Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
[Final version available] Explainable Artificial Intelligence enhances the ecological interpretability of black-box species distribution models
Published: 2020-04-17
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Biodiversity, Computer Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used in ecology, biogeography and conservation biology to estimate relationships between environmental variables and species occurrence data and make predictions of how their distributions vary in space and time. During the past two decades, the field has increasingly made use of machine learning approaches for constructing and validating SDMs. Model [...]
The “intestines of the soil”: the taxonomic and functional diversity of earthworms – a review for young ecologists
Published: 2020-04-02
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Earthworms are some of the most important and popular soil organisms. Their essential roles in ecosystems have not only been recognized by Aristotle, Charles Darwin, and many active scientists around the globe, but also by land managers, farmers, and gardeners. However, many people do not know how diverse earthworms are in terms of their form and function. Here we summarize the current knowledge [...]
Towards a generalizable framework of disturbance ecology through crowdsourced science
Published: 2020-03-24
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Disturbances fundamentally alter ecosystem functions, yet predicting their impacts remains a key scientific challenge. While the study of disturbances is ubiquitous across many ecological disciplines, there is no agreed-upon, cross-disciplinary foundation for discussing or quantifying the complexity of disturbances, and no consistent terminology or methodologies exist. This inconsistency presents [...]
The sixth R: Revitalizing the natural phosphorus pump
Published: 2020-03-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Humans and natural systems face three pressing concerns: the loss of large animal biodiversity, eutrophication of many aquatic systems, and the need to better recycle phosphorus. Here we propose a mechanism to help alleviate these problems. Some have hypothesized that we are approaching “peak phosphorus,” where phosphorus may become more expensive as it becomes rarer, thus endangering the green [...]
Forest thinning in ponderosa pines increases carbon use efficiency and energy flow from primary producers to primary consumers
Published: 2020-02-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
A better understanding of carbon use efficiency and carbon allocation during disturbance is critical to improve simulations of the global carbon cycle and understanding future climate impacts. Forest thinning of high stem density, high elevation dry western US forests is becoming more common to reduce severe fire danger but there are uncertainties about how forest thinning may impact forest [...]
Using lichen communities as indicators of forest stand age and conservation value
Published: 2020-01-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Evaluating the conservation value of ecological communities is critical for forest management but can be challenging because it is difficult to survey all taxonomic groups of conservation concern. Lichens have long been used as indicators of late successional habitats with particularly high conservation value because lichens are ubiquitous, sensitive to fine-scale environmental variation, and [...]
Seasonality, diet, and physiology as a predominant control factors of the moult dynamics in birds – a meta-analysis
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Moult is a process, usually occurring annually, in which birds replace their plumage. It is one of the most crucial life-history traits because it restores the functions of plumage and allows a bird to adapt to environmental conditions or special seasonal needs such as breeding and camouflage during non-breeding season. Consequently, moulting has advantages in terms of future performance. [...]
Cross-scale interaction of host tree size and climatic water deficit governs bark beetle-induced tree mortality
Published: 2019-12-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The recent Californian hot drought (2012-2016) precipitated unprecedented ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) mortality, largely attributable to the western pine beetle (Dendroctonus brevicomis; WPB). Broad-scale climate conditions can directly shape tree mortality patterns, but mortality rates respond non-linearly to climate when local-scale forest characteristics influence the behavior of [...]
Measurement and analysis of interspecific spatial associations as a facet of biodiversity
Published: 2019-12-06
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Interspecific spatial associations (ISA), which include co-occurrences, segregations, or attractions among two or more species, can provide important insights into the spatial structuring of communities. However, ISA has primarily been examined in the context of understanding interspecific interactions, while other aspects of ISA, including its relations to other biodiversity facets and how it [...]
Relative contribution of plant traits and soil properties to the functioning of a temperate forest ecosystem in the Indian Himalayas
Published: 2019-12-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Plant-soil interactions are a major determinant of changes in forest ecosystem processes and functioning. We conducted a trait-based study to quantify the contribution of plant traits and soil properties to above- and below-ground ecosystem properties in temperate forest in the Indian Himalayas. Nine plant traits (leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf water content, leaf dry matter content, leaf [...]
Effects of ambient climate and three different warming treatments on fruit production in an alpine meadow community
Published: 2019-12-02
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Climate change is already having a major impact on alpine and arctic regions, and inter-annual variations in temperature are likely to increase. In a four-year study focusing on fruit production by an alpine plant community in northern Sweden, we applied three different warming regimes over the years. Treatments consisted of (a) a static level of warming with open-top chambers (OTC), (b) press [...]
Bryophyte cover and richness decline after 18 years of experimental warming in Alpine Sweden
Published: 2019-11-07
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Background and Aims: Climate change is expected to affect alpine and Arctic tundra communities. Most previous long-term studies have focused on impacts on vascular plants, but this study examined potential impacts of long-term warming on bryophyte communities. Methods: Experimental warming with open-top chambers (OTCs) was applied for 18 years to a mesic meadow and a dry heath alpine plant [...]
Whither scientific debate? A rebuttal of “Contextualising UK moorland burning studies: geographical versus potential sponsorship-bias effects on research conclusions” by Brown and Holden (bioRxiv 2019; 731117)
Published: 2019-10-31
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
To read the preprint which this publication seeks to criticise, see here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/731117v1 To read our original peer-reviewed critique of the EMBER project, see here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2664.13476 1. We recently published a peer-reviewed critique of the EMBER report. In a preprint response, Brown & Holden (2019) [...]
Evidence synthesis for tackling research waste
Published: 2019-09-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
There is an urgent need for a change in research workflows so that pre-existing knowledge is better utilised in designing new research. A formal assessment of the accumulated knowledge prior to research approval would reduce the waste of already limited resources caused by asking low priority questions.
Disentangling the role of shared ancestry and the environment on leaf stable isotopes
Published: 2019-09-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Ratios of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotopes in plants are important indicators of intrinsic water use efficiency and N acquisition strategies. Here, we examined patterns of inter- and intraspecific variation and phylogenetic signal in foliar δ13C and δ15N for 59 alpine tundra plant species, stratifying our sampling across five habitat types. Overall, we found that variation in both δ13C [...]