Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Life Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 15 of 15

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Alternate Trait‐Based Leaf Respiration Schemes Evaluated At Ecosystem‐Scale Through Carbon Optimization Modeling And Canopy Property Data, R. Q. Thomas, M. Williams, M. A. Cavaleri, J.‐F. Exbrayat, T. L. Smallman, L. E. Street Dec 2019

Alternate Trait‐Based Leaf Respiration Schemes Evaluated At Ecosystem‐Scale Through Carbon Optimization Modeling And Canopy Property Data, R. Q. Thomas, M. Williams, M. A. Cavaleri, J.‐F. Exbrayat, T. L. Smallman, L. E. Street

Michigan Tech Publications

Leaf maintenance respiration (Rleaf,m) is a major but poorly understood component of the terrestrial carbon cycle (C). Earth systems models (ESMs) use simple sub‐models relating Rleaf,m to leaf traits, applied at canopy scale. Rleaf,m models vary depending on which leaf N traits they incorporate (e.g., mass or area based) and the form of relationship (linear or nonlinear). To simulate vegetation responses to global change, some ESMs include ecological optimization to identify canopy structures that maximize net C accumulation. However, the implications for optimization of using alternate leaf‐scale empirical Rleaf,m models are undetermined. Here we combine …


Out Of The Ashes: Ecological Resilience To Extreme Wildfire, Prescribed Burns, And Indigenous Burning In Ecosystems, Christina Eisenberg, Christopher Anderson, Adam Collingwood, Robert Sissons, Christopher Dunn, Curtis Edson, Et Al. Nov 2019

Out Of The Ashes: Ecological Resilience To Extreme Wildfire, Prescribed Burns, And Indigenous Burning In Ecosystems, Christina Eisenberg, Christopher Anderson, Adam Collingwood, Robert Sissons, Christopher Dunn, Curtis Edson, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

Until Euro-American colonization, Indigenous people used fire to modify eco-cultural systems, developing robust Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Since 1980, wildfire activity has increased due to fire suppression and climate change. In 2017, in Waterton Lakes National Park, AB, the Kenow wildfire burned 19,303 ha, exhibiting extreme fire behavior. It affected forests and the Eskerine Complex, a native-grass prairie treated with prescribed burns since 2006 to reduce aspen (Populus tremuloides) encroachment linked to fire suppression and bison (Bison bison bison) extirpation. One year post-fire, the Kenow wildfire caused vigorous aspen sprouting, altered stand structure to an early-seral …


Territorial Landscapes: Incorporating Density-Dependence Into Wolf Habitat Selection Studies., Shawn T O'Neil, Dean E Beyer, Joseph K Bump Nov 2019

Territorial Landscapes: Incorporating Density-Dependence Into Wolf Habitat Selection Studies., Shawn T O'Neil, Dean E Beyer, Joseph K Bump

Michigan Tech Publications

Habitat selection is a process that spans space, time and individual life histories. Ecological analyses of animal distributions and preferences are most accurate when they account for inherent dynamics of the habitat selection process. Strong territoriality can constrain perception of habitat availability by individual animals or groups attempting to colonize or establish new territory. Because habitat selection is a function of habitat availability, broad-scale changes in habitat availability or occupancy can drive density-dependent habitat functional responses. We investigated density-dependent habitat selection over a 19-year period of grey wolf (


The Composition And Height Of Saplings Capturing Silvicultural Gaps At Two Long-Term Experiments In Managed Northern Hardwood Forests, Sam Knapp, Christopher R. Webster, Christel C. Kern Oct 2019

The Composition And Height Of Saplings Capturing Silvicultural Gaps At Two Long-Term Experiments In Managed Northern Hardwood Forests, Sam Knapp, Christopher R. Webster, Christel C. Kern

