Ensuring ecosystem resilience is an intuitive approach to safeguard the functioning of ecosystems and hence the future provisioning of ecosystem services (ES). However, resilience is a multi‐faceted concept that is difficult to operationalize. Focusing on resilience mechanisms, such as diversity, network architectures or adaptive capacity, has recently been suggested as means to operationalize resilience

Biodiversity is thought to help regulate the impacts of disease through the dilution effect, where biodiversity among potential host species helps limit the impacts of pathogens. However, our knowledge is fragmentary about the direction and magnitude of the effects of plant species richness on disease impact. Here, we gathered data from 145 comparisons presented in 21 papers to conduct a systematic

Knowledge from agriculture and ecological field studies suggests that plant monocultures lose productivity over time, but the drivers underlying the long‐term performance of monocultures of grassland species are not completely understood. We examined the performance of 60 grassland species growing in monoculture for 12 years in a biodiversity experiment (Jena Experiment) and studied three groups of

Understanding complex responses of multiple character suites (e.g. behaviour, life history, morphology) across multifarious environments is a challenging task. Here we use a multivariate approach (partial least squares structural equation modelling) to disentangle environmental drivers (i.e. predation, resource availability and population demographics) of population divergence in life history and morphology

In the context of grazing, the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) predicts that plant diversity peaks under moderate grazing, resulting in a hump‐shape pattern for the grazing–diversity relationship. Although this has been debated due to contradictory empirical results, the IDH is still widely accepted among rangeland ecologists. The Milchunas–Sala–Lauenroth (MSL) model predicts that in arid

Different modelling approaches have been used to relate the structure of mutualistic interactions with the stability of communities. However, inconsistencies arise when we compare modelling outcomes with the patterns of interactions observed in empirical studies. To shed light on these inconsistencies, we explored the network structure–stability relationship by incorporating the cost of mutualistic

Depicted as predictable movements, migrations can, however, show important interannual variations, making the conservation of migratory species particularly challenging. Plasticity in migratory behaviour allows individuals to adjust their migratory tactics to maximize their fitness. Destination of migration, and therefore migration patterns, may vary according to climatic and environmental conditions

Many species advertise their unique identity to conspecifics using dedicated individuality signals: one familiar example is human faces. But how unique in the global population do these signals need to be? While human faces are highly variable, each person interacts with many fewer individuals than are found in the total population. This raises the question of how evolutionary mechanisms drive up population‐wide

Interspecific competition and plant–soil feedbacks are powerful drivers of plant community structure. However, across a range of edaphic conditions the interactive effects of these drivers on complex plant communities remain unclear. For example, plant–soil feedback studies focus on soil trained by a single plant species. We developed a method to assess effects of plant–microbial interactions (PMI)

Phenotypic diversity within plant species is crucial to shaping evolutionary responses of populations and interactions among species, yet intraspecific genetic variability notably in roots has attracted little attention. Further, evidence for the root–shoot trait synchronisation remains inconclusive, narrowing our understanding of the role that belowground traits play in local adaptation. We applied

Global climate change is altering the timing of life history events for species living in seasonal environments. These shifts in phenology can lead to the disruption of interspecific relationships with implications for individual fitness. Predicting phenological change and its population level consequences can provide insights into population persistence. Achieving this is challenging for labile traits

Behavioral fight responses to desiccation risk are important to predict the vulnerability of terrestrial animals to climate change and yet, they have received little attention so far. In terrestrial ectotherms, behavioral regulation of the water balance (i.e. hydroregulation) is likely to be plastic and may tradeoff with thermoregulation behavior because water loss rates are generally higher in warmer

The diversity and distribution of traits in an ecological community shapes its responses to change and the ecosystem processes it modulates. This ‘functional diversity’, however, is not necessarily a direct outcome of taxonomic diversity. Invasions by exotic insects occur in ecosystems worldwide, but there is limited understanding of how they impact functional diversity. We present the first comprehensive

Litter decomposition mobilizes nutrients that sustain ecosystem productivity, but decomposition by‐products may also hamper root proliferation by phytotoxicity. The aim of this study was to assess the litter substrate preferences of tropical tree seedlings in relation to litter chemical traits.

