinction in the early 20th century due primarily to non‐native fungal pathogens. The pronounced loss of this species likely resulted in an abrupt alteration of many ecological processes, including fire. The potential to resurrect this species through resistance breeding or other

When prey alter behavioral or morphological traits to reduce predation risk, they often incur fitness costs through reduced growth and reproduction as well as increased mortality that are known as nonconsumptive effects (NCEs). Environmental context and trophic structure can individually alter the strength of NCEs, yet the interactive influence of these contexts in natural settings is less understood

Planktonic communities are naturally subjected to episodic nutrient enrichments that may stress or redress the imbalances in limiting nutrients. Human‐enhanced atmospheric nitrogen deposition has caused profound N:P imbalance in many remote oligotrophic lakes in which phosphorus has largely become limiting. These lakes offer an opportunity to investigate the relationship between the changes in plankton

Changes in plant community composition can have long‐lasting consequences for ecosystem functioning. However, how the duration of plant growth of functionally distinct grassland plant communities influences abiotic and biotic soil properties and thus ecosystem functions is poorly known. In a field experiment, we established identical experimental subplots in two successive years comprising of fast‐

Stream fish survival and recruitment are products of a physicochemical environment that affects growth and provides refuge; yet, the drivers of spatiotemporal variation in juvenile fish abundance remain unclear. Understanding how physicochemical conditions drive spatial and temporal patterns in fish abundances provides insight into how conditions across stream networks influence fish population success

Stable isotopes 13C and 15N are often used in lake ecosystems to assess energy sources and trophic positions, respectively. However, δ13C and δ15N are also influenced by internal biogeochemical processes in epilimnetic and hypolimnetic habitats in lakes, but the extent to which biogeochemical processing mediates isotope values between these two habitats, and whether these patterns are influenced by

Understanding relationships between habitat and ecological processes often depends on the spatial scale at which the landscape is measured. A common objective in studies of avian nesting ecology is to link habitat characteristics with nest predation for generating potential conservation and management strategies aimed at increasing avian reproductive success. Yet scale dependence likely plays a considerable

Environmental heterogeneity has a consistent, positive effect on species diversity globally, principally due to increased niche space in heterogeneous environments. In flammable ecosystems, fire‐mediated heterogeneity (pyrodiversity) is expected to increase species diversity, and the application of diverse fire regimes is a common management goal. We used landscape‐scale sampling units and linear mixed

Studies of intraspecific dietary variation can greatly enrich our view of a species’ niche and role in the ecosystem, particularly when species with broad diets are found to be composed of generalist and specialist individuals. However, the current framework for quantifying dietary specialization leaves certain standards unformalized and is susceptible to overestimating specialization when there are

Cimicifuga simplex has three genetically and ecologically distinct pollination morphs with different flowering phenology, flower sex expressions, and selfing rates. A previous study showed that strong protandry in hermaphroditic flowers of C. simplex causes there to be seasonal minority sexes; for example, unisexual female ramets are advantageous in the first half of the flowering season and bloom

Plant–pollinator interactions are mediated by floral signals and by the quantity and quality of floral rewards. Biotic and abiotic disturbances can influence plant reproductive success through both direct effects on plant performance and indirect effects on pollinator attraction. In this study, we examined the effects of drought on buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moensch), a globally cultivated plant

At semi‐arid forest margins, increasing climatic stress combined with disturbances like wildfire threatens to cause widespread forest loss. However, forest resilience is likely to vary over gradients of topoclimate and vegetation characteristics, and the influences of local climate and tree species on tree regeneration remain key uncertainties in assessing forest recovery from wildfire. We surveyed

Food resources are often patchily distributed through space and time and are classified as resource pulses when hyperabundant. Resource pulses can benefit growth, reproduction, and abundance of various consumers. Yet, it is relatively unknown how such resources are partitioned among competing consumers and how this is influenced by the magnitude of the pulse. Here, we examined how the magnitude of

Increasing forest fuel aridity with climate change may be expanding mid‐to‐high‐elevation forests' vulnerability to large, severe, and frequent wildfire. Long‐lasting changes in forests' structure and composition may occur if dominant tree species are poorly adapted to shifting wildfire patterns. We hypothesized that altered fire activity may lower existing forest resilience and disrupt the recovery

Historical baselines of forest conditions provide reference states to assess how forests have changed through time. In California, the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) provides tree inventory data between 1872 and 1884 at 93.2‐km2 (36 mi2) resolution. Although these data provide a spatially extensive record of settlement‐era forest conditions, reconstructions using PLSS data have been limited and controversial

Abiotic filters that interact with wetland plant communities along tidal–fluvial gradients are highly dynamic, and understanding their quantitative thresholds and relationships to interspecific competition is important during an era of sea‐level rise and watershed hydrologic change. Yet, landscape‐scale studies of major coastal rivers from the river mouth to the head of tide, such as this study, remain