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Estimating occupancy and nest survival of cliff‐nesting raptors in an open population framework Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-06-03
Jeremy D. Mizel, Melanie J. FlammeNest survival is a key demographic parameter for assessing the viability of bird populations and is frequently responsive to management. While nest survival is often monitored alone, its joint monitoring with abundance permits a more thorough understanding of breeding productivity and the mechanisms of population change. However, nests are subject to a time‐to‐event process that presents a challenge
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Decadal change in seabird‐driven isotopes on islands with differing invasion histories Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-06-03
Penelope P. Pascoe, Mitchell Bartlett, Justine Shaw, Rowan Trebilco, Christine K. Weldrick, Holly P. JonesInvasive mammal eradications are commonplace in island conservation. However, post‐eradication monitoring beyond the confirmation of target species removal is rarer. Seabirds are ecosystem engineers on islands and are negatively affected by invasive mammals. Following an invasive mammal eradication, the recovery of seabird populations can be necessary for wider ecosystem recovery. Seabirds fertilize
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Landscape heterogeneity and pesticide reduction favor predation, but also grape infestation by Lobesia botrana Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-06-03
Axelle Tortosa, Aude Vialatte, Fabien Laroche, Adrien Rusch, Martin H. Entling, Brice GiffardBiological pest control is a major ecosystem service and is known to depend on landscape heterogeneity. The composition and configuration of landscapes can affect natural enemy communities, trophic interactions, and pest density within agroecosystems. However, local agricultural management can interfere with natural enemy activity, so the positive effects of landscape heterogeneity may be disrupted
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Positive feedback between wind‐eroded patch size, plant recruitment failure, and desertification in semiarid sandlands Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-27
Shudong Zhang, Xuehua Ye, Guofang Liu, Zhenying Huang, J. Hans C. CornelissenGlobal climate changes and intensified land use have made desertification one of the most pressing threats to vegetation integrity and associated ecosystem services worldwide. Wind‐eroded desertified patches (WEDP) in sandland vegetation communities threaten semiarid sandland ecosystems. Although the soil seed bank can be replenished by surrounding vegetation, the self‐renewal of vegetation within
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Multidisciplinary monitoring and stakeholder engagement support large carnivore restoration in human‐dominated landscape Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-26
Miha Krofel, Urša Fležar, Rok Černe, Lan Hočevar, Marjeta Konec, Aleksandra Majić Skrbinšek, Tomaž Skrbinšek, Seth Wilson, Bernarda Bele, Jaka Črtalič, Tomislav Gomerčić, Tilen Hvala, Jakub Kubala, Pavel Kvapil, Meta Mavec, Anja Molinari‐Jobin, Paolo Molinari, Elena Pazhenkova, Hubert Potočnik, Teodora Sin, Magda Sindičić, Ira Topličanec, Teresa OliveiraTranslocations are central to large carnivore restoration efforts, but inadequate monitoring often inhibits effective conservation decision‐making. Extinctions, reintroductions, illegal killings, and high inbreeding levels of the Central European populations of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) typify the carnivore conservation challenges in the Anthropocene. Recently, several conservation efforts were initiated
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Plant traits reveal that biotic resistance to invasibility is shaped by slope aspect Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-26
Sarah Kimball, Monica A. Nguyen, Jennifer L. Funk, Megan Lulow, Gregory Vose, Travis E. HuxmanDuring community assembly, species' traits interact with environmental conditions and influence biotic interactions. Learning how traits of non‐native species enable them to successfully navigate these interacting biotic and abiotic filters informs invasion dynamics. Here we test how plant traits relate to invasion resistance under differing degrees of abiotic stress based on slope aspect in a large
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Effects of harvest treatments on forest carbon pools in eastern North America: A meta‐analysis Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-26
Alexandre Collin, Evelyne Thiffault, Stéphane Tremblay, Frédérik Doyon, Philippe NoletUnderstanding carbon dynamics in managed forest ecosystems is increasingly crucial for formulating informed recommendations in the context of climate change. Silviculture significantly impacts forest carbon pools, though these effects can vary depending on the type of treatment applied. In recent decades, partial cuttings have been proposed as an alternative to more intensive treatments like clearcutting
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Influence of landscape composition on spatiotemporal interactions between sympatric canids Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-23