Michigan Tech Publications

Managing forests for mixtures of canopy species promotes future resilience and mitigates risks of catastrophic resource loss. This study describes the compositions, heights, and locations within openings of gap-capturing saplings in two long-term group-selection experiments in managed northern hardwoods. We expected opening size to affect the composition of gap-capturing saplings and that composition would match advance regeneration where relatively large stems remained following harvest. We also expected sapling height to respond positively to opening size, but plateau in gap areas above 200 m2, and legacy-tree retention to negatively affect sapling height. In two group-selection experiments, we found that …


Tooth Fracture Frequency In Gray Wolves Reflects Prey Availability., Blaire Van Valkenburgh, Rolf O. Peterson, Douglas W Smith, Daniel R Stahler, John A. Vucetich Sep 2019

Tooth Fracture Frequency In Gray Wolves Reflects Prey Availability., Blaire Van Valkenburgh, Rolf O. Peterson, Douglas W Smith, Daniel R Stahler, John A. Vucetich

Michigan Tech Publications

Exceptionally high rates of tooth fracture in large Pleistocene carnivorans imply intensified interspecific competition, given that tooth fracture rises with increased bone consumption, a behavior that likely occurs when prey are difficult to acquire. To assess the link between prey availability and dental attrition, we documented dental fracture rates over decades among three well-studied populations of extant gray wolves that differed in prey:predator ratio and levels of carcass utilization. When prey:predator ratios declined, kills were more fully consumed, and rates of tooth fracture more than doubled. This supports tooth fracture frequency as a relative measure of the difficulty of acquiring …


Deep Uncertainty, Public Reason, The Conservation Of Biodiversity And The Regulation Of Markets For Lion Skeletons, Peter Coals, Dawn Burnham, Paul Johnson, Andrew Loveridge, David Macdonald, Vivienne Williams, John A. Vucetich Sep 2019

Deep Uncertainty, Public Reason, The Conservation Of Biodiversity And The Regulation Of Markets For Lion Skeletons, Peter Coals, Dawn Burnham, Paul Johnson, Andrew Loveridge, David Macdonald, Vivienne Williams, John A. Vucetich

Michigan Tech Publications

Public reason is a formal concept in political theory. There is a need to better understand how public reason might be elicited in making public decisions that involve deep uncertainty, which arises from pernicious and gross ignorance about how a system works, the boundaries of a system, and the relative value (or disvalue) of various possible outcomes. This article is the third in a series to demonstrate how ethical argument analysis—a qualitative decision-making aid—may be used to elicit public reason in the presence of deep uncertainty. The first article demonstrated how argument analysis is capable of probing deep into a …


Detecting Dynamic System Regime Boundaries With Fisher Information: The Case Of Ecosystems, Eva Konig, Heriberto Cabezas, Audrey L. Mayer Sep 2019

Detecting Dynamic System Regime Boundaries With Fisher Information: The Case Of Ecosystems, Eva Konig, Heriberto Cabezas, Audrey L. Mayer

Michigan Tech Publications

The direct measurement of the resilience (resistance to disturbances) of an ecosystem’s current regime (or “alternative stable state”) remains a key concern for managing human impacts on these ecosystems and their risk of collapse. Approaches which utilize statistics or information theory have demonstrated utility in identifying regime boundaries. Here, we use Fisher information to establish the limits of the resilience of a dynamic regime of a predator–prey system. This is important because previous studies using Fisher information focused on detecting whether a regime change has occurred, whereas here we are interested in determining how much an ecological system can vary …


Identifying Genetic Markers For A Range Of Phylogenetic Utility–From Species To Family Level, Bokyung Choi, Michael D. Crisp, Lyn G. Cook, Karen Meusemann, Robert D. Edwards, Alicia Toon, Carsten Kulheim Aug 2019

Identifying Genetic Markers For A Range Of Phylogenetic Utility–From Species To Family Level, Bokyung Choi, Michael D. Crisp, Lyn G. Cook, Karen Meusemann, Robert D. Edwards, Alicia Toon, Carsten Kulheim

