Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Species-composition distributions under competition, ecological drift and immigration

The paper analyzes how competition, ecological drift, and immigration shape community composition distributions, showing that competition can lead to species dominance even when deterministic models predict coexistence.

Belowground functional traits predict population temporal stability in grasslands

The paper shows that root functional traits better predict population temporal stability in grasslands than aboveground traits, with land use intensity modifying these relationships.

Species demography, not metabolic rate, predicts community dominance independently of initial evenness

This study shows that demographic parameters, not metabolic rate or initial evenness, predict community dominance in phytoplankton microcosms.

Density-Yield Relationship of an Invasive Annual Grass inCalifornia Chaparral and Its Restoration Implications

This study examines the density-yield relationship of an invasive grass in California chaparral, finding it follows the constant final yield hypothesis and suggests full removal is needed for effective restoration.

Testing fundamental hypotheses of colonization success in the ferns

This study tests hypotheses about factors driving invasion success in non-native ferns, finding no phylogenetic clustering, conserved climatic niches, smaller genomes in naturalized ferns, and higher ploidal levels in invaders.

Extreme drought disrupts the bottom-up regulation of ground-dwelling invertebrate diversity under climate warming

This study examines how extreme drought affects ground-dwelling invertebrate diversity under different warming scenarios, finding delayed diversity declines and weakened plant-invertebrate coupling under constant warming.

Functional niche attributes shape species interaction roles in ecological networks

The paper examines how functional niche attributes influence species interaction roles in ecological networks, finding that niche variability inversely affects interaction variability and that these effects depend on species biomass and community composition.

Linking plant-soil feedback with resource competition to understand plant coexistence

This study investigates how plant-soil feedback and resource competition jointly influence plant coexistence across elevation gradients in the Swiss Alps.

Failure to invest below-ground may limit the Northern expansion of invasive knotweed: lessons from a two-phase transplant experiment

This study investigates the factors limiting the northward spread of invasive knotweed through a transplant experiment, finding that low temperatures reduce below-ground biomass and hinder expansion.

Natural and planted forests differ in the mechanisms regulating productivity and stability

The paper compares productivity and stability between natural and planted forests, finding natural forests more productive and stable, with different drivers in each type.

Taylor's Law, Smith's Law, and Diversity Power Laws: A Novel Triple Power Law Methodology for Scaling Diversity and Heterogeneity

The paper introduces a triple power law methodology integrating Taylor's, Smith's, and diversity power laws to analyze diversity and heterogeneity in microbial ecosystems using human gut and vaginal microbiome data.

Disturbance increases diversity by weakening competition rather than reducing intrinsic population growth

The paper tests two hypotheses about how physical disturbance affects biodiversity, finding that early disturbance increases diversity by weakening competition, while late disturbance reduces it through demographic effects.

Response diversity increases functional stability but decreases diversity and compositional stability of grassland communities

The paper tests the insurance hypothesis by showing that high land-use intensity reduces response diversity, which increases functional stability but decreases species diversity and compositional stability in grassland communities.

A Multiscale Translation of Tilman R and Its Empirical Application in the Cerrado

This paper translates Tilman's resource-ratio model to the metacommunity scale, introducing MetcommR and Patchwork Biplot to analyze ecological dynamics in the Cerrado.

Geometric causes of species rarity

The paper presents a geometric model explaining species range size patterns through dispersal barriers, showing it aligns with observed distributions in amphibians, birds, and mammals.

Artificial light at night and an invasive snail synergistically enhance the invasion of a non-native macrophyte

The paper investigates how artificial light at night and invasive snails interact to enhance the invasion of a non-native aquatic plant.

Still standing: persistence traits capture belowground plant functions beyond resource exploration and acquisition

The paper integrates belowground plant traits to show persistence strategies are a critical dimension of plant function beyond resource acquisition and exploration.

Functional Robustness of Food Webs: A Dynamic Biomass Framework with Vital Species Sets and Cluster Influence

This paper introduces a dynamic biomass framework to assess food-web robustness, identifying vital species sets and cluster influence effects under species removal.

Life history traits predict the contribution of transient dynamics to variation in population growth

The paper uses stochastic simulations of population models to show life history traits predict how population structure influences population growth rate under environmental variability.

Mechanisms behind facilitation-competition transition along rainfall gradients

The paper presents a mechanistic framework explaining the facilitation-to-competition transition in plant interactions along rainfall gradients, showing it depends on resource availability and woody density.

Global slowdown in the rate of invasive alien species establishment

The paper shows a 35% reduction in new invasive alien species establishment over 50 years, indicating effective global policies.

Island Biogeography Theory-inspired predictions reveal that urban non-native plant richness is source dependent and defies classical isolation predictions

The paper uses a global dataset of urban alien plants to test island biogeography theory, finding that city size and geographic isolation interact to influence alien plant richness, with hub-dependent variations.

Nutrient enrichment and herbivore exclusion disrupt the climate-driven balance between C3 and C4 plants in grasslands

The paper shows that nutrient enrichment, especially with nitrogen and phosphorus, reduces C4 plant cover in grasslands, disrupting climate-driven C3-C4 balance globally.

Ecological dynamics and stability in the Taï and Comoe national parks in Cote dIvoire

This study compares the functional stability of vertebrate communities in two Cote dIvoire national parks over a decade, finding PNTAI has higher resilience and diversity than PNCOMOE.

Regenerating forests around Taï National Park sustain biodiversity despite constrained floristic recovery

This study assesses biodiversity recovery in secondary forests around Taï National Park, finding faster recovery of diversity than floristic composition, with remnant trees and prior land use influencing recovery rates.

Maximum trophic level predicts food webs susceptibility to coextinctions

The paper uses Bayesian network models to show that food webs with high maximum trophic level are most vulnerable to coextinctions, outperforming other structural metrics in predicting ecosystem susceptibility.

Response diversity can stabilize or destabilize community dynamics depending on the number of insensitive species

This paper shows response diversity can stabilize or destabilize communities depending on the proportion of insensitive species, highlighting the need for better metrics that distinguish species sensitivity from response variation.

Diversity without borders: partitioning continuous spaces using probabilistic equivalent numbers

The paper introduces a probabilistic equivalent number index for assemblages of units represented as probability density functions, enabling additive partitioning across scales in ecological and biological contexts.

Dispersal mediates metapopulation response to local and regional stressors

This study uses a metapopulation simulation to show how dispersal interacts with landscape changes to affect species survival, highlighting the need for large-scale connectivity in conservation.

Warming and precipitation change alter flowering phenology and coflowering networks in California serpentine grasslands

This study examines how warming and precipitation changes affect flowering phenology and coflowering networks in California serpentine grasslands using a mesocosm experiment.