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Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
The Sensitivity Of Neotoma To Climate Change And Biodiversity Loss Over The Late Quaternary, Catalina P. Tomé, S. Kathleen Lyons, Seth D. Newsome, Felisa A. Smith
The Sensitivity Of Neotoma To Climate Change And Biodiversity Loss Over The Late Quaternary, Catalina P. Tomé, S. Kathleen Lyons, Seth D. Newsome, Felisa A. Smith
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
The late Quaternary in North America was marked by highly variable climate and considerable biodiversity loss including a megafaunal extinction event at the terminal Pleistocene. Here, we focus on changes in body size and diet in Neotoma (woodrats) in response to these ecological perturbations using the fossil record from the Edwards Plateau (Texas) across the past 20,000 years. Body mass was estimated using measurements of fossil teeth and diet was quantified using stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen from fossil bone collagen. Prior to ca. 7,000 cal yr BP, maximum mass was positively correlated to precipitation and negatively correlated …
The Influence Of Juvenile Dinosaurs On Community Structure And Diversity, Katlin Schroeder, S. Kathleen Lyons, Felisa A. Smith
The Influence Of Juvenile Dinosaurs On Community Structure And Diversity, Katlin Schroeder, S. Kathleen Lyons, Felisa A. Smith
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
Despite dominating biodiversity in the Mesozoic, dinosaurs were not speciose. Oviparity constrained even gigantic dinosaurs to less than 15 kg at birth; growth through multiple morphologies led to the consumption of different resources at each stage. Such disparity between neonates and adults could have influenced the structure and diversity of dinosaur communities. Here, we quantified this effect for 43 communities across 136 million years and seven continents. We found that megatheropods (more than 1000 kg) such as tyrannosaurs had specific effects on dinosaur community structure. Although herbivores spanned the body size range, communities with megatheropods lacked carnivores weighing 100 to …
Our Past Creates Our Present: A Brief Overview Of Racism And Colonialism In Western Paleontology, Pedro M. Monarrez, Joshua B. Zimmt, Annaka M. Clement, William Gearty, John J. Jacisin Iii, Kelsey M. Jenkins, Kristopher Mm. Kusnerik, Carmi Milagros Thompson, Ashley W. Poust, Selina V. Robson, Judith A. Sclafani, Kelsey T. Stilson, Shamindri D. Tennakoon
Our Past Creates Our Present: A Brief Overview Of Racism And Colonialism In Western Paleontology, Pedro M. Monarrez, Joshua B. Zimmt, Annaka M. Clement, William Gearty, John J. Jacisin Iii, Kelsey M. Jenkins, Kristopher Mm. Kusnerik, Carmi Milagros Thompson, Ashley W. Poust, Selina V. Robson, Judith A. Sclafani, Kelsey T. Stilson, Shamindri D. Tennakoon
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
As practitioners of a historical science, paleontologists and geoscientists are well versed in the idea that the ability to understand and to anticipate the future relies upon our collective knowledge of the past. Despite this understanding, the fundamental role that the history of paleontology and the geosciences plays in shaping the structure and culture of our disciplines is seldom recognized and therefore not acted upon sufficiently. Here, we present a brief review of the history of paleontology and geology in Western countries, with a particular focus on North America since the 1800s. Western paleontology and geology are intertwined with systematic …
Testing A Global Standard For Quantifying Species Recovery And Assessing Conservation Impact, Molly K. Grace, John Carroll, 201 Other Scholars
Testing A Global Standard For Quantifying Species Recovery And Assessing Conservation Impact, Molly K. Grace, John Carroll, 201 Other Scholars
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a “Green List of Species” (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species’ progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement against benchmarks of species’ viability, functionality, and preimpact distribution) to determine current species recovery status (herein species recovery score) and application of that method to estimate past and potential future impacts of conservation based on 4 metrics ( …
Reorganization Of Surviving Mammal Communities After The End-Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction, Anikó B. Tóth, S. Kathleen Lyons, W. Andrew Barr, Anna K. Behrensmeyer, Jessica L. Blois, René Bobe, Matt Davis, Andrew Du, Jussi T. Eronen, J. Tyler Faith, Danielle Fraser, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Gary R. Graves, Advait M. Jukar, Joshua H. Miller, Silvia Pineda-Munoz, Laura C. Soul, Amelia Villaseñor, John Alroy
