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Water and nitrogen shape winter annual plant diversity and community composition in near‐urban Sonoran Desert preserves Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2021-02-19 Megan M. Wheeler; Scott L. Collins; Nancy B. Grimm; Elizabeth M. Cook; Christopher Clark; Ryan A. Sponseller; Sharon J. Hall
Increased nitrogen (N) deposition threatens global biodiversity, but its effects in arid urban ecosystems are not well studied. In addition to altered N availability, urban environments also experience increases in other pollutants, decreased population connectivity, and altered biotic interactions, which can further impact biodiversity. In deserts, annual plant communities make up most of the plant
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The cost of ectoparasitism in Cliff Swallows declines over 35 years Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-12-28 Charles R. Brown; Stacey L. Hannebaum; Valerie A. O’Brien; Catherine E. Page; Bruce Rannala; Erin A. Roche; Gigi S. Wagnon; Sarah A. Knutie; Amy T. Moore; Mary B. Brown
Host–parasite dynamics often vary over time, brought about by changes in the parasite’s virulence or the host’s ability to resist or tolerate the parasite. Although virulence evolution in microparasites is well studied, we know little about temporal change in the pathogenicity of macroparasites such as blood‐feeding insects. Using data collected over 35 yr, we report a reduction in pathogenicity of
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Developing hierarchical density‐structured models to study the national‐scale dynamics of an arable weed Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Robert M. Goodsell; Dylan Z. Childs; Matthew Spencer; Shaun Coutts; Remi Vergnon; Tom Swinfield; Simon A. Queenborough; Robert P. Freckleton
Population dynamics can be highly variable in the face of environmental heterogeneity, and understanding this variation is central in the study of ecology. Robust management decisions require that we understand how populations respond to management at a range of scales, and under a broad suite of conditions. Population models are potentially valuable tools in addressing this challenge. However, without
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Lessons from four decades of monitoring vegetation and fire: maintaining diversity and resilience in Florida’s uplands Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-11-28 Warren G. Abrahamson; Christy R. Abrahamson; Matthew A. Keller
Worldwide, humans are altering the fire regimes (fire‐return intervals, severity, seasonality) of fire‐prone ecosystems, fragmenting natural landscapes, and altering climates. Efforts to restore fire regimes in natural areas are usually guided by fire management plans (FMP) that rely on prescribed burning. Despite the common use of FMPs, limited efforts have gone to assessing vegetative and faunal
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Autopolyploidy‐driven range expansion of a temperate‐originated plant to pan‐tropic under global change Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-12-04 Jiliang Cheng; Jun Li; Zheng Zhang; Huan Lu; Guoqi Chen; Beibei Yao; Yingxue Dong; Ling Ma; Xiaoxiao Yuan; Jingxuan Xu; Ying Zhang; Weimin Dai; Xianghong Yang; Lifang Xue; Yu Zhang; Chaobin Zhang; Rodney Mauricio; Gary Peng; Shuijin Hu; Bernal E. Valverde; Xiaoling Song; Yi Li; Marc Stift; Sheng Qiang
Angiosperms are believed to have emerged initially in the tropics and expanded their distribution range poleward through diverse mechanisms, for example polyploidization‐driven cold tolerance evolution. Reversed expansion from temperate to pan‐tropic climates through a polyploidization‐driven shift in heat tolerance remains largely unknown. Here, we found autopolyploidy in relation to the global expansion
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A critical comparison of integral projection and matrix projection models for demographic analysis Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2021-01-18 Daniel F Doak; Ellen Waddle; Ryan E. Langendorf; Allison M. Louthan; Nathalie Isabelle Chardon; Reilly R. Dibner; Douglas A. Keinath; Elizabeth Lombardi; Christopher Steenbock; Robert K. Shriver; Cristina Linares; Maria Begoña Garcia; W. Chris Funk; Sarah W. Fitzpatrick; William F. Morris; Megan L. Peterson
Structured demographic models are among the most common and useful tools in population biology. However, the introduction of integral projection models (IPMs) has caused a profound shift in the way many demographic models are conceptualized. Some researchers have argued that IPMs, by explicitly representing demographic processes as continuous functions of state variables such as size, are more statistically
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Host neighborhood shapes bacterial community assembly and specialization on tree species across a latitudinal gradient Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-11-17 Geneviève Lajoie; Steven W. Kembel
Phyllosphere bacterial diversity is shaped through interactions between hosts and microbes. Most studies having focused on pairwise associations between host taxa and their symbionts, little is yet understood about the influence of the host community as a whole in shaping these interactions. Envisioning phyllosphere bacterial communities as a spatially structured network of communities linked by dispersal