Higher temperatures as a consequence of global climate change may considerably alter trophic interactions. Ectothermic herbivores and carnivores generally ingest more food with rising temperature as their metabolic rates increase with rising temperature. However, omnivorous ectotherms may respond in two ways: quantitatively by consuming more food and qualitatively by altering their degree of herbivory

Organismal life histories evolve as syndromes, resulting in correlated evolutionary differentiation of key traits that ultimately aid in discerning species. Reproductive success depends both on the absolute body size of an individual and its size relative to the opposite sex: sexual size dimorphism. In an attempt to further elucidate their coexistence and ecological diversification, we compared standard

Trait variation defines and underpins biodiversity, yet we are only beginning to understand how processes acting across biological scales (individuals to whole communities) interact to produce trait differences and their consequences, particularly over short time scales. First, species often differ widely in their mean phenotype, meaning that changes in community composition can alter average trait

Body size is a key selected trait in many animal systems: larger size is sexually selected for in males because it confers a reproductive advantage during contest competition for access to females, and larger females are naturally selected for fecundity. Herein, we used radio‐telemetry to gather a large dataset of male–female interactions and DNA paternity analyses to characterize the intensity of

Negative and positive ecological interactions have opposite effects on the structure of ecological communities, in particular in terms of ecological similarity among interacting species. In nature, species belonging to the same guild often interact in both negative and positive ways, yet the interplay between interactions of different kinds in intraguild community dynamics remains poorly understood

Airborne dispersal is a key part of the life history of many saprotrophic fungi. Theory suggests a transition from growth and resource capture to airborne dispersal at some point as the resource availability in a patch declines, but in the absence of an experimental model system this theory has not been empirically tested. For saprobes, resources are arrayed in an ever‐shifting archipelago of islands

Individual hosts vary substantially in their parasite loads. However, whether individual hosts have consistently different loads remains uncertain. If so, hosts that have consistently high parasite loads may serve as key reservoirs or super‐spreaders. Thus, identifying whether individuals persistently differ in their parasitism and the factors that explain these patterns constitute important issues

Changes in the number of generations per year (voltinism) have been among the most common phenological responses to climate warming in insects inhabiting seasonal environments. Nevertheless, numerous species have maintained univoltine (one generation per year) phenology with increasing temperatures, indicating the involvement of phylogenetic, ecological or some other constraints on phenological change

Conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) has been highlighted as a main driver of biodiversity maintenance. However, while there is general consensus on the scale‐dependent and interacting nature of ecological processes, there is limited knowledge about the relative importance of CNDD across spatial scales and on its interaction with other processes, such as dispersal and immigration. While many

Plastic and evolutionary changes in traits related to biotic interactions are crucial for the local persistence of populations under global warming. Yet, how acute and developmental thermal plasticity evolve and shape predation rates has been poorly studied, especially in the context of latitude‐driven thermal evolution. A powerful predictive framework is given by the climatic variability hypothesis

Diaspore (e.g. seeds, fruits) dispersal is pivotal for plant communities and often involves several steps and different dispersing agents. Most studies focusing on diaspore dispersal by animals have highlighted the role of vertebrates, neglecting the role of ants in the diaspore dispersal of non‐myrmecochorous plants. Diaspore dispersal by ants is especially relevant in the current scenario of declining

Environmental temperatures influence ectotherms’ physiology and capacity to perform activities necessary for survival and reproduction. Time available to perform those activities is determined by thermal tolerances and environmental temperatures. Estimates of activity time might enhance our ability to predict suitable areas for species’ persistence in face of climate warming, compared to the exclusive

In anthropogenic landscapes, aerial insectivores are often confronted with variable habitat complexity, which may influence the distribution of prey. Yet, high mobility may allow aerial insectivores to adjust their foraging strategy to different prey distributions. We investigated whether aerial‐hunting common noctules Nyctalus noctula adjust their foraging strategy to landscapes with different habitat

Given that the rate of resource capture constrains plant growth and defence, understanding the linkage between the leaf economic spectrum (LES) and defence and how it contributes to growth is central to predicting species performance. In spite of the prevalence of spiny plants in many plant communities, little is known about how the LES relates to defence and growth rate across these species. We grew

Maintaining sexual reproduction in a highly competitive world is still one of the major mysteries of biology given the apparently high efficiency of asexual reproduction. Co‐evolutionary theories such as the Red Queen hypothesis would suggest that the microbiomes in human reproductive systems, specifically the microbiomes contained in semen and vaginal fluids, should reach some level of homogeneity

Animal populations are spatially structured in heterogeneous landscapes, in which local patches with differing vital rates are connected by dispersal of individuals to varying degrees. Although there is evidence that vital rates differ among local populations, much less is understood about how vital rates covary among local patches in spatially heterogeneous landscapes. In this study, we conducted