Michigan Tech Publications

Resolving the phylogenetic relationships of closely related species using a small set of loci is challenging as sufficient information may not be captured from a limited sample of the genome. Relying on few loci can also be problematic when conflict between gene-trees arises from incomplete lineage sorting and/or ongoing hybridization, problems especially likely in recently diverged lineages. Here, we developed a method using limited genomic resources that allows identification of many low copy candidate loci from across the nuclear and chloroplast genomes, design probes for target capture and sequence the captured loci. To validate our method we present data from …


Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Inoculation Has Similar Benefits To Fertilization For Thuja Occidentalis L. Seedling Nutrition And Growth On Peat Soil Over A Range Of Ph: Implications For Restoration, Guswarni Anwar, Erik A. Lilleskov, Rodney Chimner Jul 2019

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Inoculation Has Similar Benefits To Fertilization For Thuja Occidentalis L. Seedling Nutrition And Growth On Peat Soil Over A Range Of Ph: Implications For Restoration, Guswarni Anwar, Erik A. Lilleskov, Rodney Chimner

Michigan Tech Publications

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are hypothesized to assist growth of northern white-cedar in acid peatlands, yet there is little direct evidence that they can provide sufficient resources, especially nitrogen (N), from unfertilized peat soils. Our objective was to determine mycorrhizal efficacy to support cedar growth and nutrient supply as part of a low-impact approach for ecological restoration of cedar in peatlands. We tested the effectiveness of AM inoculation in a greenhouse experiment in factorial combination with fertilization and liming. We also determined AM colonization rate in the different treatment combinations. We found that AM inoculation in the absence of fertilization …


Characterizing Boreal Peatland Plant Composition And Species Diversity With Hyperspectral Remote Sensing, Mara Y. Mcpartland, Michael J. Falkowski, Jason R. Reinhardy, Evan Kane, Randall K Kolka, Merritt R. Turetsky, Et Al. Jul 2019

Characterizing Boreal Peatland Plant Composition And Species Diversity With Hyperspectral Remote Sensing, Mara Y. Mcpartland, Michael J. Falkowski, Jason R. Reinhardy, Evan Kane, Randall K Kolka, Merritt R. Turetsky, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

Peatlands, which account for approximately 15% of land surface across the arctic and boreal regions of the globe, are experiencing a range of ecological impacts as a result of climate change. Factors that include altered hydrology resulting from drought and permafrost thaw, rising temperatures, and elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have been shown to cause plant community compositional changes. Shifts in plant composition affect the productivity, species diversity, and carbon cycling of peatlands. We used hyperspectral remote sensing to characterize the response of boreal peatland plant composition and species diversity to warming, hydrologic change, and elevated CO2. …


Press-Pulse Odocoileus Virginianus Herbivory In Relict Tsuga Canadensis Stands In The Western Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Usa, Grace Parikh, Christopher R. Webster Jun 2019

Press-Pulse Odocoileus Virginianus Herbivory In Relict Tsuga Canadensis Stands In The Western Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Usa, Grace Parikh, Christopher R. Webster

Michigan Tech Publications

Ungulate herbivory occurring within a forest plant community’s natural range of variation may help maintain species diversity. However, acute or chronically elevated levels of herbivory can produce dramatic changes in forest communities. For example, chronically high levels of herbivory by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman) in regions of historically low abundance at northern latitudes have dramatically altered forest community composition. In eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis L. Carrière) stands where deer aggregate during winter, high deer use has been associated with a shift towards deciduous species (i.e., maples [Acer spp.]) dominating the regeneration layer. Especially harsh winters can lead to deer …


Genome Size Variation Within Species Of Chinese Jujube (Ziziphus Jujuba Mill.) And Its Wild Ancestor Sour Jujube (Z. Acidojujuba Cheng Et Liu), Lihu Wang, Zhi Luo, Zhiguo Liu, Jin Zhao, Hairong Wei, Ping Liu, Mengjun Liu May 2019

Genome Size Variation Within Species Of Chinese Jujube (Ziziphus Jujuba Mill.) And Its Wild Ancestor Sour Jujube (Z. Acidojujuba Cheng Et Liu), Lihu Wang, Zhi Luo, Zhiguo Liu, Jin Zhao, Hairong Wei, Ping Liu, Mengjun Liu