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Urbanization mediates the effects of water quality and climate on a model aerial insectivorous bird Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-11-15 S. Mažeika P. Sullivan; Joseph W. Corra; Jeffry T. Hayes
Aerial insectivorous birds have experienced alarming population declines in eastern North America. Meanwhile, urbanization continues to increase rapidly, with urban land use comprising 69.4 million acres (1 acre = 0.40 ha), or 3.6% of total land area, in the contiguous United States. Multiple environmental changes are associated with urbanization, including alterations to local climate, changes in
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Species interactions across trophic levels mediate rainfall effects on dryland vegetation dynamics Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-11-11 Ariel A. Farías; Cristina Armas; Aurora Gaxiola; Alex P. Cea; Jose Luis Cortés; Ramiro P. López; Fernando Casanoves; Milena Holmgren; Peter L. Meserve; Julio R. Gutiérrez; Douglas A. Kelt
Arid ecosystems are strongly limited by water availability, and precipitation plays a major role in the dynamics of all species in arid regions, as well as the ecosystem processes that occur there. However, understanding how biotic interactions mediate long‐term responses of dryland ecosystems to rainfall remains very fragmented. We report on a unique large‐scale field experiment spanning 25 yr and
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Interaction of hydric and thermal conditions drive geographic variation in thermoregulation in a widespread lizard Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-11-01 David Rozen‐Rechels; Alexis Rutschmann; Andréaz Dupoué; Pauline Blaimont; Victor Chauveau; Donald B. Miles; Michael Guillon; Murielle Richard; Arnaud Badiane; Sandrine Meylan; Jean Clobert; Jean‐François Le Galliard
Behavioral thermoregulation is an efficient mechanism to buffer the physiological effects of climate change. Thermal ecology studies have traditionally tested how thermal constraints shape thermoregulatory behaviors without accounting for the potential major effects of landscape structure and water availability. Thus, we lack a general understanding of the multifactorial determinants of thermoregulatory
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Long‐term biodiversity trajectories for pest‐managed ecological restorations: eradication vs. suppression Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-10-31 Rachelle N. Binny; John Innes; Neil Fitzgerald; Roger Pech; Alex James; Robbie Price; Craig Gillies; Andrea E. Byrom
Invasions by alien pest species contribute heavily to global biodiversity decline, with invasive mammals having some of the greatest impacts on endemic biota. Pest management within ecological restorations is therefore critical for conserving threatened biota. Coordinating restoration efforts at global scale requires evidence of the relative efficacy of different pest‐managed restoration approaches
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Targeted predator defenses of sponges shape community organization and tropical marine ecosystem function Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-10-30 Janie L. Wulff
Defenses that target particular consumers often influence community organization, ecosystem function, and diversity maintenance. In coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass ecosystems, sponges affect substratum stability, water clarity, diversity of associated species, and survival of habitat‐providing organisms, key roles not duplicated by other organisms. Whether and how predators control sponges are much
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Erratum Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-10-26
Errata for Bowen, S. H. 1979. A nutritional constraint in detritivory by fishes: the stunted population of Sarotherodon mossambicus in Lake Sibaya, South Africa. Ecological Monographs 49:17–31. It has been discovered that during production an error in the conversion of energy units from calories to Joules occurred, with many units mistakenly divided by 4.184 when they should have been multiplied by
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Keystone predation: trait‐based or driven by extrinsic processes? Assessment using a comparative‐experimental approach Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-10-23 Bruce A. Menge; Melissa M. Foley; Matthew J. Robart; Erin Richmond; Mae Noble; Francis Chan
Keystone predation can be a determinant of community structure, including species diversity, but factors underlying “keystoneness” have been minimally explored. Using the system in which the original keystone, the sea star Pisaster ochraceus, was discovered, we focused on two potential (but overlapping) determinants of keystoneness: intrinsic traits or state variables of the species (e.g., size, density)
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Translocation experiment reveals capacity for mountain pine beetle persistence under climate warming Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-10-22 David N. Soderberg; Karen E. Mock; Richard W. Hofstetter; Barbara J. Bentz
