Global environmental change is causing local extinctions of species. When species depend on one another, as in the mutualistic relationship between plants and pollinators, loss of one interaction partner may cause cascading effects within the community – such as additional extinctions and reduced pollination services. Network theory provides a way...
Biological invasions threaten native biodiversity, alter ecosystem function, and are a major cause of economic losses across the planet. The most impactful invaders alter disturbance regimes and initiate state shifts to outside the historical range of variability of the ecosystem. Concern for ecological and economic losses has prompted a rapid...
Tropical peatlands play an important role in global climate system by storing an immense of carbon that had been accumulated over thousands of years. Peatlands provide another important ecosystem service by regulating the hydrology. It is believed that peatlands act like a giant sponge by absorbing substantial amounts of water...
Animals can be naturally exposed simultaneously to multiple stressors. These include habitat changes, contaminants, diseases, invasive species, parasitism, and predation. Exposure to various combinations of biotic and abiotic stressors may induce behavioral changes that affect the way an individual interacts within its environment.Like other groups of organisms, amphibians are exposed...
Investigation into how animals move within the landscape is important for both understanding of ecological processes and conservation management. Animal movement is important in shaping life history transitions, demographics, individual fitness, and species distributions. However, as landscapes become increasingly affected by human activities, movement becomes important as species navigate landscapes...
Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the sexually transmitted pathogen responsible for millions of cases of gonorrhea worldwide each year. Rapidly-spreading antibiotic resistance is diminishing the ability to effectively treat a disease with significant consequences to female and male reproductive health, as well as to neonatal well-being. A protective vaccine has the potential...
Human actions are pushing natural systems into states that have no historical precedent. In response, empirical and theoretical researchers are increasingly focused on developing ways to predict the responses of ecological systems to change. However, significant knowledge gaps remain, often leading to “ecological surprises” where observed impacts of global change...
The California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), located on the eastern boundary of the North Pacific Ocean, is highly dynamic, with variable conditions driven by seasonal upwelling, regional oceanography, and broad scale climate patterns. In the last decade, the northeast Pacific Ocean has experienced several marine heatwaves (MHWs), prolonged periods...
The direct and indirect effects of ocean acidification (OA) are a growing concern, particularly in areas already experiencing elevated levels of oceanic CO₂. Studies with marine fishes suggest that elevated CO₂ levels may affect behavior by interfering with an important brain neurotransmitter. Studies examining the effects of OA fish behavior...
Recent shifts from clearcutting to partial retention harvesting on many ownerships and the importance of microclimate dynamics on biotic responses to regional climate highlight the need to understand how microclimate conditions in forest understories differ across gradients of partial overstories. This study compares below-canopy near-surface temperatures at 2cm above ground...