Ty J. Werdel, Mason Fidino, Colleen W. Piper, Andrew M. Ricketts, Matthew S. Peek, Adam A. AhlersApex carnivores influence subordinate carnivores through intraguild competition. Landscape composition and configuration may mediate interactions between sympatric carnivores though intervening landscape‐level effects on these interactions are relatively unknown. We used three years of detection data (2018–2020) from 381 sites in Kansas, USA, and Bayesian two‐species occupancy models to evaluate how
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Bud production, dormancy, and mortality patterns differ by growth form and photosynthetic pathway following high‐energy fire Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-23
Quinn A. Hiers, Carissa L. Wonkka, Morgan L. Treadwell, Matthew B. Dickinson, Kathleen L. Kavanagh, Alexandra G. Lodge, Heath D. Starns, Douglas R. Tolleson, Dirac Twidwell, William E. RogersAboveground growth and production of native perennial grasses are determined by vegetative reproduction from belowground bud banks. Despite their importance, the phenology and dynamics of these belowground bud banks are poorly researched, even for dominant grass species. This information becomes even more essential for managers considering the potential use of high‐energy fires to reduce encroaching
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Effects of heat stress and green cover on urban birds in the megacity of Bengaluru Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-16
Ravi Jambhekar, Dilip G. T. Naidu, Jagdish KrishnaswamyCities, despite being responsible for the loss of habitat as they grow, are also an important refugium for biodiversity. Many urban areas in the tropical areas of the global south are rich in biodiversity and are also undergoing climate warming and heat island impacts. Eliciting support from policy and decision makers for sustaining the habitats for birds in cities may depend on how conservation of
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Optimizing control of a freshwater invader in time and space Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-14
Jessica O. Diallo, Sarah J. Converse, Matthew Chmiel, Andrew J. Stites, Julian D. OldenThe global spread of invasive species in aquatic ecosystems has prompted population control efforts to mitigate negative impacts on native species and ecosystem functions. Removal programs that optimally allocate removal effort across space and time offer promise for improving invader suppression or eradication, especially given the limited resources available to these programs. However, science‐based
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Declining conifer productivity will drive future forest dynamics as climate changes in northern New England Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-13
Erin Simons‐Legaard, Kasey Legaard, Aaron WeiskittelClimate change is expected to decrease habitat suitability for conifers in the mixed species, temperate forests of New England in the northeastern United States. How existing forests will be affected during the transition from current to future growing conditions, however, is less clear and has important implications for commercially managed forests and the growing interest in forest carbon as a natural
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National‐scale mapping of potential floral resources for honeybees and native pollinators in New Zealand Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-13
James K. McCarthy, Sarah J. Richardson, Gary J. Houliston, Thomas R. Etherington, Matt S. McGlone, Anne‐Gaelle E. AusseilFloral resources are important food resources for pollinators. These resources are produced in different quantities depending on land cover and plant species composition, and the quantity of production varies seasonally. As such, land use change and management of natural resources can have substantial impacts on conservation through resource provision for pollinators, and also commercial enterprises
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Diverging restoration pathways for overstory and understory communities in a Mediterranean‐climate riparian ecosystem Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-13
Brook M. Constantz, John C. Stella, Karen D. HollThe classic restoration ecology model of ecosystem recovery predicts that restoring the initial conditions of a formerly degraded site will facilitate recovery and convergence with a reference site. Few restoration studies have long‐term longitudinal data to evaluate recovery trajectories, which typically vary among different aspects of ecosystem structure and composition. We used repeat surveys to
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Evaluating ecosystem caps on fishery yield in the context of climate stress and predation Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-13
Alberto Rovellini, André E. Punt, Martin W. Dorn, Isaac C. Kaplan, Meaghan D. Bryan, Grant Adams, Kerim Aydin, Matthew R. Baker, Cheryl L. Barnes, Bridget E. Ferriss, Elizabeth A. Fulton, Melissa A. Haltuch, Albert J. Hermann, Kirstin K. Holsman, Carey R. McGilliard, Elizabeth A. McHuron, Hem Nalini Morzaria‐Luna, Szymon SurmaEcosystem‐based fisheries management strives to account for species interactions and ecosystem processes in natural resource management and conservation. In this context, ecosystem‐wide caps on total fishery catches have been proposed as one tool to manage multispecies fisheries with an ecosystem approach. However, determining effective ecosystem caps is complicated because fish stock production is