Predicting species response to climate change is a central challenge in ecology, particularly for species that inhabit large geographic areas. The mountain pine beetle (MPB) is a significant tree mortality agent in western North America with a distribution limited by climate. Recent warming has caused large‐scale MPB population outbreaks within its historical distribution, in addition to migration
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The promise and the perils of resurveying to understand global change impacts Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-10-16 Katharine L. Stuble; Sharon Bewick; Mark Fisher; Matthew L. Forister; Susan P. Harrison; Arthur M. Shapiro; Andrew M. Latimer; Laurel R. Fox
Historical data sets can be useful tools to aid in understanding the impacts of global change on natural ecosystems. Resampling of historically sampled sites (“snapshot resampling”) has often been used to detect long‐term shifts in ecological populations and communities, because it allows researchers to avoid long‐term monitoring costs and investigate a large number of potential trends. But recent
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Influence of climate, soil, and land cover on plant species distribution in the European Alps Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-09-23 Yohann Chauvier; Wilfried Thuiller; Philipp Brun; Sébastien Lavergne; Patrice Descombes; Dirk N. Karger; Julien Renaud; Niklaus E. Zimmermann
Although the importance of edaphic factors and habitat structure for plant growth and survival is known, both are often neglected in favor of climatic drivers when investigating the spatial patterns of plant species and diversity. Yet, especially in mountain ecosystems with complex topography, missing edaphic and habitat components may be detrimental for a sound understanding of biodiversity distribution
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Evolutionary trade‐offs may interact with physiological constraints to maintain color variation Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-09-10 Debora Goedert; Dale Clement; Ryan Calsbeek
Animal coloration is a multifaceted trait with many ecological roles and related to a variety of developmental and physiological processes. Consequently, coloration is often subject to a variety of selective pressures, leading to the evolutionary maintenance of variation. In this study, we investigated hypotheses related to the maintenance of dorsal color variation in wood frogs (Rana sylvatica). First
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Resilience and alternative stable states after desert wildfires Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-09-09 Scott R. Abella; Dominic M. Gentilcore; Lindsay P. Chiquoine
Improving models of community change is a fundamental goal in ecology and has renewed importance during global change and increasing human disturbance of the biosphere. Using the Mojave Desert (southwestern United States) as a model system, invaded by nonnative plants and subject to wildfire disturbances, we examined models of resilience, alternative stable states, and convergent‐divergent trajectories
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A cultural framework for Indigenous, Local, and Science knowledge systems in ecology and natural resource management Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-09-08 Jeji Varghese; Stephen S. Crawford
The relationship between Indigenous, Local, and Science knowledge systems has been the subject of much debate over the past few decades, especially in ecology and natural resource management. In this monograph, we review available scholarship to develop a pragmatic framework for representation of knowledge systems in general, with specific emphasis on productive engagement between individuals from
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Visual trail following in colonial seabirds: theory, simulation, and remote observations Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-09-04 Samuel S. Urmy
Seabirds have long been thought to exploit social information when searching for their prey, the distribution of which is often patchy and variable. The fact that most seabirds breed colonially has led to speculation that colonies serve as “information centers,” allowing their inhabitants to learn about the distribution of food by observing or following other successful foragers, though this hypothesis
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Macroevolution of defense syndromes in Ficus (Moraceae) Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-09-04 Jin Zhao; Simon T. Segar; Doyle McKey; Jin Chen
Recursive adaptations and counter‐adaptations of plant‐feeding insects are thought to have driven chemical and physical diversity in plant defenses. Among existing theories on defensive diversity, the syndromes hypothesis predicts that plants may evolve suites of covarying defense traits along evolutionary arms races with herbivores. We use the large, phenotypically diverse angiosperm genus Ficus (Moraceae)
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Changes in prey, turbidity, and competition reduce somatic growth and cause the collapse of a fish population Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-08-27 Josh Korman; Michael D. Yard; Maria C. Dzul; Charles B. Yackulic; Michael J. Dodrill; Bridget R. Deemer; Theodore A. Kennedy