Reorganization Of Surviving Mammal Communities After The End-Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction, Anikó B. Tóth, S. Kathleen Lyons, W. Andrew Barr, Anna K. Behrensmeyer, Jessica L. Blois, René Bobe, Matt Davis, Andrew Du, Jussi T. Eronen, J. Tyler Faith, Danielle Fraser, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Gary R. Graves, Advait M. Jukar, Joshua H. Miller, Silvia Pineda-Munoz, Laura C. Soul, Amelia Villaseñor, John Alroy
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
Large mammals are at high risk of extinction globally. To understand the consequences of their demise for community assembly, we tracked community structure through the end- Pleistocene megafaunal extinction in North America.We decomposed the effects of biotic and abiotic factors by analyzing co-occurrence within the mutual ranges of species pairs. Although shifting climate drove an increase in niche overlap, co-occurrence decreased, signaling shifts in biotic interactions. Furthermore, the effect of abiotic factors on cooccurrence remained constant over time while the effect of biotic factors decreased. Biotic factors apparently played a key role in continental-scale community assembly before the extinctions. Specifically, …
The Accelerating Influence Of Humans On Mammalian Macroecological Patterns Over The Late Quaternary, Felisa A. Smith, Rosemary E. Elliott Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, Jonathan L. Payne, Amelia Villaseñor
The Accelerating Influence Of Humans On Mammalian Macroecological Patterns Over The Late Quaternary, Felisa A. Smith, Rosemary E. Elliott Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, Jonathan L. Payne, Amelia Villaseñor
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
The transition of hominins to a largely meat-based diet ~1.8 million years ago led to the exploitation of other mammals for food and resources. As hominins, particularly archaic and modern humans, became increasingly abundant and dispersed across the globe, a temporally and spatially transgressive extinction of large-bodied mammals followed; the degree of selectivity was unprecedented in the Cenozoic fossil record. Today, most remaining large-bodied mammal species are confined to Africa, where they coevolved with hominins. Here, using a comprehensive global dataset of mammal distribution, life history and ecology, we examine the consequences of “body size downgrading” of mammals over the …
Body Size Downgrading Of Mammals Over The Late Quaternary, Felisa A. Smith, Rosemary E. Elliott Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, Jonathan L. Payne
Body Size Downgrading Of Mammals Over The Late Quaternary, Felisa A. Smith, Rosemary E. Elliott Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, Jonathan L. Payne
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
Since the late Pleistocene, large-bodied mammals have been extirpated from much of Earth. Although all habitable continents once harbored giant mammals, the few remaining species are largely confined to Africa. This decline is coincident with the global expansion of hominins over the late Quaternary. Here, we quantify mammalian extinction selectivity, continental body size distributions, and taxonomic diversity over five time periods spanning the past 125,000 years and stretching approximately 200 years into the future. We demonstrate that size-selective extinction was already under way in the oldest interval and occurred on all continents, within all trophic modes, and across all time …
Effects Of Elevated Co2, Increased Nitrogen Deposition, And Plant Diversity On Aboveground Litter And Root Decomposition, Xiaoan Zuo, Johannes Knops
Effects Of Elevated Co2, Increased Nitrogen Deposition, And Plant Diversity On Aboveground Litter And Root Decomposition, Xiaoan Zuo, Johannes Knops
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
Global change-induced litter decomposition strongly affects the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics in grassland ecosystems. However, few studies show the interactive effects of global change factors on litter and root decomposition. We conducted a four-year grassland field experiment to examine the quality and decomposition of litter and root in a three-factorial experiment with elevated CO2, increased N deposition, and plant species richness. We found that elevated CO2 decreased the litter N content and root lignin content. N addition increased the root N content and decreased the litter lignin content. Increasing plant richness decreased the N and …
Spatially Biased Dispersal Of Acorns By A Scatter-Hoarding Corvid May Accelerate Passive Restoration Of Oak Habitat On California’S Largest Island, Mario B. Pesendorfer, T. Scott Sillett, Scott A. Morrison