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Historical frequency of plants in nursery catalogues predicts likelihood of naturalization in ornamental species Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-13
Thomas N. Dawes, Jennifer L. Bufford, Philip E. HulmeOrnamental horticulture is the major pathway of non‐native plant species introductions worldwide. Historic nursery catalogues capture a long‐term view of introduction effort arising from garden plantings and are a powerful resource for understanding why some introduced ornamental species subsequently jump the garden fence. Analyses of historic nursery catalogues can help us understand the reasons for
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Context‐dependent disturbance synergies: Subcortical competitors may constrain bark beetle outbreaks following wildfires Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-09
Katherine A. Mitchell, Lori D. Daniels, Allan L. CarrollWildfires and bark beetles have historically interacted to create complex and resilient forests. However, recent record‐breaking wildfires in western North America raise concerns that the large areas of injured and dead trees could facilitate increases in insect populations that respond to resource pulses. Populations of Douglas‐fir beetle (Dendroctonus pseudotsugae), the primary mortality agent of
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Mixed forests with native species mitigate impacts of introduced Douglas fir on soil decomposers (Collembola) Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-05
Jing‐Zhong Lu, Junbo Yang, Christian Bluhm, Estela Foltran, Carmen Alicia Rivera Pérez, Jonas Glatthorn, Christian Ammer, Norbert Lamersdorf, Andrea Polle, Matty Berg, Anton M. Potapov, Stefan ScheuForest ecosystem management requires the conservation of associated biodiversity. Enriching native forests with economically valuable conifer species provides economic gains and meets the increasing societal demand for timber but may threaten biodiversity. Soil sustains most of forest biodiversity, but the impact of changes in tree species composition, including native and non‐native species, on soil
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Differential impacts of invasion on plant communities of two types of savannas in India Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-02
Megha Ojha, Bhushan K. Shigwan, Ashish N. Nerlekar, Mandar N. Datar, Bhanudas P. Chavan, Deepak BaruaBiological invasions pose a threat to biodiversity in tropical savannas. Invasive plants can alter savanna communities in complex ways, where impacts can vary with the intensity of invasion, the spatial scales examined, and by climate. However, our understanding of such impacts on Asian tropical savannas is limited. To address this knowledge gap, we examined how plant invasion impacted plant communities
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Causal attribution from retrospective data in Canada's woodland caribou system Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-05-01
Steven F. WilsonForecasting the benefits of management interventions intended to improve ecological conditions requires a causal understanding of the factors that lead to system change. The causal attribution of a factor is defined as the difference between the outcome observed in the presence of the factor and the outcome that would have been observed in the factor's absence, that is, the counterfactual condition
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Differential impacts of grazing on grassland plant diversity, biomass, soil C, and soil N across an elevation gradient Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-04-29
Ishrat Shaheen, Rayees A. Malik, Mahesh Sankaran, Manzoor A. ShahUnderstanding how vegetation traits and soil characteristics respond to grazing in grasslands is fundamental to their restoration and management. Here, we investigated changes in species diversity, plant productivity, soil total nitrogen (STN), and soil organic carbon (SOC) storage following grazer exclusion at three grassland sites along an elevation gradient in the Kashmir Himalaya. Plant cover,
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Legume life history interacts with land use degradation of rhizobia: Implications for restoration success Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-04-24
Susan M. Magnoli, James D. BeverRestoration of soil microbial communities, and microbial mutualists in particular, is increasingly recognized as critical for the successful restoration of grassland plant communities. Although the positive effects of restoring arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi during the restoration of these systems have been well documented, less is known about the potential importance of nitrogen‐fixing rhizobium bacteria
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Impacts of forest fragmentation on interactions between plants and their insect herbivores and fungal pathogens Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-04-23
Ashwin Viswanathan, Robert Bagchi, Jaboury Ghazoul, Ganesh Honwad, Owen T. LewisNatural enemies of plants, including fungal pathogens and insect herbivores, can maintain plant diversity if their harmful effects on seeds and seedlings are density‐dependent (the Janzen–Connell hypothesis). As insect and fungal communities can be modified by anthropogenic habitat fragmentation, we conducted a field experiment to understand how fragmentation might affect the ability of natural enemies