Somatic growth exerts strong control on patterns in the abundance of animal populations via effects on maturation, fecundity, and survival rates of juveniles and adults. In this paper, we quantify abiotic and biotic drivers of rainbow trout growth in the Colorado River, Arizona, USA, and the resulting impact on spatial and temporal variation in abundance. Inferences are based on ~10,000 observations
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Trade‐offs affect the adaptive value of plasticity: stronger cannibal‐induced defenses incur greater costs in toad larvae Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-08-26 Jayna L. DeVore; Michael R. Crossland; Richard Shine
Adaptive developmental plasticity allows individuals to match their phenotype with their environment, increasing fitness where threats are inconsistently present. However, despite clear advantages of plasticity, adaptive traits are not ubiquitously nor infinitely plastic. Trade‐offs between benefits and costs or limits are therefore theoretically necessary to constrain the evolution of plastic responses
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Links between soil microbial communities, functioning, and plant nutrition under altered rainfall in Australian grassland Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-08-18 Raúl Ochoa‐Hueso; Valentina Arca; Manuel Delgado‐Baquerizo; Kelly Hamonts; Juan Piñeiro; Lilia Serrano‐Grijalva; Julien Shawyer; Sally A. Power
The size, frequency, and timing of precipitation events are predicted to become more variable worldwide. Despite these predictions, the importance of changes in precipitation in driving multiple above‐ and belowground ecosystem attributes simultaneously remains largely underexplored. Here, we carried out 3 yr of rainfall manipulations at the DRI‐Grass facility, located in a mesic grassland in eastern
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Invasive dominance and resident diversity: unpacking the impact of plant invasion on biodiversity and ecosystem function Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-08-17 Stuart W. Livingstone; Marney E. Isaac; Marc W. Cadotte
Plant invasions have consistently been shown to cause significant reductions in the diversity of recipient plant communities; an effect that can cascade through ecosystems to impact the stocks and flows of nutrients and energy as well as the diversity of higher trophic levels. However, the manner in which invasive plants alter ecosystem functioning and trophic interactions is highly variable can occur
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Carbon budget of the Harvard Forest Long‐Term Ecological Research site: pattern, process, and response to global change Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-08-04 Adrien C. Finzi; Marc‐André Giasson; Audrey A. Barker Plotkin; John D. Aber; Emery R. Boose; Eric A. Davidson; Michael C. Dietze; Aaron M. Ellison; Serita D. Frey; Evan Goldman; Trevor F. Keenan; Jerry M. Melillo; J. William Munger; Knute J. Nadelhoffer; Scott V. Ollinger; David A. Orwig; Neil Pederson; Andrew D. Richardson; Kathleen Savage; Jianwu Tang; Jonathan R. Thompson; Christopher A. Williams;
How, where, and why carbon (C) moves into and out of an ecosystem through time are long‐standing questions in biogeochemistry. Here, we bring together hundreds of thousands of C‐cycle observations at the Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts, USA, a mid‐latitude landscape dominated by 80–120‐yr‐old closed‐canopy forests. These data answered four questions: (1) where and how much C is presently stored
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A translucent box: interpretable machine learning in ecology Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-06-30 Tim C. D. Lucas
Machine learning has become popular in ecology but its use has remained restricted to predicting, rather than understanding, the natural world. Many researchers consider machine learning algorithms to be a black box. These models can, however, with careful examination, be used to inform our understanding of the world. They are translucent boxes. Furthermore, the interpretation of these models can be
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An assessment of population size and demographic drivers of the Bearded Vulture using integrated population models Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-06-15 Antoni Margalida, José Jiménez, José M. Martínez, José A. Sesé, Diego García‐Ferré, Alfonso Llamas, Martine Razin, MªÀngels Colomer, Beatriz Arroyo
Conventional approaches for the assessment of population abundance or trends are usually based on a single source of information, such as counts or changes in demographic parameters. However, these approaches usually neglect some of the information needed to properly understand the population as a whole, such as assessments of the non‐breeding proportion of the population and the drivers of population
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Testing Darwin’s naturalization conundrum based on taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional dimensions of vascular plants Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-06-02 Jesús N. Pinto‐Ledezma; Fabricio Villalobos; Peter B. Reich; Jane A. Catford; Daniel J. Larkin; Jeannine Cavender‐Bares
