Last. Jan Lepš(Sewanee: The University of the South)H-Index: 64
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Under global change, how biological diversity and ecosystem services are maintained in time is a fundamental question. Ecologists have long argued about multiple mechanisms by which local biodiversity might control the temporal stability of ecosystem properties. Accumulating theories and empirical evidence suggest that, together with different population and community parameters, these mechanisms largely operate through differences in functional traits among organisms. We review potential trait-...
Emerging large-scale datasets coupled with statistical advances have provided new insights into the processes that generate the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG). But many of these studies run into an old, if often underappreciated, problem: The interpretation of the data critically depends on the consistent application of criteria to define what constitutes a species. This is particularly pernicious for the LDG because good species have been easier to recognize in temperate than in tropical ...
#1J. Tyler Faith(AMNH: American Museum of Natural History)H-Index: 30
#2Andrew Du(CSU: Colorado State University)H-Index: 11
Last. Bernard Wood(GW: George Washington University)H-Index: 118
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A central goal of paleoanthropology is understanding the role of ecological change in hominin evolution. Over the past several decades researchers have expanded the hominin fossil record and assembled detailed late Cenozoic paleoclimatic, paleoenvironmental, and paleoecological archives. However, effective use of these data is precluded by the limitations of pattern-matching strategies for inferring causal relationships between ecological and evolutionary change. We examine several obstacles tha...
Last. Tanja Stadler(Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics)H-Index: 46
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Infectious diseases are a major burden to global economies, and public and animal health. To date, quantifying the spread of infectious diseases to inform policy making has traditionally relied on epidemiological data collected during epidemics. However, interest has grown in recent phylodynamic techniques to infer pathogen transmission dynamics from genetic data. Here, we provide examples of where this new discipline has enhanced disease management in public health and illustrate how it could b...
Last. Claire Kremen(UBC: University of British Columbia)H-Index: 91
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Soybeans cover 129 million hectares globally. Soybean productivity can increase with pollinator management, but soybean cultivation practices commonly ignore biotic pollination. If pollinator habitats are created within soybean landscapes and policies to limit agricultural expansion are implemented, millions of hectares could be restored for biodiversity without loss of soybean production.
We are losing biodiversity quickly, not simply because of development but due to poor spatial planning. Recent findings propose thoughtful configurations and management of human-modified landscapes to protect biodiversity while allowing food production. This opens up a range of feasible actions in the conservation agenda, which overlap with food sovereignty initiatives.
Ecologists and conservationists increasingly acknowledge that traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is vital for a better understanding and conservation of biodiversity; for example, for a more complex socioecological understanding of long-term processes, ecosystem resilience, the impacts of traditional management practices, and the worldviews underpinning these practices. To gain a deeper understanding of the ecological dimensions of TEK, ecologists and conservation biologists should conduct p...
Elevated temperatures during development affect a wide range of traits in ectotherms. Less well understood is the impact of global warming on brain development, which has only rarely been studied experimentally. Here, we evaluate current progress in the field and search for common response patterns among ectotherm groups. Evidence suggests that temperature may have a positive effect on neuronal activity and growth in developing brains, but only up to a threshold, above which temperature is detri...
#1Megan C. Sabal(UCSC: University of California, Santa Cruz)H-Index: 5
#2Mark S. Boyce(U of A: University of Alberta)H-Index: 92
Last. Eric P. Palkovacs(UCSC: University of California, Santa Cruz)H-Index: 25
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Migratory prey experience spatially variable predation across their life cycle. They face unique challenges in navigating this predation landscape, which affects their perception of risk, antipredator responses, and resulting mortality. Variable and unfamiliar predator cues during migration can limit accurate perception of risk and migrants often rely on social information and learning to compensate. The energetic demands of migration constrain antipredator responses, often through context-depen...