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Metapopulation distribution shapes year‐round overlap with fisheries for a circumpolar seabird Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-04-21
Kalinka Rexer‐Huber, Thomas A. Clay, Paulo Catry, Igor Debski, Graham Parker, Raül Ramos, Bruce C. Robertson, Peter G. Ryan, Paul M. Sagar, Andrew Stanworth, David R. Thompson, Geoffrey N. Tuck, Henri Weimerskirch, Richard A. PhillipsAlthough fisheries bycatch is the greatest threat to many migratory marine megafauna, it remains unclear how population exposure to bycatch varies across the global range of threatened species. Such assessments across multiple populations are crucial for understanding variation in impacts and for identifying the management bodies responsible for reducing bycatch. Here, we combine extensive biologging
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Going with the flow: Leveraging reef‐scale hydrodynamics for upscaling larval‐based restoration Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-04-07
Marine Gouezo, Clothilde Langlais, Jack Beardsley, George Roff, Peter L. Harrison, Damian P. Thomson, Christopher DoropoulosAnthropogenic pressures are impacting coastal marine ecosystems, necessitating large‐scale interventions to accelerate recovery. Propagule‐based restoration holds the potential for restoring shallow coastal systems at hectare scales by harnessing natural dispersal. However, predicting propagule dispersal remains challenging due to the complex hydrodynamic nature of coastal marine ecosystems and the
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Using dynamic foodscape models to assess bottom‐up constraints on population performance of herbivores Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-27
Sierra L. Robatcek, Lisa A. Shipley, Craig White, Ryan A. LongResource heterogeneity governs a multitude of ecological processes, but the mechanisms by which heterogeneity influences population performance are not fully resolved. Because optimizing behavior is challenging in heterogeneous landscapes, individual variation in foraging and movement strategies is common, and understanding the consequences of that variation is one of the most pressing challenges in
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Deciduous forests hold conservation value for birds within South Andaman Island, India Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-20
Arpitha Jayanth, Zankhna Patel, Mohammed Mubeen, Karthikayan M., Rohit NaniwadekarGreater diversity of habitats on islands is often correlated with higher species richness (including endemic and threatened taxa), implying the need to understand species–habitat associations. Such habitat associations could also point toward the role of abiotic filtering and competition in structuring species communities, necessitating the examination of the role of species traits and phylogenetic
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Novel associations among insect herbivores and trees: Patterns of occurrence and damage on pines and eucalypts Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-12
Leonel Stazione, Juan C. Corley, Jeremy D. Allison, Brett P. Hurley, Simon A. Lawson, M. Victoria LantschnerGlobalization has led to a significant increase in the establishment of forest plantations with exotic species and to the accidental introduction of forest insects worldwide. Cumulatively, these factors contribute to the increased occurrence of novel associations between phytophagous insects and trees, leading to new interactions between species that have not historically co‐occurred. Here, we reviewed
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Methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from reference, restored, and disturbed estuarine wetlands in Pacific Northwest, USA Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-12
Trevor Williams, Christopher N. Janousek, Maggie A. McKeon, Heida L. Diefenderfer, Craig E. Cornu, Amy B. Borde, Jude Apple, Laura S. Brophy, Matthew Norwood, Matthew A. Schultz, Scott D. BridghamThere is substantial interest in restoring tidal wetlands because of their high rates of long‐term soil carbon sequestration and other valued ecosystem services. However, these wetlands are sometimes net sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) that may offset their climate cooling potential. GHG fluxes vary widely within and across tidal wetlands, so it is essential to better understand how key environmental
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Fall and rise of a threatened raptor: Unraveling long‐term population dynamics with spatially explicit integrated models Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-12
Jaume A. Badia‐Boher, Antonio Hernández‐Matías, Santi Mañosa, Francesc Parés, Josep Maria Bas, Diego J. Arévalo‐Ayala, Joan RealPopulation dynamics are governed by the so‐called four BIDE processes: birth, immigration, death, and emigration. However, most population models fail to explicitly consider all four processes, which may hinder a comprehensive understanding of how and why populations change over time. The advent of Integrated Population Models (IPMs) and recent developments in spatial mark–recapture models have enabled
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Restored streams recover food web properties but with different scaling relationships when compared with natural streams Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-12