Charles Darwin posited two alternative hypotheses to explain the success of nonnative species based on their relatedness to natives: nonnative species that are closely related to native species could experience (1) higher invasion success because of an increased probability of habitat suitability (conferred by trait similarity) or (2) lower invasion success due to biotic interference, such as competition
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Concordance of long‐term shifts with climate warming varies among phenological events and herbaceous species Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-06-02 Carol K. Augspurger; David N. Zaya
Many temperate herbs now flower earlier than a few decades ago. Little is known about other phenological events, despite the importance of life history integration for plant fitness. This study addresses the hypothesis that temporal shifts of multiple phenological events in herbs are concordant with temporal changes in weather. Explicitly showing that changes in timing of annual life cycle events are
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Experimental study of species invasion: early population dynamics and role of disturbance in invasion success Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-05-26 David N. Reznick, Sebastiano De Bona, Andrés López‐Sepulcre, Mauricio Torres, Ronald D. Bassar, Paul Benzen, Joseph Travis
Much of our understanding of natural invasions is retrospective, based on data acquired after invaders become established. As a consequence, we know little about the characteristics of the early population growth and habitat use of the invaders during establishment. Here we report on experimental introductions of guppies into natural streams in which we conducted monthly censuses of each population
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Experience may outweigh cue similarity in maintaining a persistent host‐plant‐based evolutionary trap Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-05-14 Rachel A. Steward, Carol L. Boggs
Rapid environmental change can decouple previously reliable cues from important resources, causing specialized recognition systems to result in maladaptive behaviors. For native herbivorous insects, such evolutionary traps are often imposed by attractive invasive plants that prove harmful to their offspring. Despite the costs of ovipositing on a poor‐quality host, evolutionary traps are expected to
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The evolution of extended parental care in glassfrogs: Do egg‐clutch phenotypes mediate coevolution between the sexes? Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-05-13 Jesse Delia, Laura Bravo‐Valencia, Karen M. Warkentin
Many animals improve offspring survival through parental care. Research on coevolution between parents has provided key insight into the genesis and maintenance of biparental care. However, understanding family dynamics more broadly requires assessing potential male–female coevolutionary processes in the more widespread and common context of uniparental care. Here, we explore how pre‐zygotic maternal
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Xylem vessel‐diameter–shoot‐length scaling: ecological significance of porosity types and other traits Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-05-13 Mark Olson, Julieta A. Rosell, Cecilia Martínez‐Pérez, Calixto León‐Gómez, Alex Fajardo, Sandrine Isnard, María Angélica Cervantes‐Alcayde, Alberto Echeverría, Víctor A. Figueroa‐Abundiz, Alí Segovia‐Rivas, Santiago Trueba, Karen Vázquez‐Segovia
Flowering plants predominantly conduct water in tubes known as vessels, with vessel diameter playing a crucial role in plant adaptation to climate and reactions to climate change. The importance of vessels makes it essential to understand how and why vessel diameter, plant height, and other ecological factors are interrelated. Although shoot length is by far the main driver of variation in mean vessel
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The relationship between trophic level and body size in fishes depends on functional traits Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-05-02 Friedrich W. Keppeler; Carmen G. Montaña; Kirk O. Winemiller
Predators typically are larger than their prey, and consequently, trophic level should increase with body size. Whereas this relationship has helped in developing predictions about food web structure and dynamics in mesocosms and simple communities, a trophic‐level–body‐size relationship may not exist for all kinds of communities or taxa, especially those with many non‐carnivorous species. Moreover
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Long‐term shifts in the functional composition and diversity of a tropical dry forest: a 30‐yr study Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-04-07 Nathan G. Swenson, Catherine M. Hulshof, Masatoshi Katabuchi, Brian J. Enquist
Over the past three decades, there has been a concerted effort to study the long‐term dynamics of tropical forests throughout the world. Data regarding temporal trends in species diversity, species composition, and species‐specific demographic rates have now been amassed. Such data can be utilized to test predictions regarding the roles the environment and demographic stochasticity play in driving
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Functional diversity of leaf litter mixtures slows decomposition of labile but not recalcitrant carbon over two years Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-04-03 Jake J. Grossman, Jeannine Cavender‐Bares, Sarah E. Hobbie