Predators can exert strong ecological effects on their prey either via consumption or by altering their behaviour and morphology. In marine systems, predators and their prey co‐occur in a three‐dimensional environment, but to date predator–prey studies have largely focussed on behaviours of prey on horizontal (distance from shelter) rather than vertical (height in water column) axes. We used life‐size

Anthropogenic change in the abundance or identity of dominant top predators may induce reorganizations in whole food webs. Predicting these reorganizations requires identifying the biological rules that govern trophic niches. However, we still lack a detailed understanding of the respective contributions of body size, behaviour (e.g. match between predator hunting mode and prey antipredator strategy)

Nectar robbing – harvesting nectar illegitimately – can have a variety of outcomes for plant sexual reproduction and for the pollinator community. Nectar robbers can damage flowers while robbing nectar, which could affect the behavior of subsequent flower visitors and, consequently, plant reproduction. However, only nectar manipulation by nectar robbers has so far received attention. We found a short‐tongued

Vascular epiphytes form a diverse group of almost 30 000 species, yet theory concerning their community structure is still largely lacking. We therefore employed the simplest models of biodiversity, (near‐)neutral models, to generate hypotheses concerning their community structure. With recently developed tools for (near‐)neutral models we analyzed species abundance data from many samples in Central

In inverted biomass pyramids (IBPs) prey are outnumbered by their predators when measured by biomass. We investigate how prey should behave in the face of danger from higher predator biomass, and how anti‐predator behavior (in the form of vigilance) can, in turn, affect the predator–prey system. In this study, we incorporate anti‐predator behaviors into a Lotka–Volterra predator–prey model in the form

Understanding the determinants and consequences of predation effort, success and prey responses is important since these factors affect the fitness of predators and prey. When predators are also invasive species, the impacts on prey can be particularly far‐reaching with ultimate ecosystem‐level consequences. However, predators are typically viewed as behaviourally fixed within this interaction and

Plant invasion initiates with the establishment of an alien species population that begins interacting with the existing community in the invaded habitat. Competitive ability may confer advantage to invasive species during establishment. Autopolyploidy has been shown to significantly contribute to successful invasion of China by Solidago canadensis that is native to North America. But how polyploidization

The leaf economics spectrum (LES) is based on a suite of leaf traits related to plant functioning and ranges from resource‐conservative to resource‐acquisitive strategies. However, the relationships with root traits, and the associated belowground plant functioning such as N uptake, including nitrate (NO3−) and ammonium (NH4+), is still poorly known. Additionally, environmental variations occurring

The structure of a plant community in terms of functional traits can strongly affect community productivity. Two components may contribute to this, community‐wide trait means (mass‐ratio hypothesis) or community‐wide trait variations (diversity hypothesis) across species and individuals. We compared the explanatory power of the two hypotheses for explaining biomass variation among individuals and communities

To successfully colonize new habitats, organisms not only need to gain access to it, they also need to cope with the selective pressures imposed by the local biotic and abiotic conditions. The number of immigrants, the preadaptation to the local habitat and the presence of competitors are important factors determining the success of colonization. Here, using two experimental set‐ups, we studied the

For plant–pollinator interactions to occur, the flowering of plants and the flying period of pollinators (i.e. their phenologies) have to overlap. Yet, few models make use of this principle to predict interactions and fewer still are able to compare interaction networks of different sizes. Here, we tackled both challenges using Bayesian structural equation models (SEM), incorporating the effect of

Nutrient limitation of primary producers has repeatedly been shown to negatively affect consumers, directly through stoichiometric mismatch and indirectly via alterations in the producer's biochemical quality or palatability. In this study, we assessed whether direct and indirect impacts of phosphorus‐limitation on a planktonic consumer are transferred to the next generation via maternal effects and

Livestock grazing can have a strong impact on herbivore abundance, distribution and community. However, not all species of herbivores respond the same way to livestock grazing, and we still have a poor understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving these differential responses. Here, we investigate the effect of light intensity cattle grazing on the abundance of two grasshoppers (Euchorthippus

Activity range – the amount of time spent active per day – is a fundamental aspect contributing to the optimization process by which animals achieve energetic balance. Based on their size and the nature of their diet, theoretical expectations are that larger carnivores need more time active to fulfil their energetic needs than do smaller ones and also more time active than similar‐sized non‐carnivores