Minyoung Lee, Yongeun Kim, Dougu Nam, Kijong ChoDespite extensive studies revealing differences in the composition of aquatic assemblages between restored streams and natural or pre‐restoration states, understanding the ecological consequences and trajectories of stream restoration remains challenging. Food webs are an important way of mapping biodiversity to ecosystem functioning by describing feeding linkages and energy transfer pathways. Describing
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Carbon cycling across ecosystem succession in a north temperate forest: Controls and management implications Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-12
Lucas E. Nave, Christopher M. Gough, Cameron Clay, Fernanda Santos, Jeff W. Atkins, Sonja E. Benjamins‐Carey, Gil Bohrer, Buck T. Castillo, Robert T. Fahey, Brady S. Hardiman, Kathryn L. Hofmeister, Valeriy Y. Ivanov, Jennifer Kalejs, Ashley M. Matheny, Angela C. Menna, Knute J. Nadelhoffer, Brooke E. Propson, Adam T. Schubel, Jason M. TallantDespite decades of progress, much remains unknown about successional trajectories of carbon (C) cycling in north temperate forests. Drivers and mechanisms of these changes, including the role of different types of disturbances, are particularly elusive. To address this gap, we synthesized decades of data from experimental chronosequences and long‐term monitoring at a well‐studied, regionally representative
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Landscape composition drives winter bird assemblages in agriculture–savanna mosaics of western India Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-11
Tejas Bhagwat, Philippe Rufin, Tobias Kuemmerle, Johannes KampAvian biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is declining globally. In Europe and America, agricultural homogenization and the decline of smallholder farming are key drivers of bird population declines. In South Asia, large expanses of compositionally diverse agricultural landscapes still exist. Yet, how resident and migratory avian populations respond to landscape composition and configuration on
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How to model a new invader? US‐invaded range models outperform global or combined range models after 100 occurrences Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-11
Nicholas E. Young, Demetra A. Williams, Keana S. Shadwell, Ian S. Pearse, Catherine S. JarnevichInvasive species are an economic and ecological burden, and efforts to limit their impact are greatly improved with reliable maps based on species distribution models (SDMs). However, the potential distribution of new invaders is difficult to anticipate because they are still spreading with few observations in their invaded habitat. Therefore, an accepted practice in predicting the distribution of
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Developing spatially explicit critical loads for herbaceous species across the United States using convex hulls Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-11
Christopher M. Clark, Gray D. Martin, Jennifer N. Phelan, Michael D. Bell, Jason A. LynchAtmospheric deposition of nitrogen and sulfur, after land use change, is one of the most impactful stressors to terrestrial biodiversity. Deposition effects on ecosystems are pervasive, impacting species distributions and disrupting natural communities and associated ecosystem services. Decision makers in particular areas have in the past been limited to using critical loads from faraway research sites
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Successful recovery of native plants post‐invasive removal in forest understories is driven by native community features Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-03-11
Laís Petri, Inés IbáñezTemperate forest understories hold the majority of the plant diversity present in these ecosystems and play an essential role in the recruitment and establishment of native trees. However, the long‐term persistence of diverse and functional forest understories is threatened by the impacts of invasive plants. As a result, a common practice is the removal of the agent of invasion. Despite this, we know
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Urban landscapes with more natural greenspace support higher pollinator diversity Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-02-20
Jens Ulrich, Risa D. SargentAs cities around the world expand, we urgently need to better understand the drivers of urban biodiversity, especially for functionally important groups such as insect pollinators. In this study, we gathered hoverfly and bumble bee pollinator observations from natural history collections and community science initiatives from 462 urban landscapes across 85 US metropolitan areas. We tested whether urban
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Spatiotemporal land use dynamics filter life history strategies to shape urban spontaneous plant assemblages Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-02-19
Jun‐Long Huang, Shen‐Hua Qian, Marie‐Josée FortinSpontaneous plants, such as weeds, are a key component of urban flora that can provide significant ecological benefits like nutrient cycling and soil pollutant removal. Our ability to fully harness these species in urban restoration efforts is hindered, however, due to a lack of understanding of their functional ecology under urban stressors. Here, we analyzed the effects of spatiotemporal urban land
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Demographic effects of sanitary policies on European vulture population dynamics: A retrospective modeling approach Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-02-19