The decomposition of leaf litter constitutes a major pathway of carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Though it is well established that litter decomposition varies among species, most leaf litter decomposes not alone, but in mixture with litter from heterospecifics. The consequences of this mixing, and of the role of multiple dimensions of plant biodiversity, for litter decomposition
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Overfishing and the ecological impacts of extirpating large parrotfish from Caribbean coral reefs Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-04-01 Andrew A. Shantz, Mark C. Ladd, Deron E. Burkepile
The unique traits of large animals often allow them to fulfill functional roles in ecosystems that small animals cannot. However, large animals are also at greater risk from human activities. Thus, it is critical to understand how losing large animals impacts ecosystem function. In the oceans, selective fishing for large animals alters the demographics and size structure of numerous species. While
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Anthropogenic disturbance drives dispersal syndromes, demography, and gene flow in amphibian populations Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-03-09 Hugo Cayuela, Aurélien Besnard, Julien Cote, Martin Laporte, Eric Bonnaire, Julian Pichenot, Nicolas Schtickzelle, Arnaud Bellec, Pierre Joly, Jean‐Paul Léna
There is growing evidence that anthropogenic landscapes can strongly influence the evolution of dispersal, particularly through fragmentation, and may drive organisms into an evolutionary trap by suppressing dispersal. However, the influence on dispersal evolution of anthropogenic variation in habitat patch turnover has so far been largely overlooked. In this study, we examined how human‐driven variation
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Repeated fire shifts carbon and nitrogen cycling by changing plant inputs and soil decomposition across ecosystems Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-03-07 Adam F. A. Pellegrini; Sarah E. Hobbie; Peter B. Reich; Ari Jumpponen; E. N. Jack Brookshire; Anthony C. Caprio; Corli Coetsee; Robert B. Jackson
Fires shape the biogeochemistry and functioning of many ecosystems, and fire frequencies are changing across much of the globe. Frequent fires can change soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) storage by altering the quantity and chemistry of plant inputs through changes in plant biomass and composition as well as the decomposition of soil organic matter. How decomposition rates change with shifting inputs
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Total ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves across broad global environmental and physical gradients Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-03-02 J. Boone Kauffman, Maria Fernanda Adame, Virni Budi Arifanti, Lisa M. Schile‐Beers, Angelo F. Bernardino, Rupesh K. Bhomia, Daniel C. Donato, Ilka C. Feller, Tiago O. Ferreira, Maria del Carmen Jesus Garcia, Richard A. MacKenzie, J. Patrick Megonigal, Daniel Murdiyarso, Lorae Simpson, Humberto Hernández Trejo
Mangroves sequester large quantities of carbon (C) that become significant sources of greenhouse gases when disturbed through land‐use change. Thus, they are of great value to incorporate into climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. In response, a global network of mangrove plots was established to provide policy‐relevant ecological data relating to interactions of mangrove C stocks with
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Quantifying water requirements of African ungulates through a combination of functional traits Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-02-26 Emilian S. Kihwele, Victor Mchomvu, Norman Owen‐Smith, Robyn S. Hetem, Matthew C. Hutchinson, Arjun B. Potter, Han Olff, Michiel P. Veldhuis
Climate and land use change modify surface water availability in African savannas. Surface water is a key resource for both wildlife and livestock and its spatial and temporal distribution is important for understanding the composition of large herbivore assemblages in savannas. Yet, the extent to which ungulate species differ in their water requirements remains poorly quantified. Here, we infer the
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Reviewing the role of plant litter inputs to forested wetland ecosystems: leafing through the literature Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-02-03 Aaron B. Stoler, Rick A. Relyea
The input of senescent terrestrial leaf litter into soil and aquatic ecosystems is one of the most massive cyclic subsidies on Earth, particularly within forested ecosystems. For freshwater systems embedded within forests, litter inputs provide a vital source of energy and nutrients that allows greater production than in situ resources can provide. In return, freshwater food webs can provide an enormous
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Urban soil carbon and nitrogen converge at a continental scale Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-01-27 Tara L. E. Trammell, Diane E. Pataki, Richard V. Pouyat, Peter M. Groffman, Carl Rosier, Neil Bettez, Jeannine Cavender‐Bares, Morgan J. Grove, Sharon J. Hall, James Heffernan, Sarah E. Hobbie, Jennifer L. Morse, Christopher Neill, Meredith Steele