Michigan Tech Publications

One of the most important attributes of a genome is genome size, which can to a large extent reflect the evolutionary history and diversity of a plant species. However, studies on genome size diversity within a species are still very limited. This study aims to clarify the variation in genome sizes of Chinese jujube and sour jujube, and to characterize if there exists an association between genome sizes and geographical variation. We measured the genome sizes of 301 cultivars of Chinese jujube and 81 genotypes of sour jujube by flow cytometry. Ten fruit traits, including weight, vertical diameter, horizontal diameter, …


Genomic Signatures Of Extensive Inbreeding In Isle Royale Wolves, A Population On The Threshold Of Extinction, Jacqueline A. Robinson, Jannikke Raikkonen, Leah Vucetich, John A. Vucetich, Rolf O. Peterson, Kirk Lohmueller, Robert Wayne May 2019

Genomic Signatures Of Extensive Inbreeding In Isle Royale Wolves, A Population On The Threshold Of Extinction, Jacqueline A. Robinson, Jannikke Raikkonen, Leah Vucetich, John A. Vucetich, Rolf O. Peterson, Kirk Lohmueller, Robert Wayne

Michigan Tech Publications

The observation that small isolated populations often suffer reduced fitness from inbreeding depression has guided conservation theory and practice for decades. However, investigating the genome-wide dynamics associated with inbreeding depression in natural populations is only now feasible with relatively inexpensive sequencing technology and annotated reference genomes. To characterize the genome-wide effects of intense inbreeding and isolation, we performed whole-genome sequencing and morphological analysis of an iconic inbred population, the gray wolves (Canis lupus) of Isle Royale. Through population genetic simulations and comparison with wolf genomes from a variety of demographic histories, we find evidence that severe inbreeding depression …


An Evaluation Of Isotopic (Δ2h) Methods To Provide Estimates Of Avian Breeding And Natal Dispersal, C. Lopez-Calderon, Steven L. Van Wilgenburg, Amber M. Roth, David J. Flaspohler, Keith A. Hobson Apr 2019

An Evaluation Of Isotopic (Δ2h) Methods To Provide Estimates Of Avian Breeding And Natal Dispersal, C. Lopez-Calderon, Steven L. Van Wilgenburg, Amber M. Roth, David J. Flaspohler, Keith A. Hobson

Michigan Tech Publications

Natal and breeding dispersal represents an important component of animal demography and metapopulation theory. This phenomenon also has implications for conservation and management because understanding movements of individuals potentially allows the identification of key habitats that may be acting as population sources or sinks. Intrinsic markers such as stable isotope abundance in tissues that can be associated with provenance can provide a coarse but pragmatic solution to understanding such movements. Different methodologies have been proposed to quantify natal and breeding dispersal by using stable isotope analyses of keratinous tissues (hair, feathers), each of them with their own advantages and limitations. …


Urban Colonization Through Multiple Genetic Lenses: The City‐Fox Phenomenon Revisited, Alexandra L. Decandia, Kristin Brzeski, Elizabeth Heppenheimer, Catherine V. Caro, Glauco Camenisch, Peter Wandeler, Carlos Driscoll Jan 2019

Urban Colonization Through Multiple Genetic Lenses: The City‐Fox Phenomenon Revisited, Alexandra L. Decandia, Kristin Brzeski, Elizabeth Heppenheimer, Catherine V. Caro, Glauco Camenisch, Peter Wandeler, Carlos Driscoll

Michigan Tech Publications

Urbanization is driving environmental change on a global scale, creating novel environments for wildlife to colonize. Through a combination of stochastic and selective processes, urbanization is also driving evolutionary change. For instance, difficulty in traversing human‐modified landscapes may isolate newly established populations from rural sources, while novel selective pressures, such as altered disease risk, toxicant exposure, and light pollution, may further diverge populations through local adaptation. Assessing the evolutionary consequences of urban colonization and the processes underlying them is a principle aim of urban evolutionary ecology. In the present study, we revisited the genetic effects of urbanization on red foxes …