image: A recent Ecology study of cauliflower corals like the one shown here illustrates how seemingly identical species can play different ecological roles.
Credit: Thomas C. Adam
The Ecological Society of America (ESA) presents a roundup of five research articles recently published across its esteemed journals. Widely recognized for fostering innovation and advancing ecological knowledge, ESA’s journals consistently feature illuminating and impactful studies. This compilation of papers explores using historical nursery catalogues to predict plant invasion; the value of urban ecosystems for monarch butterflies; how organisms that look identical to us can experience the world in very different ways; incorporating animal communities into assessments of ecosystem health; and tips for tackling river and stream restoration.
From Ecological Applications:
Cataloguing past and future plant colonization
Author contact: Thomas N. Dawes (tomndawes@gmail.com)
Nursery catalogues offer more than pretty pictures of colorful flowers; they can also offer clues to the mystery of why some introduced plants stay put while others spread and become invasive. Combing through New Zealand catalogues dating back to the 1860s, researchers found that a plant’s height, relative availability for sale and frequency of establishment in other parts of the world were linked with successful naturalization in New Zealand. Other traits, such as cold hardiness and shade tolerance, also contributed to establishment, but to a much lesser degree. However, identifying which exotic plants were likely to spread across the landscape proved to be a more difficult task, which suggests that invasiveness depends as much on local environmental conditions as inherent species traits. Despite this uncertainty, the study highlights the usefulness of nursery catalogues for examining historical patterns of non-native plant colonization and identifying plants whose presence should raise a red flag.
Read the article: Historical frequency of plants in nursery catalogues predicts likelihood of naturalization in ornamental species
From Ecosphere:
Urban monarchs living the high life
Author contact: E. Erickson (ererickson@ucdavis.edu)
Can urban ecosystems provide high-quality habitat for some species? Recent research on monarch butterflies in California that have acquired a taste for city living may provide some clues. Western monarchs are migratory, like their eastern counterparts, and are facing steep declines; the discovery of winter-breeding butterflies in urban gardens in Northern California led some conservationists to worry that monarchs are being lured away from the migratory lifestyle to take up residence in less suitable cityscapes. However, monthly surveys of abundance, parasite prevalence and egg/larva predation rates revealed that these city slickers are a self-sustaining population that is not simply boosted by the seasonal arrival of migratory kin escaping the cold. Rather than serving as an ecological trap, urban gardens may in fact be critical safe havens for the increasingly beleaguered butterfly.
Read the article: Neither source nor trap: Urban gardens as habitat for nonmigratory monarch butterflies in Northern California
From Ecology:
Similarities among coral siblings only run skin-deep
Author contact: Scott C. Burgess (sburgess@bio.fsu.edu)
They may be dead ringers for one another, but do not let that fool you — closely related species often deal with life’s hazards in drastically different ways. Case in point are a group of five stony corals collectively referred to as cauliflower corals living in the waters around French Polynesia. Despite being superficially indistinguishable, experimental manipulations revealed that not only do these species colonize the reef at different rates following a cyclone, but the species reacted differently to changes in coral- and algae-eating fish, nutrient pollution and other environmental conditions. Such dissimilarities among species that are hard to tell apart not only influences reef community composition but can also steer the course of reef recovery; while hardier species buffer reef resilience, those less suited to future ocean conditions are at greater risk of extinction. At a time of ever-increasing human pressures, the fact that disturbance can impact doppelganger species in profoundly different ways adds a new wrinkle to ecosystem assessment, management and restoration.
Read the article: Differential effects of nutrients and consumer pressure on sympatric cryptic coral species (Pocillopora spp.)
From Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment:
Expanded animal monitoring improves ecosystem assessments
Author contact: Ana Miller-ter Kuile (ana.miller-ter-kuile@nau.edu)
Animals play fundamental roles in shaping ecosystems, yet the difficulty of monitoring wildlife often restricts their use in assessments of basic ecological health. The authors of this study point out that the omission is especially common in assessments for forests, alpine environments and other terrestrial ecosystems. However, recent technological and methodological innovations could be a game changer. Advancements in drones, camera traps, acoustic recording and environmental DNA tools, among others, along with ever-expanding computational power, have greatly improved scientists’ ability to collect and analyze enormous amounts of data about animal diets, habitat use and more. Incorporating animal-related measures like these will strengthen evaluations of ecosystem condition and vulnerability to human impacts. For example, in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, bird community metrics were better at detecting human disturbances than traditional metrics. A better understanding of how animal communities influence ecosystem processes and functions will create a more complete picture of an ecosystem’s status, benefiting the development of effective management, conservation and restoration strategies.
Read the article: Functionalizing ecological integrity: using functional ecology to monitor animal communities
From Ecological Monographs:
Freeing freshwater fish from fragmentation
Author contact: Lukian M. D. Adams (adamslukian@gmail.com)
Dams, weirs and other man-made edifices restrict the movement of riverine fish, and there is growing interest in removing such structures in order to reverse declines in freshwater fish. But with millions of these barriers throughout the world, where to begin? New research finds that in Australia’s largest river basin, certain barrier characteristics — how high, how many and where they were positioned in the waterway — were mainly responsible for preventing fish populations from intermingling, while low water levels made it hard for fish to maneuver around obstacles. Less mobile fish were especially hard-hit by artificial barriers, suggesting that infrastructure like fish ladders that help fish circumvent obstacles should be built with more sedentary swimmers in mind. Given the limited funds typically available for river restoration, the authors propose that focusing remediation efforts on locations featuring these barrier types and species would be the most efficient means of improving fish passage.
Read the article: Barrier features, fish traits, and river flows drive fragmentation of freshwater fish
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The Ecological Society of America, founded in 1915, is the world’s largest community of professional ecologists and a trusted source of ecological knowledge, committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The 8,000 member Society publishes six journals and a membership bulletin and broadly shares ecological information through policy, media outreach and education initiatives. The Society’s Annual Meeting attracts 4,000 attendees and features the most recent advances in ecological science. Visit the ESA website at https://www.esa.org
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