Spatially Biased Dispersal Of Acorns By A Scatter-Hoarding Corvid May Accelerate Passive Restoration Of Oak Habitat On California’S Largest Island, Mario B. Pesendorfer, T. Scott Sillett, Scott A. Morrison
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
Scatter hoarding by corvids (crows, jays, magpies, and nutcrackers) provides seed dispersal for many large-seeded plants, including oaks and pines. When hoarding seeds, corvids often choose nonrandom locations throughout the landscape, resulting in differential survival of seeds. In the context of habitat restoration, such disproportional storing of seeds in areas suitable for germination and establishment can accelerate expansion and recovery of large-seeded tree populations and their associated ecosystems. Here, we investigate the spatial preferences of island scrub jays Aphelocoma insularis during scatter hoarding of acorns (Quercus spp.) on Santa Cruz Island. We use a large behavioral data set on …
Unraveling The Consequences Of The Terminal Pleistocene Megafauna Extinction On Mammal Community Assembly, Felisa A. Smith, Catalina P. Tomé, Emma A. Elliott Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, Seth D. Newsome, Thomas W. Stafford
Unraveling The Consequences Of The Terminal Pleistocene Megafauna Extinction On Mammal Community Assembly, Felisa A. Smith, Catalina P. Tomé, Emma A. Elliott Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, Seth D. Newsome, Thomas W. Stafford
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
Recent studies connecting the decline of large predators and consumers with the disintegration of ecosystems often overlook that this natural experiment already occurred. As recently as 14 ka, tens of millions of large-bodied mammals were widespread across the American continents. Within 1000 yr of the arrival of humans, ∼80% were extinct including all > 600 kg. While the cause of the late Pleistocene (LP) extinction remains contentious, largely overlooked are the ecological consequences of the loss of millions of large-bodied animals. Here, we examine the influence of the LP extinction on a local mammal community. Our study site is Hall’s Cave …
Patterns Of Maximum Body Size Evolution In Cenozoic Land Mammals: Eco-Evolutionary Processes And Abiotic Forcing, Juha J. Saarinen, Alison G. Boyer, James H. Brown, Daniel P. Costa, S.K. Morgan Ernest, Alistair R. Evans, Mikael Fortelius, John L. Gittleman, Marcus J. Hamilton, Larisa E, Harding, Kari Lintulaakso, S. Kathleen Lyons, Jordan G. Okie, Richard M. Sibly, Patrick R. Stephens, Jessica Theodor, Mark D. Uhen, Felisa A. Smith
Patterns Of Maximum Body Size Evolution In Cenozoic Land Mammals: Eco-Evolutionary Processes And Abiotic Forcing, Juha J. Saarinen, Alison G. Boyer, James H. Brown, Daniel P. Costa, S.K. Morgan Ernest, Alistair R. Evans, Mikael Fortelius, John L. Gittleman, Marcus J. Hamilton, Larisa E, Harding, Kari Lintulaakso, S. Kathleen Lyons, Jordan G. Okie, Richard M. Sibly, Patrick R. Stephens, Jessica Theodor, Mark D. Uhen, Felisa A. Smith
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
There is accumulating evidence that macroevolutionary patterns of mammal evolution during the Cenozoic follow similar trajectories on different continents. This would suggest that such patterns are strongly determined by global abiotic factors, such as climate, or by basic eco-evolutionary processes such as filling of niches by specialization. The similarity of pattern would be expected to extend to the history of individual clades. Here, we investigate the temporal distribution of maximum size observed within individual orders globally and on separate continents. While the maximum size of individual orders of large land mammals show differences and comprise several families, the times at …
Global Attracting Equilibria For Coupled Systems With Ceiling Density Dependence, Eric A. Eager, Mary Hebert, Elise Hellwig, Francisco Hernandez, Richard Rebarber, Brigitte Tenhumberg, Bryan Wigianto
Global Attracting Equilibria For Coupled Systems With Ceiling Density Dependence, Eric A. Eager, Mary Hebert, Elise Hellwig, Francisco Hernandez, Richard Rebarber, Brigitte Tenhumberg, Bryan Wigianto
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
In this paper, we present a system of two difference equations modeling the dynamics of a coupled population with two patches. Each patch can house only a limited number of individuals (called a carrying capacity) because resources like food and breeding sites are limited in each patch. We assume that the population in each patch is governed by a linear model until reaching a carrying capacity in each patch, resulting in map which is nonlinear and not sublinear. We analyze the global attractors of this model.