In urban areas, anthropogenic drivers of ecosystem structure and function are thought to predominate over larger‐scale biophysical drivers. Residential yards are influenced by individual homeowner preferences and actions, and these factors are hypothesized to converge yard structure across broad scales. We examined soil total C and total δ13C, organic C and organic δ13C, total N, and δ15N in residential
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Clinal variation in drought resistance shapes past population declines and future management of a threatened plant Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-01-22 Paul D. Krushelnycky, Jesse M. Felts, Robert H. Robichaux, Kasey E. Barton, Creighton M. Litton, Matthew D. Brown
Predicting vegetation responses to increased future drought is challenging, owing to the complex interaction of multiple factors influencing both plant drought resistance and local climatic conditions, each of which may be subject to spatial and temporal heterogeneity. We conducted a detailed study of potential mechanisms underlying an elevational gradient in mortality that has characterized recent
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Multiple metrics of latitudinal patterns in insect pollination and herbivory for a tropical‐temperate congener pair Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-01-22 Carina A. Baskett, Lucy Schroeder, Marjorie G. Weber, Douglas W. Schemske
The biotic interactions hypothesis posits that biotic interactions are more important drivers of adaptation closer to the equator, evidenced by “stronger” contemporary interactions (e.g., greater interaction rates) and/or patterns of trait evolution consistent with a history of stronger interactions. Support for the hypothesis is mixed, but few studies span tropical and temperate regions while experimentally
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Flower traits, habitat, and phylogeny as predictors of pollinator service: a plant community perspective Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-01-21 Carlos M. Herrera
Pollinator service is essential for successful sexual reproduction and long‐term population persistence of animal‐pollinated plants, and innumerable studies have shown that insufficient service by pollinators results in impaired sexual reproduction (“pollen limitation”). Studies directly addressing the predictors of variation in pollinator service across species or habitats remain comparatively scarce
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Pulse of dissolved organic matter alters reciprocal carbon subsidies between autotrophs and bacteria in stream food webs Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2020-01-08 Benoît O. L. Demars, Nikolai Friberg, Barry Thornton
Soils are currently leaching out dissolved organic matter (DOM) at an increasing pace due to climate and land use change or recovery from acidification. The implications for stream biogeochemistry and food webs remain largely unknown, notably the metabolic balance (biotic CO2 emissions) and carbon cycling between autotrophs and bacteria. We increased by 12% the flux of DOM in a stream for three weeks
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Food quantity–quality interactions and their impact on consumer behavior and trophic transfer Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2019-12-27 Alfred Burian, Jens M. Nielsen, Monika Winder
Food quantity–quality interactions determine growth rates and reproductive success of consumers and thereby regulate community dynamics and food web structure. Predator–prey models that shape our conceptual understanding of foraging ecology typically rely on the parametrization of fixed consumer responses to either food quantity or food quality. In nature, however, consumers optimize their fitness
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Removal of grazers alters the response of tundra soil carbon to warming and enhanced nitrogen availability Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2019-12-09 Henni Ylänne, Elina Kaarlejärvi, Maria Väisänen, Minna K. Männistö, Saija H. K. Ahonen, Johan Olofsson, Sari Stark
The circumpolar Arctic is currently facing multiple global changes that have the potential to alter the capacity of tundra soils to store carbon. Yet, predicting changes in soil carbon is hindered by the fact that multiple factors simultaneously control processes sustaining carbon storage and we do not understand how they act in concert. Here, we investigated the effects of warmer temperatures, enhanced
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Spatiotemporal patterns of microbial composition and diversity in precipitation Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2019-12-02 Ken A. Aho, Carolyn F. Weber, Brent C. Christner, Boris A. Vinatzer, Cindy E. Morris, Rachel Joyce, Kevin C. Failor, Jason T. Werth, Aurora L. H. Bayless‐Edwards, David G. Schmale
Microbes in the atmosphere have broad ecological impacts, including the potential to trigger precipitation through species and strains that act as ice nucleation particles. To characterize spatiotemporal trends of microbial assemblages in precipitation we sequenced 16S (bacterial) and 18S (fungal) rRNA gene amplicon libraries collected from 72 precipitation events in three U.S. states (Idaho, Louisiana