MªÀngels Colomer, Antoni MargalidaThe prediction of population responses to environmental changes, including the effects of different management scenarios, is a useful tool and a necessary contributor to improving conservation decisions. Empirical datasets based on long‐term monitoring studies are essential to assess the robustness of retrospective modeling predictions on biodiversity. These allow checks on the performance of modeling
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Drivers of spatiotemporal variability in a marine foundation species Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-02-17
Anita Giraldo‐Ospina, Tom Bell, Mark H. Carr, Jennifer E. CaselleMarine foundation species are critical for the structure and functioning of ecosystems and constitute the pillar of trophic chains while also providing a variety of ecosystem services. In recent decades, many foundation species have declined in abundance, sometimes threatening their current geographical distribution. Kelps (Laminariales) are the primary foundation species in temperate coastal systems
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Microbes in reconstructive restoration: Divergence in constructed and natural tree island soil fungi affects tree growth Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-02-14
Kasey N. Kiesewetter, Amanda H. Rawstern, Eric Cline, Gina R. Ortiz, Fabiola Santamaria, Carlos Coronado‐Molina, Fred H. Sklar, Michelle E. AfkhamiAs ecosystems face unprecedented change and habitat loss, pursuing comprehensive and resilient habitat restoration will be integral to protecting and maintaining natural areas and the services they provide. Microbiomes offer an important avenue for improving restoration efforts as they are integral to ecosystem health and functioning. Despite microbiomes' importance, unresolved knowledge gaps hinder
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The national Fire and Fire Surrogate study: Effects of fuel treatments in the Western and Eastern United States after 20 years Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-02-12
Alexis A. Bernal, Scott L. Stephens, Mac A. Callaham, Brandon M. Collins, Justin S. Crotteau, Matthew B. Dickinson, Donald L. Hagan, Rachelle Hedges, Sharon M. Hood, Todd F. Hutchinson, Melanie K. Taylor, T. Adam CoatesThe national Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) study was initiated more than two decades ago with the goal of evaluating the ecological impacts of mechanical treatments and prescribed fire in different ecosystems across the United States. Since then, 4 of the original 12 sites remain active in managing and monitoring the original FFS study which provides a unique opportunity to look at the long‐term effects
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What can we learn from 100,000 freshwater forecasts? A synthesis from the NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-02-12
Freya Olsson, Cayelan C. Carey, Carl Boettiger, Gregory Harrison, Robert Ladwig, Marcus F. Lapeyrolerie, Abigail S. L. Lewis, Mary E. Lofton, Felipe Montealegre‐Mora, Joseph S. Rabaey, Caleb J. Robbins, Xiao Yang, R. Quinn ThomasNear‐term, iterative ecological forecasts can be used to help understand and proactively manage ecosystems. To date, more forecasts have been developed for aquatic ecosystems than other ecosystems worldwide, likely motivated by the pressing need to conserve these essential and threatened ecosystems and increasing the availability of high‐frequency data. Forecasters have implemented many different modeling
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Migration matters in conservation and management: Exploring the 10% rule for demographic independence via simulation Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-02-12
Ingrid Spies, Paul D. Spencer, André E. PuntDelineating a threshold migration rate for demographic independence important for understanding connectivity among fragmented populations and defining management units for conservation and harvest regulation. In turn, defining management units is an essential step in sustainable management to avoid unintentional depletion of resources managed for conservation or harvest. The 10% rule of demographic
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Quantifying large carnivore predation relative to human harvest on moose in an intensively managed boreal ecosystem Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-02-11
Håkan Sand, Barbara Zimmermann, Petter Wabakken, Ane Eriksen, Camilla WikenrosThe return of large carnivores to areas with strong anthropogenic impact often results in conflicts among different interest groups. One cause of conflict is that large carnivores compete with humans for wild game species. In Scandinavia, the recolonization of wolves (Canis lupus) and brown bears (Ursus arctos) has important ramifications for the harvest of an ungulate species with high economic and
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Dominant species drove the balance between biodiversity and productivity in mown grasslands under nitrogen fertilization Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-02-11
Xiaojing Zhang, Guojiao Yang, Yu Ning, Liangchao Jiang, Xingguo Han, Xiao‐Tao LüAnnual mowing, a main management strategy of grasslands, would reduce primary productivity, though might increase plant diversity. Nitrogen (N) fertilization is widely used to raise productivity in global pastures, but always results in biodiversity losses. It is thus a challenge to balance the divergent impacts of mowing and N fertilization on biodiversity and productivity. Here, we examine 9‐year