Climate change has strong effects on traits such as phenology and physiology. Studies typically assume that climate‐induced trait changes will have consequences for population dynamics, but explicit tests are rare. Body condition reflects energy storage and may directly affect how much can be invested in reproduction and survival. However, the causal pathway by which decreased body condition impacts

Matching habitat choice is a habitat preference mechanism based on self‐assessment of local performance, such that individuals settle in the habitats that are best suited to their phenotypes, promoting local adaptation. Despite the important evolutionary implications of matching habitat choice, examples from natural populations are rare. One possible reason for this apparent rarity is that phenotype‐matching

Understanding variation in root and shoot growth phenology among species is crucial to understanding underlying mechanisms of temporal niche differentiation. However, little is known about the relationship between root and shoot phenology, or how this relationship varies among functional traits. We examined fine root and shoot phenology of 42 seedlings representing a variety of woody species that inhabit

Understanding host–pathogen dynamics requires realistic consideration of transmission events that, in the case of directly transmitted pathogens, result from contacts between susceptible and infected individuals. The corresponding contact rates are usually heterogeneous due to variation in individual movement patterns and the underlying landscape structure. However, in epidemiological models, the roles

Invader success and ecosystem impact are both expected to be largely driven by the functional trait distinctiveness of the resident species relative to the invaded communities. To understand the importance of trait distinctiveness for plant invasions, and the native community's trait response to the invasion, it is key to measure multiple traits simultaneously, and to incorporate intraspecific trait

Understanding patterns of ecological specialization, the processes underlying niche partitioning and how they translate into the structure of interaction networks is a persistent challenge in ecology. Advances on this regard are limited by the prevalent focus on single spatial scales, lack of tests of the mechanisms underlying specialization, and scarce investigation of some types of interactions.

Uncovering biodiversity as an inherent feature of ecosystems and understanding its effects on ecosystem processes is one of the most central goals of ecology. Studying organisms’ occurrence and biodiversity patterns in natural ecosystems has spurred the discovery of foundational ecological rules, such as the species–area relationship, and is of general scientific interest. Recent global changes add

Climate change is most pronounced at high latitudes, where plant and animal populations are often strongly influenced by environmental fluctuations related to climate and weather. Environmental conditions can co‐fluctuate over large distances and thereby synchronise primary production in space. However, large‐scale studies of such spatiotemporal patterns remain rare in the Arctic, where short time‐series

The tight association between yeast metabolites and the attraction of fly species provides key evolutionary innovations that generate immense diversity within the genus Drosophila. Why and how changes in Drosophila niche preferences occur, and what role yeasts play in species specialization, is still largely unknown. Here, we analyze adult preference and larval development across three species of Drosophila

Bet‐hedging evolves in fluctuating environments because long‐term genotype success is determined by geometric (rather than arithmetic) mean fitness across generations. Diversifying bet‐hedging produces different specialist offspring, whereas conservative bet‐hedging produces similar generalist offspring. However, many fields, such as behavioral ecology and thermal physiology, typically consider specialist

Ontogenetic variation is the most fundamental biological aspect of an organism, and stage‐structured (size‐structured) prey–predator relationships have increasingly been studied for better understanding food webs. However, little is known about stage‐structured mutualism and its community consequences (i.e. when and where it occurs and how it matters in community ecology). This article aims to argue

J. B. S. Haldane is widely quoted to have quipped that the Creator, if one exists, has an inordinate fondness for beetles. Although Coleoptera may not be the most speciose order once Hymenopteran diversity is fully accounted for, as a whole the very clear differences in species diversity among taxa require an explanation. Here we use stochastic simulations to show that dispersal has eco‐evolutionary

Seed predators sometimes inflict non‐lethal seed damage. We asked whether seed size modulates the location of insect seed damage and examined whether location‐specific damage on the embryo influences early plant development (embryo survival, germination, seedling emergence and performance). We used intact and weevil‐infested seeds of a prevalent California oak tree Quercus agrifolia as study model

Habitat‐forming ecosystem engineers are the foundation of many marine ecosystems where they support diverse and productive food‐webs. A reduction in their patch size or density may affect the productivity, biodiversity and stability of these ecosystems. We determined the effects of different densities and patch sizes of Ecklonia radiata (the dominant kelp in southern Australia) on the secondary productivity

Quantifying the distribution and size of home ranges is critical for understanding animal spatial dynamics. This is particularly important for large carnivores in fragmented landscapes. Most studies that estimate home range consider only a bivariate frequency distribution represented by a two‐dimensional planimetric surface. The underlying assumption of these approaches is that the animals inhabit