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The impact of yeast presence in nectar on bumble bee behavior and fitness Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2019-11-19 María I. Pozo, Gaby van Kemenade, Annette van Oystaeyen, Tomás Aledón‐Catalá, Alfredo Benavente, Wim Van den Ende, Felix Wäckers, Hans Jacquemyn
The presence of yeasts in pollen and floral nectar is rather the norm than the exception. Due to the metabolic activities of yeasts, sugar and amino acid composition of nectar often drastically change and may negatively impact the nutritional value of nectar for pollinators and hence insect fitness. On the other hand, the presence of yeasts in floral nectar may also increase its nutritional value due
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The ecology and evolution of seed predation by Darwin's finches on Tribulus cistoides on the Galápagos Islands Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2019-10-21 Sofía Carvajal‐Endara, Andrew P. Hendry, Nancy C. Emery, Corey P. Neu, Diego Carmona, Kiyoko M. Gotanda, T. Jonathan Davies, Jaime A. Chaves, Marc T. J. Johnson
Predator–prey interactions play a key role in the evolution of species traits through antagonistic coevolutionary arms races. The evolution of beak morphology in the Darwin's finches in response to competition for seed resources is a classic example of evolution by natural selection. The seeds of Tribulus cistoides are an important food source for the largest ground finch species (Geospiza fortis,
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Effects of soil microbes on plant competition: a perspective from modern coexistence theory Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2019-10-21 Po‐Ju Ke, Joe Wan
Growing evidence shows that soil microbes affect plant coexistence in a variety of systems. However, since these systems vary in the impacts microbes have on plants and in the ways plants compete with each other, it is challenging to integrate results into a general predictive theory. To this end, we suggest that the concepts of niche and fitness difference from modern coexistence theory should be
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Persistence and turnover in desert plant communities during a 37‐yr period of land use and climate change Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2019-08-26 Scott R. Abella, Ross J. Guida, Chris L. Roberts, Carrie M. Norman, James S. Holland
Understanding long‐term changes in ecological communities during global change is a priority for 21st‐century ecology. Deserts, already at climatic extremes, are of unique interest because they are projected to be ecosystems most responsive to global change. Within a 500‐km2 landscape in the Mojave Desert, USA, we measured perennial plant communities at 100 sites three times (1979, 2008, and 2016)
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Disentangling herbivore impacts in primary succession by refocusing the plant stress and vigor hypotheses on phenology Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2019-08-23 Christian Che‐Castaldo, Charlie M. Crisafulli, John G. Bishop, Elise F. Zipkin, William F. Fagan
The plant stress and plant vigor hypotheses are widely used to explain the distribution and abundance of insect herbivores across their host plants. These hypotheses are the subject of contentious debate within the plant herbivore research community, with several studies finding simultaneous support for both hypotheses for the same plant–herbivore interaction. We address the question of how such support
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Demographic and population responses of an apex predator to climate and its prey: a long‐term study of South Polar Skuas Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2019-08-13 Nathan Pacoureau, Karine Delord, Stéphanie Jenouvrier, Christophe Barbraud
Ecologists widely acknowledge that a complex interplay of endogenous (density‐dependent) and exogenous (density‐independent) factors impact demographic processes. Individuals respond differently to those forces, ultimately shaping the dynamics of wild populations. Most comprehensive studies disentangling simultaneously the effects of density dependence, climate, and prey abundance while taking into
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Geographic variation in the intensity of warming and phenological mismatch between Arctic shorebirds and invertebrates Ecol. Monogr. (IF 7.722) Pub Date : 2019-07-24 Eunbi Kwon, Emily L. Weiser, Richard B. Lanctot, Stephen C. Brown, Heather R. Gates, Grant Gilchrist, Steve J. Kendall, David B. Lank, Joseph R. Liebezeit, Laura McKinnon, Erica Nol, David C. Payer, Jennie Rausch, Daniel J. Rinella, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Nathan R. Senner, Paul A. Smith, David Ward, Robert W. Wisseman, Brett K. Sandercock
Responses to climate change can vary across functional groups and trophic levels, leading to a temporal decoupling of trophic interactions or “phenological mismatches.” Despite a growing number of single‐species studies that identified phenological mismatches as a nearly universal consequence of climate change, we have a limited understanding of the spatial variation in the intensity of this phenomenon
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