Creating An Interdisciplinary Research Course In Mathematical Ecology, Glenn Ledder, Brigitte Tenhumberg
Creating An Interdisciplinary Research Course In Mathematical Ecology, Glenn Ledder, Brigitte Tenhumberg
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
An integrated interdisciplinary research course in biology and mathematics is useful for recruiting students to interdisciplinary research careers, but there are difficulties involved in creating and implementing it. We describe the genesis, objectives, design policies, and structure of the Research Skills in Theoretical Ecology course at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and discuss the difficulties that can arise in designing and implementing interdisciplinary courses.
An Interdisciplinary Research Course In Theoretical Ecology For Young Undergraduates, Glenn Ledder, Brigitte Tenhumberg, G. Travis Adams
An Interdisciplinary Research Course In Theoretical Ecology For Young Undergraduates, Glenn Ledder, Brigitte Tenhumberg, G. Travis Adams
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
As part of an interdepartmental effort to attract promising young students to research at the interface between mathematics and biology, we created a course in which groups of recent high school graduates and first-year college students conducted a research project in insect population dynamics. The students set up experiments, collected data, used the data to develop mathematical models, tested their models against further experiments, and prepared their results for dissemination. The course was self-contained in that the lecture portion developed the mathematical, statistical, and biological background needed for the research. A special writing component helped students learn the principles of …
Fire Does Not Alter Vegetation In Infertile Prairie, Johannes M.H. Knops
Fire Does Not Alter Vegetation In Infertile Prairie, Johannes M.H. Knops
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
The paradigm in prairie ecology is that fire is one of the key factors deter-mining vegetation composition. fire can impact grassland ecosystems in various ways, including changing plant species composition and inducing nitro-gen loss. I found that 17 years of different burning frequencies in infertile grassland had only a minor impact on the vegetation composition and diversity. The only major impact from increasing the frequency of fires was a decrease of Poa pratensis abundance. However, other plant species did not r-spond to the change in Poa abundance. This result contrasts with previous studies in savannas and more productive grasslands, where …
Body Mass Of Late Quaternary Mammals (Data Set), Felisa A. Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, S.K. Morgan Ernest, Kate E. Jones, Kansas State University, Tamar Dayan, Pablo A. Marquet, James H. Brown, John P. Haskell
Body Mass Of Late Quaternary Mammals (Data Set), Felisa A. Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, S.K. Morgan Ernest, Kate E. Jones, Kansas State University, Tamar Dayan, Pablo A. Marquet, James H. Brown, John P. Haskell
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
The purpose of this data set was to compile body mass information for all mammals on Earth so that we could investigate the patterns of body mass seen across geographic and taxonomic space and evolutionary time. We were interested in the heritability of body size across taxonomic groups (How conserved is body mass within a genus, family, and order?), in the overall pattern of body mass across continents (Do the moments and other descriptive statistics remain the same across geographic space?), and over evolutionary time (How quickly did body mass patterns iterate on the patterns seen today? Were the Pleistocene …