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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Rich Mesic Forests: Edaphic And Physiographic Drivers Of Community Variation In Western Massachusetts, J. Bellemare, G. Motzkin, D. R. Foster
Rich Mesic Forests: Edaphic And Physiographic Drivers Of Community Variation In Western Massachusetts, J. Bellemare, G. Motzkin, D. R. Foster
Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
Rich Mesic Forest, a Northeastern variant of the species-rich Mixed Mesophytic Forest association of eastern North America, is an Acer saccharum-dominated forest type typically associated with calcareous bedrock and nutrient-rich, mull soils. Rich Mesic Forest (RMF) is a priority for conservation in the Northeast due to its limited areal extent, high plant species richness, and numerous rare taxa, yet the community characteristics and environmental correlates of this forest type are incompletely understood. This study undertook a quantitative classification of RMF of the northeastern edge of the Berkshire Plateau in western Massachusetts. Cluster analysis of data from ten sites identified two …
Intra-Guild Compensation Regulatesspecies Richness In Desert Rodents, J. Goheen, Ethan P. White, S.K. Morgan Ernest, J. H. Brown
Intra-Guild Compensation Regulatesspecies Richness In Desert Rodents, J. Goheen, Ethan P. White, S.K. Morgan Ernest, J. H. Brown
Biology Faculty Publications
Evidence from numerous studies suggests that species richness is an emergent property of local communities. The maintenance of species richness, despite changes in species composition and environmental conditions, requires compensatory colonization and extinction events with species coming from a regional pool. Using long-term data from a rodent community in the Chihuahuan Desert, we use randomization methods to test the null hypothesis that changes in species richness occur randomly. We find that the dynamics of species richness differ significantly from a random process, and that these nonrandom dynamics occur largely within the most speciose guild. Finally, we propose a general framework …