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Replacing native grazers with livestock influences arthropods to have implications for ecosystem functions and disease Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-01-31
Pronoy Baidya, Shamik Roy, Jalmesh Karapurkar, Sumanta BagchiGrazing by large mammalian herbivores influences ecosystem structure and functions through its impacts on vegetation and soil, as well as by the influence on other animals such as arthropods. As livestock progressively replace native grazers around the world, it is pertinent to ask whether they have comparable influence over arthropods, or not. We use a replicated landscape‐level, long‐term grazer‐exclusion
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Predicting the impact of targeted fence removal on connectivity in a migratory ecosystem Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-01-27
Imogen A. Schwandner, Thomas A. Morrison, J. Grant C. Hopcraft, Jake Wall, Lacey Hughey, Randall B. Boone, Joseph O. Ogutu, Andrew F. Jakes, Shem C. Kifugo, Campaign Limo, Stephen Ndambuki Mwiu, Vasco Nyaga, Han Olff, Gordon O. Ojwang, Wilson Sairowua, Jackson Sasine, Jully S. Senteu, Daniel Sopia, Jeffrey Worden, Jared A. StabachFencing is one of the most widely utilized tools for reducing human‐wildlife conflict in agricultural landscapes. However, the increasing global footprint of fencing exceeds millions of kilometers and has unintended consequences for wildlife, including habitat fragmentation, movement restriction, entanglement, and mortality. Here, we present a novel and quantitative approach to prioritize fence removal
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Radio‐tracking urban breeding birds: The importance of native vegetation Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-01-23
Gábor Seress, Krisztina Sándor, Veronika Bókony, Boglárka Bukor, Katalin Hubai, András LikerAs urban areas continue to expand globally, a deeper understanding of the functioning of urban green spaces is crucial for maintaining habitats that effectively support wildlife within our cities. Cities typically harbor a wide variety of nonnative vegetation, providing limited support for insect populations. The resulting scarcity of arthropods has been increasingly linked to adverse effects at higher
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The effectiveness of harvest for limiting wildlife disease: Insights from 20 years of chronic wasting disease in Wyoming Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-01-21
Wynne E. Moss, Justin Binfet, L. Embere Hall, Samantha E. Allen, William H. Edwards, Jessica E. Jennings‐Gaines, Paul C. CrossEffective, practical options for managing disease in wildlife populations are limited, especially after diseases become established. Removal strategies (e.g., hunting or culling) are used to control wildlife diseases across a wide range of systems, despite conflicting evidence of their effectiveness. This is especially true for chronic wasting disease (CWD), an untreatable, fatal prion disease threatening
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A probabilistic approach to estimating timber harvest location Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-01-21
Jakub Truszkowski, Roi Maor, Raquib Bin Yousuf, Subhodip Biswas, Caspar Chater, Peter Gasson, Scot McQueen, Marigold Norman, Jade Saunders, John Simeone, Naren Ramakrishnan, Alexandre Antonelli, Victor DeklerckDetermining the harvest location of timber is crucial to enforcing international regulations designed to protect natural resources and to tackle illegal logging and associated trade in forest products. Stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA) can be used to verify claims of timber harvest location by matching levels of naturally occurring stable isotopes within wood tissue to location‐specific ratios predicted
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Functional leaf and plant use by leafcutter bees: Implications for management and conservation Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-01-21
Palatty Allesh Sinu, Krishnan P. Abhiram, Ashly Baby, C. R. Akshatha, K. Aneha, Anjana P. Unni, Harita Nalamati, K. Manoj, A. R. PoojaWild solitary bees face a host of challenges from the simplification of landscapes and biodiversity loss to invasive species and urbanization. Pollinator researchers and restoration workers thus far gave much attention to increase flower cover to reduce the impact of these anthropogenic pressures. Over 30% of bee species need nonfloral resources such as leaves and resin for their survival and reproduction
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Root functional traits are important predictors for plant resource acquisition strategies in subtropical forests Ecol. Appl. (IF 4.3) Pub Date : 2025-01-20
Guangcan Yu, Yufang Wang, Andi Li, Senhao Wang, Jing Chen, Jiangming Mo, Mianhai ZhengIntercorrelated aboveground traits associated with costs and plant growth have been widely used to predict vegetation in response to environmental changes. However, whether underground traits exhibit consistent responses remains unclear, particularly in N‐rich subtropical forests. Responses of foliar and root morphological and physiological traits of tree and herb species after 8‐year N, P, and combined